A Long Way from Home: Cool Times in Sweden

Andrew Yoshimoto
Uppsala University, Sweden

This year abroad has been a time of great self-discovery for me. By leaving my comfort zone, moving away from my family and friends, and by living on my own, I feel that I have been able to grow as a person and develop certain aspects of myself that would have otherwise gone unnoticed after being born and raised in Hawaiʻi. Sometimes, during my interactions with others, I felt like a spectator as someone else holds control of my body. It took me a while to discover that rather than me changing into a different person, that these characteristics were merely a component of myself as a whole, which I never get to express. Of course, I also learned a little more about the world by meeting people from many different countries, but what I really took away was that people really are similar no matter where you come from. While I am looking forward to returning home, I am not going back without some cherished memories. One such memory was right here in Flogsta, where I have lived for the past 10 and a half months. It was December, and the winter had certainly come for us here in Uppsala.