Life Cycle

I began thinking about my life and the places I have lived last night, and I realised something that scared me. My life has become one big cycle.

I grew up in Seattle, Washington in the Pacific North West. I lived there, went to school there and spent the majority of my time in Seattle. Every summer my family from the first year of my life would board our sailboat and escape to British Colombia usually starting in Vancouver and then up and around Vancouver Island. The younger I was, the more time we spent on the boat. School was less important when I was 3 then 12. My sister and I spent our summers swimming and exploring islands, using toonies to pay for ice cream and taking in the summer sunshine and air. However, as my sister and I grew older, school was more important, friends and social engagements seemed to matter more, the FOMO on an authentic Seattle summer set in. We began to spend less and less time on the boat each year.

Senior year of high school rolled around, college applications, SAT tests and Seattle parties were in full swing. I had spent maybe a week on the boat that summer. As all my classmates waited nervously for acceptance letters, I sat at ease knowing not only where I was going but exactly what it would be like. I only applied to one school. Call me dumb, but my backup plan was if I didn't get accepted I would figure out what to do then. I applied early and heard back in the first weeks of December. The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC had accepted me. Canada would be my home again. I was so excited; I thought about visiting Granvilleile Island every weekend for doughnuts and fresh meats and flowers. I thought about the Vancouver Art Gallery and Museum of Anthropology. I could imagine and even taste where I would eat dinner; the classes looked inspiring and interesting. It felt right.

Having only American citizenship, I am considered an international student even though my home address is a closer to UBC then many Canadain student's flights home. I expected a mix of realities, the paperwork they sent for being international was a bit dramatic from the pamphlets I expected EVERYTHING to be different. But I took a deep breath and realised that I knew Vancouver, and moving there would be easy. Now instead of spending 9 months of the year in Seattle and 3 in Vancouver, I would be spending 9 months of the year in Vancouver and 3 in Seattle.

One of my favorite photos I've taken of Vancouver

Seattle sunsets are still some of the best in the world

My realities have switched places; America is where I visit on a break from school and vacation. Canada is where I call home. The rain has replaced sunny afternoons, and swimming has been replaced with studying and toonies are used to buy beer instead of ice cream cones. However, even though I go to school in a country different from my high school, I feel as if nothing has changed. The weather is still the same, still the classic PNW grey. The trees and beaches smell the same. The currency is different, but everything is still expensive. I have always wanted to challenge myself, to explore cultures and see all the corners of the world, but I've realized while UBC might be the right school for me, it is too comforting, it is too similar. The adventure from when I studied in Chile isn't there, and the daily exploration isn't the same.

I'm hoping to break this cycle that has become my living arrangement, To escape the PNW for a little bit and to challenge every aspect of myself; Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.