I was so thrilled when I first got the letter. I was finally going to Europe for a year to make my Master’s Degree, what I didn’t know was that I was going to stay for good.

I used to have so much expectations about it, about living in a country in which you could apreciate the four seasons (cause I’m actually from a country where seasons are just something you watch on movies), where violence is minimun so you can take long walks without being afraid you get robbed, to have the oportunity of getting to know other culture and basically, is Europe! Who won’t be excited about it?

But, why I’m saying ‘used to’? Because, when you have never been out of your country (I mean, for no longer than few weeks in vacation mode) you are completely sure it would be perfect, and you will have the perfect roomates (not my case), the Master will be asome (not my case), you will make hundreds of local friends that will be your new bffs (again, not my case), you will party like a rockstar (yeah, my case), eat delicious food, among all the other things your powerful mind will imagine and create in your perfect imaginary world. Some will happen and some won’t.

Well, guess what? It won’t be perfect, a lot of things might not fullfill your expectations, you’ll probably cry a lot, judge a lot and curse a lot. But the thing I could assure you is that it’s GREAT! You’ll grow up, do things you’ll never imagine you were capable of, have fun and the most important thing, the one I believe is the most rewarding is that you will LEARN. And by learning I’m not talking about academic learning (which obviously you will if you are coming to study), I’m talking about life learning, being capable of learn of every mistake (even if it’s just that you took the wrong bus and got lost in a super small city) and every achivement you get.

Also, enjoy and embrace each moment even if it’s a bad one, just enjoy it, embrace it and let go. Remember, things won’t be bad forever or good forever, life is a cycle and you have to learn how to dance to it’s rhythm without breaking apart. Personally, my experience wasn’t the best, I had my breakdowns, didn’t like the Master, had some major educational/values problems with my roomates and winter.. Oh my God winter… I just wanted so bad to get back to my country.

So, why did I stayed if my experience wasn’t as good as I expected? Because you don’t plan everything in your life, and it wasn’t in my plans to fall in love.