Recently, I've been missing Boulder a lot. How could this be? I'm in freaking ISRAEL. I should be loving it and not even thinking of Boulder, but I am. I see all the pictures of my fraternity brothers partying it up during St. Patrick's Day and mixers with sororities. I see Facebook group postings talking about upcoming events and current situations going on in the house and of course Greek Week. Our biggest party of the year is about to happen and… I'm not there to experience any of this. It's been weird thinking that an entire semester is going to happen and I won't be there to experience it with all of my friends. Of course I've been enjoying my time here in Israel. How could I not? But there's always this feeling that I'm missing out. I know that I'm going to get back to Boulder next Fall and there are going to be ridiculous stories and a change in relationships and new relationships that I won't have. I'll have my own stories from Israel, but I cannot share them with my friends back home.
This feeling has led me, over the past couple weeks, to not appreciate Israel and my time here as much and basically I need to stop. Essentially, it all comes down to appreciation. Israel gets built up in the minds of American Jews so much because it's so far away and visits are so far apart from each other. This is the first time I've been to Israel since my senior year and after I leave, I have no idea when I'll be able to come back. As I started to get more and more anxious and excited for my semester abroad, I just thought of the amazing experience I had on IST. Now I realize, it's so much different. On Israel Study Tour, you really live a lifetime in four weeks. Now, while living here, you get into a routine. You learn to know the city. You have the same bars, the same restaurants, the same clubs, the same people, the same classes, the same grocery stores, the same everything. And because it's the same, even in Israel, a break in routine is necessary. Luckily, I got that break and now I'm ever more excited for this last month and a half in Israel. As much as I hate the fact that I see things going on for ZBTahiti and Greek Week and the mixers and the parties and the new freshmen class and everything else, I know that next year will bring the exact same thing. There will be more parties, there will be a Tahiti, there will be Greek Week, there will be St. Patricks Day, there will be mixers, there will be my fraternity brothers. But… there won't be Israel. I need to keep the FOMO going for myself, but not FOMO in Boulder, but FOMO in Israel. Every single minute is precious here in the Holy Land and everyone should always have some FOMO. It's what drives us to do the crazy things in life and to not say "No." It's all about appreciation. It's easy to appreciate things when they become routine, but now that I once again recognize this, it's easier. Why complain about missing a party with sand in the basement and a beach theme when I have a world class beach literally 20 minutes away from me? Why complain about missing out on St. Patrick's Day and the other parties when I have a world renowned night life ten minutes away and Purim and Israeli Independence Day? There are so many things to be thankful for where I am and it took meeting two girls from Berkely to say a ridiculous acronym that ended up being genius. I'm glad I got to hear this acronym and more importantly, I'm happy to report that I am once again extremely appreciative of where I am and it'll just make getting back to Boulder that much more exciting next Fall. FOMO
No comments:
Post a Comment