Wow. I can't believe my first year is over.
It's been months and months of getting used to the new, the different, the unknown. It's hard to believe that this Eduardo, the very same one whose conscious begged him to go home when he landed in London back in September without a return ticket, has managed to stay and has made it this far. I'm not the same person I was in September, I'm really not (I don't care how cliché that sounds). I did a crash course on 'how to live'. I've become more of an adult. Dreamy Eduardo has somehow faded away and replaced with 'wake up to reality' Eduardo. I've lost a few friends and gained many more. I saw relationships with old friends becoming stronger and stronger as the kilometers between us increased. I missed home. I didn't miss home. I laughed myself to sleep and I cried myself to sleep. I haven't found myself (see, I'm not that cliché). In fact, I think I confused myself, making me hard to find. Between emotions and ideas and thoughts and feelings there's an Eduardo which I can't quite see from here. Something to work on.
I love London. That love only grows as time flies by. Is this home? Is it forever? I doubt it (reality Eduardo here). The part of me that says London has it all, has still a lot to see in the world. When you stop and think about it London can be one of the worst places you could be in. It takes everything away from you. It takes your soul and keeps it. You miss it the moment you leave, even if for a day. You are constantly poor, cold and depressed from the lack of sun. But you still want it. You still love it. You still wouldn't change it for the world. Dreamy Eduardo dreams of one day being able of breaking the spell London cast on him.
I've crossed an ocean this year, something I never though I'd do at this point of my life, and, in a way, I have to thank London for it. For messing up my life to such a point that it made me the happiest guy on Earth. This has to be the most important thing London gave me, and without a doubt, the one I'm the most thankful for.
That has to be the biggest lesson I take from all of this. To be thankful. Thankful to my parents and all they sacrifice for me, my friends who put up with me my peaks of homesickness and this city for opening up my mind, my horizons, my dreams and hopes and ultimately for showing me love.