By Susana Castillo, JE’17
In “Una vida transitoria”, Susana Doen sheds light upon her experience as a Mexican exchange student and how it helped her understand the transient nature of life.
ORIGINAL
La vida misma es tránsito. La palabra “tránsito” no sólo se refiere al paso del tiempo, ni al traslado de lugar a lugar, sino al cambio, a la evolución de un estado a otro, y es esta última definición la que describe mi experiencia como estudiante de intercambio en la Universidad de Yale.
Cuando recibí la noticia de que había sido elegida para participar en el Yale Visiting International Student Program sentía alegría. Pensé, además, en los retos, las oportunidades y, sobre todo, en el cambio académico que viviría: profesores de gran prestigio, clases muy interesantes, un método de enseñanza muy distinto a aquél al que estaba acostumbrada.
Transitaría de una universidad en una pequeña ciudad, a una de las mejores universidades del mundo. Lo que no sabía era que el tránsito no era de un destino a otro, sino que comprendía, el tránsito de mi persona: el tránsito de lo que fui y lo que soy ahora.
Desde que llegué aquí, mi percepción de la vida ha cambiado completamente. Me di cuenta de lo afortunada que era por tener la oportunidad de haber llegado hasta acá. Reconocí la importancia de la familia y de los amigos.
Comprendí, entonces, que no se trataba de un diploma; no se trataba del mérito que recibiría llegando a casa. Era mucho más que eso: era alejarme de casa para apreciar lo que tenía, reconocer las necesidades que hoy enfrenta mi país y su gente, y desarrollar esa sensibilidad ante aquellos que no han sido tan afortunados como yo.
En cada lugar al que iba, sufría una transformación; me llevaba un poco de cada lugar y dejaba en él algo de mi. Y es aquí donde radica la importancia de viajar: nos llevamos pláticas de aquella persona que por casualidad nos encontramos, nos llevamos un poco de la cultura del lugar, regresamos con una perspectiva más amplia de lo que es diversidad.
No eres el mismo después de viajar, te transformas. Vi como al ir alcanzando mis sueños de pronto habían surgidos unos nuevos. No había llegado a mi destino, estaba en tránsito.
Lo importante, entonces, no es el destino de viaje, es el camino. Es lo que uno aprende al reconocer que sólo estamos de tránsito por esta vida.
TRANSLATION
Life itself is transit. The word “transit” refers to the passage of time, not the change of location. It’s meaning is change, the evolution of oneself, and this latter definition describes my experience as a Yale Visiting International student.
When I heard that I had been chosen to participate in the Yale Visiting International Student Program, all that I felt was happiness. I thought about the challenges, the opportunities, and most of all, I thought about the academic changes that I would experience: prestigious professors, amazing classes, and a teaching method to which I have never been exposed before.
I would travel from a university in my home city to one of the best universities in the world: Yale. What I did not know was that the transition was not from a place to another destination, but it instead comprised a personal transition: the transition from the person that I was, to the person I have become.
Since the moment I arrived at Yale, my perspective on life has been completely changed. I found out how blessed and lucky I was for having the opportunity of getting here, of being here. For that, I acknowledge the importance of friends and family in one’s life.
I realized that this opportunity was not about a diploma; it was not about the credit I was going to receive back home. It was more than that: it would mean learning to appreciate all the beautiful things I have back at home, to recognize the needs of my country and its people; this opportunity was all about developing a sense of awareness toward the people who have not been as lucky as I was.
Every time I travel to another place, I suffer a transformation; I take something from every place, and I leave a part of myself in it. And this is one of the most important aspects of traveling: we take with us the conversations from that random person that we met by chance, we take with us a little piece of the culture that we encounter in a new place, and finally, we return with a broader perspective of what diversity consists of.
We are not the same persons after we leave a place; we become transformed. I realized that at the moment I reached my dream (and this experience of studying at Yale was surely a life’s dream), new goals and dreams had emerged. I had not reached my destination, I am in transit.
What really mattered was, thus, not my destination, but the journey. What matters is all that we learn and gain when we recognize that we are just in transit through this life.
