Life is good. My last few days abroad are the perfect combination of relaxation and excitement, and although I will greatly miss everything about my life in Europe, I am beyond excited to be going back home. After this experience, I am still the same person but I have undergone many positive changes and in a sense am different now. I have learned and grown so much from this experience in so many ways, and met so many amazing people along the way. I have also gotten the chance to do quite a bit of soul searching during my time here, and I have realized a lot not only about myself, but also about other people, the world, life, and beyond. I am looking forward to soaking up all the good, letting go of all the bad, and applying all that I have gained here back to my life at home. I am more content than ever before, and beyond blessed to have had this experience that, in many ways, will stay with me forever. Here are some quotes I’ve found from around that capture a bit of what I’ve learned and express a glimpse of how I feel and the thoughts that are on my mind as I reflect on my last days studying abroad.
“People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.”
“I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.”-Walt Whitman
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” –Oscar Wilde
No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head. – Terry Josephson
If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone elses, we’d grab our problems back.
Never compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
“those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music”
“For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family and friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” -Andy Rooney
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” -Coco Chanel
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about getting out there and dancing in the rain”
Que sera sera, life goes on; Whatever’s meant to be will always be.
& baby what don’t kill you, will make you strong; Just love the journey that you’re on.
A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.