Remember those university applications and standardized tests where you were given a prompt and nothing could ever come to mind until the very last minute? I’m still that person who has their whole essay planned out in their head but cannot find the words to describe anything.
What do I think about my moving to France?
Well, if you come up to me and ask me if I enjoy Paris, I’d probably stare at you with a blank look and say the following: “this country (France) has no lined paper, no Listerine. . . it’s driving me nuts”. Mind you, it’s not a horrible city, it’s just the change. When I originally decided to go out of the country for university, I wasn’t exactly counting on going to a different continent altogether. Also, the country that I was planning on moving to had a similar culture and atmosphere as the one that I grew up in, if not a little more urban.
I had my choices. There were the other cities (i.e. Montreal and Boston) and other universities that I could’ve chosen but didn’t. Not quite sure why I chose to go to France. It would be easier if I gave it a reason that I completely believed in as opposed to an excuse so that I would not have to think about why I choose to do some of the things that I do.
There were many reasons backing up my decision. One of which was that I needed to move away from the familiar. Personally, I cannot move and grow if my life is static. Throwing some dynamics into my life makes me rethink a lot of my views and offers a new perspective on things whereas remaining static, I see very little change and growth for me.
But of course there are times when I just cannot move away to escape everything or to find liberation or epiphanies. And as strange as it sounds, I find that some television shows strengthen and change perspectives and beliefs. If anyone has ever met me, within fifteen minutes you’ll find out that I have been religiously following One Tree Hill for the past five or so years. Some people can call it teenage drama and I agree - some of the storylines are a bit farfetch’d - but there is a hint of reality in the character development.
What Mark Schwann did was create real people with emotions and struggles. Each character has their own strife and I find that everyone can see a bit of themselves in at least one of these characters, which makes the show that appealing to me. You hope that this character emerges a better and stronger person because you want to see how you might turn out. But what I’ve gained most from watching One Tree Hill is the concept of friendship.
Friendships, I understand. Close friendships or best friends were concepts that I never understood. Needing someone was always a foreign idea to me, because I always thought that I could take care of myself. Caring for others wasn’t really in my capacity for the longest time, and when I had to support others, I could do it but with a great distance separating myself from them. So when I needed someone to support me, it really hit me hard. I told whoever I could and whoever listened to me so that I could get this benefit of friendship. But it wound up being incredibly one sided, where I was always the one that needed saving. And many a time, I abused it.
I didn’t understand until I lost it and it took a long while for me to gain back trust. But it took an even longer while for me to understand what a good friend could offer - love and support. Both love and support were things that I especially needed in the past year when I was trying to do things that were far reaches or when I was trying to move on from a bunch of things. Love kept me in check with reality and support kept me in check with my aspirations.
Tags: NYU in France · One Tree Hill · PersonalNo Comments.
