I know it's been a while since I've written to you guys about my
adventures abroad! I apologize for my absence, but I have been pretty
busy and feeling a little lost myself. But one thing I definitely
learned while living in London was that being lost always led to finding
something extraordinary. Whenever you travel to a new place, there are
always going to be stressful moments where you feel completely lost and
out of your comfort zone. Everything is different, including the
streets, language, transportation system, and even the people. It can be
extremely overwhelming and you find yourself feeling helpless and
really appreciative for everything at home. It suddenly seems so much
easier to be home where fast food is just a drive away and things we
enjoy are at our beck and call. But I found even in the WORST moments I
had abroad being lost, I always stumbled upon something that made me
grateful and excited just to be there in the first place. I mean how
many people can say they got terribly lost in London or Paris? It's an
opportunity that not many get to have so you might as well enjoy it,
right? In my first week in London, my boss for my internship sent me on
an errand to do for her. She wanted me to learn for myself how to get
around the big city because she knew what I didn't at the time: Getting
lost and finding my own way would give me the confidence to do anything I
could imagine like never before. I was given a bag of clothes to return
to a designer along with a A to Z guide map to the London Tube system
as well as every street in the entire city, and that's it. Never before
in my life have I used a real map since I had navigation on my phone or
MapQuest on the internet. I suddenly felt
very grateful for
those. I ended up getting off on the wrong stop and asked shop owners
and even the UPS Man where the building I was trying to find was. No one
knew. I went back on the tube and ended up falling down the stairs
tripping over a man I could have sworn was Ed Sheeran, (wishful
thinking). I became so stressed and wanted with every fiber of my body
to give up and cry. But I sucked it up, because no one was going to hold
my hand and help me. If I wanted to live in a new country and
experience working in the city, I needed to find my way. It was time to
grow up. Eventually, I made myself take a deep breath and start over.
It turns out I walked right past the building a few times, I just didn't
notice because I was so stressed. Once I got the job done I made my way
out and realized I was still lost.
But as it turns out, right around
the corner I stumbled into historic Regent Street. I had been trying to
find it a few days before, and as fate would have it, I found it on my
own without even looking. I spent the rest of the day exploring, ice
cream in hand, with the biggest smile on my face I've ever had. It turns
out the worst day ever, turned out to be the best simply because I
allowed myself to see the beauty in getting lost. I may have rarely
gotten directions right the first time around after that in London or
any other country I visited, but I had the best time figuring it out. So
my advice to you while traveling anywhere you have never been to would
be to just enjoy the simple fact of being lost. Take it as an
opportunity to try something new, or make a new friend. It might seem
unsettling at first, but you never know where you may end up. It takes
getting truly lost in adventure and the unknown to truly find yourself.
Here's to getting lost,
Miranda Lopez
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