{"id":41107,"date":"2020-03-06T08:34:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T13:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=41107"},"modified":"2020-03-06T08:34:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T13:34:11","slug":"post-reading-week-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2020\/03\/06\/post-reading-week-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-Reading Week Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"It's often hard to ground myself when my head is always on the clouds. Since I got to London (almost two months ago!), I feel like I have been living in a dream. This is by no means bad, but it's also not great for a few reasons. Sure, dreams are exciting and fun, but they're usually not real. Moving to my dream city was, well, a dream, but now\u00a0 there are a few things that I've had to slowly come to terms with.\r\n\r\n
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Train rides -they feel quite symbolic!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nFor some reason, the end of reading week seems like the perfect time to reflect back. It marks the halfway point of the semester, giving me\u00a0space to look both back, but also ahead. For the sake of a chronological order, I'll start by looking back.\r\n\r\nI've met awesome people while living here, from tons of different backgrounds. I've taken classes that I thought I'd never be able to take! I've also taken some that are not exactly what I was interested in, but they're insightful nonetheless. I've gone out, but I've also stayed in - making friends is fun, but it's not easy to create a friend group in the middle of the school year. I'm learning to be by myself (a lot), and to be okay with that. And I'm also learning what it means to be home-sick of not a physical place, but of a group of people, spread around in different countries. I'm learning to make the most out of every opportunity.\r\n\r\n
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My mom and brother came to visit - they make me feel lucky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nLooking ahead feels just as necessary. What am I trying to do the rest of my time here? I've never been one to write checklists or \"New Years goals\", mostly because I think what I want can change, and it's important to acknowledge that. However, I do like setting myself a few key motivators. I want to become more comfortable doing things on my own, such as sitting down for coffee, or visiting a museum. I want to make it a point to message my new friends, and not just waiting for them to text me - friendships work both ways! I want to be more honest with myself and with others. Acknowledging rough times helps me appreciate the good times more.\r\n

To finish off my reflection, I want to share a song that I love. It's a little reminded that when life gets heavy, we should allow ourselves to take some time off, and Sing, celebrating the little things.<\/p>\r\n