Individual Reflections of Article about Living Abroad

When one strikes abroad, he or she is bound to meet the unexpected through lifestyles changes instantly casting an individual into a wholenew experience. I can relate my experiences whilst abroad with Castells’ article. When I moved to the UK from Spain, I experienced a cultural shock but with my extremely good mindset, I was able to adapt to the new experiences and took life as it developed. I love Castell’s article due to the fact it has accurately captured my experiences and feelings about living abroad.
When I had a few days and back to Spain after being in the UK, I was amazed at how very few things had changed returned at home. My life had changed at an unprecedented pace. Immediately I had settled in the UK, I felt free and was in a holiday mood. Iwas particularly eager to share my storieswith my friends back at home. When I went back to Spain, life seemed the same. Similar to Castells’ article, people face the same struggles and challenges in their daily lives when one returns at home. This rang in my head that time waits for no one (par. 3). The familiarity has made me to consider visiting a new City such as Amsterdam to experience what it feels like living in the area.

I clearly recollect a moment while I was in the UK when I lacked the words to describe how amazing life was. When asked to list just three things, which I loved about the city, I felt restricted in my choice because there are many amazing things to talk about including parks, the friendliness of the people, delicious food, and delightful fashion among others. In fact, there were days when I was spoilt for choice over the events to attend all of which were happening on the same day. There are many other numerous experiences, which I can never finish narrating because they are overwhelming. An important lesson, which I learnt while abroad, was that one needs to let go of the past and set him or herself for total new experiences. Similar to Castells’ article I had to learn to bid goodbye to most experiences and people in my life and enjoy my present self(par. 8).I learnt the hard way that things and people in life are merely passive and that to become creative and spontaneous, letting go of some attachments was critical. I had to resolve the incessant battle between nostalgic feelings and being pragmatic.

When you move abroad, you are bound to have “double” of everything. When I moved to the UK, I had two phones, two SIM cards, and the Peseta (Spain Currency) and Euro (UK currency). There were times when I had to exchange my Peseta so as toobtain various necessities. Furthermore, I also had to carry spare keys in case one lost because I was highly mobile during my stay in the new city.

When one moves abroad, he or she has to develop survival tactics and the best way is by being extremely patient and being modest enough to ask for help when in need. When I was abroad, even the simplest activities proved to be troublesome. For example locating the bus station and using the appropriate words including adapting to the UK accent. Sometimes it was hard to cope but I was patient enough and I committed my time to learn continuously. I learnt that asking for assistance was inevitable in the new city.

To conclude, moving abroad to the UK opened me to new experiences in life. The major lesson I learnt similarly to what Castells posits is that one needs to let go of any sentimental longing affection for the past and to open oneself to new experiences in a different world. One needs to go over feelings of homesickness and to accept the changes, which come forth.

Work Cited

Castells, Escrito, A. “17 things that change forever when you live abroad.” Masedimburgo.com. 4June 2015. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.