There’s no way you can’t feel weird when you leave somewhere that you’ve called home for the past three months.
Driving back to North Carolina from New Orleans last weekend was definitely surreal.
I was coming “home,” but I was also leaving the city that I’d grown accustomed to.
In some ways, packing up everything that I’d been using for the past 14 weeks felt like packing at the end of studying in Spain last fall.
However, flying home from Spain felt more final because I did so with the same people that I had traveled abroad with and experienced new things with.
But when you are in a new situation alone, such as when you take a semester off to work, it feels like a random occurrence when you pack up and leave at season’s end.
Everybody that you met at your new, temporary home will still be doing the same things at the same places after you’ve returned to your “normal” routine.
That’s a strange feeling.
There are drawbacks and perks to every new situation.
A perk is that you learn something about yourself every time you try something new.
In New Orleans, I learned that I don’t like driving through the crowded downtown of a city. I probably shouldn’t be allowed to do so: Other drivers didn’t seem to like it when I drove there either.
That’s important to note for future road trips. I’m not above having a valid excuse to not be the designated driver through congested areas.
I also learned that New Orleanians love the Saints. Intensely.
Businesses shut down early on game days so that everyone can get started tailgating well before kickoff.
Furthermore, I don’t have a background in business, but I learned a few things about business administration by working closely with the staff at a nonprofit.
It was a risk to withdraw for a semester of guaranteed good times at UNC to move to a place where I virtually didn’t know anybody.
However, I didn’t hesitate to do so because I think now’s the time that we should take advantage of all opportunities possible to try new things.
We’re still young and very mobile, so why not throw ourselves into as many different situations as possible and meet as diverse an array of people as possible before settling down?
As soon as you figure out what makes you happy, whenever and whatever that is, stick with it.
Maybe you came to UNC for college but still feel more content when you go home to New York, or Florida, or another country.
Fine, move back there after college. You tried North Carolina, but like somewhere else better.
At least you gave a new place a try.
Then again, maybe you have a summer internship in London and love everything about it there.
And at the end of that summer, the company offers you a full-time position after you graduate from UNC.
Take it!
If it makes you happy, why not give it a shot?
It’s your life. Make it one that you’re happy to wake up to every day.
Lea Luquire is a senior Spanish major from Yancyville spending the semester in New Orleans. Contact Lea Luquire at Llea@email.unc.edu
