You will most likely not feel pity for me as this articles trails on. With every word, the thought ‘ungrateful’ or ‘privileged snob’ might pop up. I understand, as I am very much aware of the fact that I live a life of travels and adventures that many dream to have. I am aware of my privileged status as a nomad, jumping from plane to plane as if I were simply transferring subway lines. Yet instead of a Metrocard, with every transfer, I wipe out a OneWorld Gold Status card. Hip-hip-hooray.
Of all these privileges, I am eternally grateful. My situation is unique and beautiful in its own way, but with every decision comes a little something known as an opportunity cost. In non-economic terms, each turn you take in your life means you will eventually miss out on the parallel street you could’ve taken instead.
Translated into my world, every trip abroad is a family member’s birthday missed. Every semester of college transforms itself into missing my sister’s graduation. Every year sleeping in a bed other than the one meant for me back home means missing out on those horrid family fights that, in the end, pull you closer together. Because even though they were painful throughout, you still made it once again to the make-up stage. And now everyone is laughing around the dinner table or sharing a kilo of ice cream while jointly watching an episode of Black Mirror. Together, you’ve powered through.
As I mentioned before, I am extremely grateful for the experiences I have had while living abroad, away from my home city, Buenos Aires. Every situation I’ve encountered myself in has transformed me into the person I am today. But for those considering flying off to God-knows-where, there are some moments you should keep in mind.
Just know, enjoying your birthday with your brothers, sisters, and parents means blowing birthday candles through FaceTime calls. Moving from one place to the next every six months means losing friends in the in-between. As time flies by, people change, as do their lives and time and time again it gets harder to stay in touch.
Moving around also means you’ll be meeting new people; new people you will be saying goodbye to in the near future. And you will repeatedly ask yourself, why get attached in the first place?
If you ask me, these encounters are the beauty of it all. The fact that you can connect with someone coming from a background completely different from your own and yet still manage to find common grounds. It’s the fact that I see myself relating more to a person whose lived half-way across the world from me throughout their life, yet with whom I have more in common with than the person who sat on the desk parallel to mine in high school.
Goodbyes will come and go, birthdays will pass, and you will be out of the loop when it comes to the lives of those you love back home. Yet, eventually, you will see everyone again. The chance to catch up will always be a mere phone call away. Moving away isn’t the end of a friendship, it just signifies more has yet to come. At the end of the day, if you’re relationship didn’t power through, then it wasn’t as strong as you thought in the first place. All I can say is, these are realities you have to learn to accept if you’re planning on being a so-called citizen of the world.
