Chances Are...

After I graduated from high school in 2008, I found myself packed into three suitcases, a cardboard box, and one heavy carry-on. At Midway International Airport, it felt like a dream as Mom and I walked to the gate departing to San Diego, California. At eighteen, I picked up my life and moved halfway across the country to begin my college career at San Diego State University. I was one of two students from my graduating class to go all the way to California; everyone else stayed local or remained in the Midwest. Soon after arriving, it seemed my predictable, comfortable life was just part of a past I was longing to run from.


Although it is true that my time in San Diego was limited, it was nothing short of amazing. I met the best friends of my entire life, witnessed a change in myself I never thought possible, and learned a newfound appreciation for my home, my past, and my future. As I left San Diego in route to my new home at Purdue, I convinced myself that someday, somehow, something would lead me where I needed to be.


When I arrived here at CIMBA, I met a young man named Lars. Lars always looked familiar to me — I knew that I must have met him somewhere, I just had a hard time placing his face. The first morning in Intercultural Communication, we went around the room introducing one another. Soon, Lars introduced himself and revealed that he attends San Diego State University; he is a junior there, just as I would be. Of course, I was ecstatic to talk to someone who shared a unique year of my life on the West coast. I caught up with Lars after class, excited to hear about his time at SDSU. After some small talk, it turns out that he lived on the same floor as one of my best friends, Courtney, during our freshman year. And now here we are, both studying abroad halfway across the world. Goosebumps? You bet.


Looking back on my life, I realize that I have always been a bit of a traveler. Picking up my life at eighteen years old and moving halfway across the country knowing not a soul was my first clue. Although it was hard in the beginning, eventually I made a life for myself there. I experienced the West coast for exactly what it is; a place to admire, explore, and grow. My friends from SDSU are some of the best I have ever made, many of which I still talk to on a daily basis. All of the things important to me before I left Chicago the first time are still as important to me as they are now — even though now I am living halfway across the world.


During my stay here in Paderno del Grappa, I have made the same adjustments. The beginning was not easy, nor did I expect it to be. But, as I did in San Diego, eventually I made myself a life here. To date, I have traveled to five European countries, learned a new language, made some amazing friends, tried every vegetarian option available in Europe, and seen some of the most famous historical sights in all of Italy. Do I still consider myself a traveler? Not really. I like to think of myself as a world traveler, yes, but moreover as a student of this amazing universe. Like San Diego, each place has taught me something different from the one before it.


During the end of my run yesterday, I came across a realization. Perhaps SDSU was not the place for me to be at this point in my life. Purdue is a much better fit for me; I am convinced that it is exactly where I am supposed to be. What overwhelms me the most, however, is realizing that regardless of whether or not I had stayed at SDSU or Purdue, I would have ended up at CIMBA and in Paderno del Grappa either way. SDSU and Purdue only offer CIMBA as a Business and Communication study abroad program without a two-year language requirement. Knowing this as I do now, I realize the irony in my own story. I took two completely different paths and ended up at the same destination.


There is a song by Five for Fighting entitled “Chances Are.” The first time I heard it, the lyrics struck me as rather off; I didn’t quite grasp what the song writer was actually talking about. Looking back to that song now, however, I realize exactly what they meant.


Chances are we´ll find two destinations
Chances roll away from me
Still chances are more than expectations
The possibilities
Over me


Possibilities are endless, especially when you’re living halfway across the world, knowing that exactly where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be.


My bags are packed. It's off to the airport in an an hour or two, Venice for the day, and on a plane to Chicago tomorrow morning. How did the time pass so quickly? I cannot believe I am leaving Paderno already. What an amazing, wonderful, a million other adjectives, of an experience this has been.


Ciao, Ciao, Paderno. I will miss you and all that you have given me.