Oh Sun....How I've Missed You




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  • 2012-03-07 17:44:24
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If you didn’t already know I come from New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. And lots of sunshine.  Too much for my fair skin sometimes. I’ve tended to hate the hot, dry weather and worrying about wearing sunscreen EVERYWHERE I go. But let me tell you, I’ll take that any day. I used to love the snow; who wouldn’t want a white Christmas? There was always that excitement waking up on a school day to see those soft, gentle flakes floating down to the ground, only to melt a couple of hours later.  It didn’t matter though.  School was still cancelled.  It’s New Mexico; a few inches and everyone freaks out. Now I have come to dread it.  Okay, maybe not to that extreme but enough to say I’m through with it for this season.  There has been snow on the ground everyday since I arrived this semester and I started getting used to the dreary, grey sky shielding the sun and my much needed Vitamin D.  I don’t think I was used to it, and I was starting to deteriorate. Bulgaria and the rest of Eastern Europe was in the middle of one of the harshest winters in years.  Many students claimed the excessive snow and freezing temperatures were very rare.  I just happened to be one of the lucky ones to experience this.  It really was magical how the snow looked in town, especially in my favorite park.  I felt like a little kid again.  But before I knew it, I woke up feeling so distressed and felt so beaten down yet I couldn’t figure out why.  It could be my diet of just yogurt and bread lately but that’s a whole other story. I never wanted to go outside.  I even skipped a class because I felt so depressed and had no energy, no motivation.  Maybe there were other factors as to why I was in this state, but the weather sure didn’t help.  I wasn’t supposed to be wasting my time here feeling miserable.  But I was.  I never felt alone though.  The people I have met here are awesome and have already made some lasting memories and hopefully lasting friendships after this semester.  But there was still that cloud hovering over me… Then came the weekend, when the skies opened up and the snow started to progressively melt, leaving annoying puddles along the sidewalk.  You would have thought us students had never seen the sun before.  It wasn’t even that warm temperature wise, maybe around 45 degrees, but it seriously felt like it was 20 degrees more.  I walked to the main building with no jacket and I wished I wore flip-flops.  Everyone was posting on Facebook this miraculous gift of sunshine.  Me being one of them. It was like a light switch, turning from off to on.  I found my motivation, my mood brightened, and now I’m looking forward to going to class everyday because everyone is in such better spirits! I can’t fully explain that funk I was in, but I think it’s something most exchange students run into every once and a while.  I’m not really homesick and I’ve been happy here, but in the back of my mind I know I haven’t felt entirely complete.  Not yet at least. But there are plenty more days of sunshine to look forward to.