thursday journals: on change

((Before I begin the actual post, let me introduce this latest feature of the blog. The Thursday Journals are a weekly series of posts, where I journal about things that have been on my mind/things I've recently discovered/things I've recently experienced//so on. They're like little peeks into my mind, and each one will be based around a specific theme/event. Okay, now onto the actual post.))

Unless you've been living under a rock, or are kind of unobservant, or are a traitor and use Bing, you might have noticed that the Google logo has changed. It's amazing, how something so small, like the font of six letters on a computer screen, can stir up such distress. The Google logo, as insignificant as we may have thought it to be, has become a constant in our lives. The redesign reminds us that nothing at all is resistant to change.

As you can see, I was pretty unhappy about the new Google logo.

(And while we're on the topic of unfortunate changes in technology: Tumblr's changed the design of it's captions. I don't like it).

My high school resumed classes last week, and seeing posts from younger students on Facebook (who are now seniors) gave me an odd sense of nostalgia, an ache for school (which is weird, I know). Things in my life are moving quickly now. Each day is passing in a haze of packing (ugh), tidying up, sorting things out and making heart-wrenching decisions about which books/clothes/various other personal possessions I should take with me to university and which ones I should leave behind. Although there's still around a month or so left before university starts, I've got to get organized because in just a few days, I'll be leaving Dubai, and I won't be coming back until December.

When I was younger, I hated change. At first, it was something that I couldn't even comprehend. I still remember when I was seven: I was in the backseat of my mum's car when my parents told me that we were moving to Dubai. Never having lived outside of New Zealand, outside of Tauranga, I couldn't even imagine what that might be like, because it was akin to completely starting over (interestingly, though, when I read my old journal from the year before I left, I didn't seem overly worried about the shift; I've barely written anything about it). At sixteen, I'm now more familiar with life's changes, but that doesn't mean that I'm always completely ready for them.

During my years in school, there were several transitions-- primary to secondary, MYP to DP--  and with each one came new challenges and adventures. The transition from high school to university is pretty big; it's probably one of the biggest changes I'll experience. Thinking about starting over from scratch in a new place, a new country is incredibly scary, and kind of makes me want to hide in a corner with a book. It's not just the fact that I'm going to university, and that the academic level will be higher; it's also that everything else will be different. For one, it's going to be cold. Having spent the last seven years in a nice, warm desert country, it's going to be difficult to acclimatise- and to dress accordingly. I've had to do some major shopping over the last couple of months, and I still don't think I have enough sweaters, because they don't really sell warm stuff here (so if anyone can recommend some good places to get warm sweaters, I will be forever grateful).  I'm also going to have to get used to cycling on roads, which I've never done, because you can't exactly walk/cycle here in Dubai. My only comfort is that a lot of people will be experiencing the same kind of feelings that I am. After all, all the freshers will be new to Cambridge, and pretty much new to the whole university thing as well.

A lot of my friends have already started university, in the USA, Canada or other countries. It's weird to think that the faces I saw every day for over two years are so far away; to think that I'm only going to see these people face-to-face during the holiday's, alumni reunions, or maybe even just once in a blue moon. Friendships and relationships that have been the kind to die over the summer and then be revived on the first day of classes are now going to be put to the test. At least, now, we have social media so that we can all stay in touch with each others' lives without having to actually be in contact (does that weird anyone else out in the slightest?). And if we do feel a need to talk to each other, there's no need to pick up a pen and paper, and then wait weeks for a reply: we can simply shoot off a short Facebook message. Ah, the blessings of the Internet.

Still, only time will tell what will weather the storm, and what will fade away, and that scares me. But I guess it's inevitable.

Change is both terrifying and exhilarating for everyone. Although we might never learn to love the unsettledness it brings, that doesn't mean that we can't get used to it. After all, everything tends to happen for a reason. If something's changing, it can only mean that something better is around the corner.

PS: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS TARA HEADING?

In case you were wondering where I'm going, I'm off to Spain! I'll be visiting Barcelona and Tarragona, so expect several posts on my trip + misadventures that'll surely occur while I put my IB Spanish to the test (espero que no he olvidado todo). I've never been to the country before, so I'm very excited.

Now hopefully I actually have internet connection, so that I can post.