Familiar places

I recently returned to a place that has a lot of meaning to me but I hadn't realized it. A few years ago I was going through a difficult period in my life and I decided to undertake something that I had wanted for a long time: go back to study and do a master's degree. I had no idea then that this postgraduate course would change me forever in every way. It was quite a challenge, it was hard for me, I had to push myself to the limit and readapt myself in many aspects. I developed skills that I didn't have and I discovered others that I didn't know I had, I practiced a lot with my tolerance to frustration, it brought me closer to people, it helped me to understand them and to develop more my patience with others; I also learned to be more patient with myself and to confront myself and ask questions that made me uncomfortable in order to get out of my comfort zone.

It's amazing to think that an apparently simple activity like going back to school can help you grow so much on a personal level. In the end I managed to cross to the other side and emerge completely changed. It should also be noted that I made magnificent friends who, I am sure, will accompany me fot the rest of my life. Throughout our lives we will meet many people and, among them, there will be those who will stay and help us change, magnificent examples to follow, figures to admire, close people who, if we allow them, will enter our lives and stay. These people give us the best of themselves and help us learn lifelong lessons.

Anyway... the years have passed, we all have changed (my friends and I), we continued with our lives, maybe moved to other cities, changed jobs, found love, fell out of love, became mothers, or not, said goodbye and buried loved ones... everything changed and nothing will ever be the same.

Returning to the school were we all met and studied our master's together surprised me by the amount of emotions and feelings that I had just upon stepping into that familiar place: melancholy for those good times we had, those mornings of debate and hard work, those sleepy afternoons full of urgency for the class to end, the laughter, the jokes, the tears and the words of encouragement... we were so happy and we weren't aware of it, or perhaps we did but we didn't want to accept the fact that it would end.

I feel a lot of melancholy for that time, sadness because it ended, I want to go back in time and relive it all over again, pride in myself, for my achievements, for all that I have grown since, and also pride for the friendships I made there, for seeing them evolve and watch how far they've come. I think this experience helped all of us to find ourselves.

I already knew all this but I was not so aware of it and stepping on that place again reminded me of it. Sometimes we will leave a place to never return, but the lessons learned, the memories and the good times, we keep them forever. If possible, sometimes it is good to return to those places to remember everything we have learned.

Today I am left with a bit of sadness in my heart but also with infinite gratitude for everything that happened to me there, for my evolution. I would definitely not be who I am nor would I be where I am today if I had not walked through those halls and if I had never met my teachers, my classmates and the friendships that I forged there. I continue my life always looking towards the future but without forgetting that it is always good to look back every once in a while.