Good-Bye? Nah, I’ll be back: Lessons learned and friendships forged
You know the saying about how time flies when you’re having fun? It seems to me that my time soared, at the speed of light.
I truly cannot believe that a whole two weeks has passed since that first bleary-eyed, anxiety-ridden day. I feel like I’ve aged a year or two (ugh). The past two weeks have been the most intense and exhausting weeks of my life. My team and I essentially researched, designed and presented two posters on the building energy efficiency in Hong Kong in roughly nine or so days. We had a pretty rough critique on the day of our trial presentation in front of the professors, and between poster design and last minute research, my brain was essentially fried.
Yeesh. Sounds awful, right?
I truly mean what I say in that I am totally exhausted and that this course took a lot out of me. Above and beyond the hardships, however, I have found incredible personal growth. I can now officially say that I know how to navigate the streams of international travel, and I’m also much better at finding my way in general. And yes, without access to phone signal or Wi-Fi (The horror!). I’ve learned so much about policy making, and the political, social and cultural realities of Hong Kong. I’ve probably eaten loads of food, haggled like a pro, and met my dim sum quota at least twice over.
More importantly, I’ve met some amazing people. Shout out to my amazing team for being troopers and teaching me the real meaning of tough. Thank the heavens for Amanda, Dickson and Alpha (my CityU teammates) for being patient with my rapid English and my general craziness. And of course for Helios and Evan (my ASU teammates), who were basically great, annoying older brothers to me. To my roommate, Lisset, who put up with my nightly antics. And of course, to Rob Melnick (who helped me frantically search for my lost wallet) and Jenny Carter (whose humor is as dry and sarcastic as mine).
Here’s to the rest of my fellow students, whose names I won’t mention here for the sake of space and time. Your stories and memory will always be with me, wherever I go. Finally here’s to you, the reader. Thanks for reading about my anxieties, my joys and my thoughts. I may not have met you, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’re pretty awesome.
Words cannot possibly describe how much I have learned from the mere meeting and interaction with such fine people. But I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart for sharing your time, your wisdom and your laughter with me. I won’t say goodbye because I’m sure I’ll hear from everyone soon, but I will leave one last statement:
I am so lucky to know people that are so hard to say goodbye to.
Until our next adventure,
Paulina Vu
