"Home"

Jacqueline Tran
Jan 13, 2016
3 min read

"Your final destination is New York?" the airport worker asked.

It was as if that was the first time on my lengthy commute to Budapest airport that I was informed of where I was going. I wasn’t going to explore a new city or town, and on that day my mini adventure would end. I was only starting to get accustomed to this lifestyle, and now it was over. Where had time gone?

My face must have plainly shown a mix of confusion and panic.

“Miss, is New York City your final destination?”

“Oh! Yes yes yes. JFK,” I answer abruptly.

Slightly taken back by my behavior (although I will assume I am not the worst customer she has interacted with before), the worker proceeded to print my boarding pass and handed it to me with a forced, awkward smile.

Even as I sit in my new dorm room, a few hours before the first class of the semester, I cannot seem to face the reality of being in the exact world I had tried to run away from. The kind of world where everyday is stagnant and time is only measured with exams and deadlines. Days, weeks, and months just come by in a breeze. The seasons may be changing just outside that window, but nonetheless will go unnoticed because the mind is just so fully immersed in work and obligations.

I don't dread the average student life for no reason - it is just a matter of productivity and time. During travel, things are so densely packed in each day, and there are so many new people to meet, that within the span of a few days, one can gain the amount of experience that would usually take months or weeks if stationed in one place. I learn to cherish all the small moments, which would otherwise be overlooked when time is stretched out over a long, slow period of time.

Nonetheless, mainly against my will, I will return to being a college student.

In closing, this 18-day trip from Norway to Hungary served as not only an opportunity to relax, but also a way for me to find answers to the questions that deemed too difficult to break down in the hectic, stressful, all too familiar environment of what I call "home". Some questions were pretty simple, like whether or not I should continue to pursue medicine, and what my plans should be if I am not meant for the hard sciences. However, the bigger question that I have been grappling with for a very long time, but even more so these past couple of months, is how I can be more loving to myself. What exactly can I do to be more forgiving, and take the next step forward to improving the quality of my life and truly enjoy what the world offers?

Well yes, Jackie, everyone wants to know how to make their life better. Yet, better can mean so many things, so the boiled down question really is, what do I think will make my life change for the greater, and how will I do that? Of course, I do not have a solid answer, but this trip has made me feel a little closer to knowing it.

Here are a boatload of pictures from the trip:

Oslo: