Happy New Year and welcome back to the blog! It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2022, and that I am in my final ever semester. It makes me sad how quickly my time at Loyola has flown by (but hey, that means I’m having fun, right?).
I only had three exams last semester, one of which was a take home exam, meaning that I had any 24-hours during the examination period to take it. I, of course, left it until the very last day, so while most of my peers were already off enjoying their winter break, I was at the library frantically typing away on my laptop. Nonetheless, 24 hours later I handed in my essay, and my winter break officially began!
Because of everything going on in the world currently, I decided not to go home for winter break. At first, I was afraid that I would find myself all alone for the holidays. That turned out to be a baseless fear, however, as a friend invited me to her spend the majority of winter break with her family. I was only meant to stay three nights during Christmas, but I ended up leaving almost a week later than initially intended when we decided to spend New Year’s together as well.
Anyway, as the first week of my final ever semester at Loyola comes to a close, I have taken some time to reflect on how I felt at the beginning of this ‘journey’. I remember the uncertainty and anxiety that I felt before coming to LA (allow me a second to be dramatic, please): I was leaving everything I knew behind and moving almost 9,000 km away from home (that’s 5592 miles for those of you who use the Imperial system). I’ve lived away from home before, but never this far away. Moreover, because of Covid I knew that my friends and family would most likely not be able to visit me. Now, almost six months since I stepped off the plane, I can honestly say that I have loved my time at Loyola. I have learned so much and have met some incredible people that make LA feel like home (and the free drink refills at restaurants still blow my mind every time).