The Departed

I apologize in advance for this post because it's definitely more of a reflection-type blog, which I said that I would try to avoid.. but I'm not in France yet so I don't really have any fun activities to talk about, so bear with me.

Last night as I was watching The Departed with the fam, I had a thought. In our high school yearbooks there was a section called Likes & Dislikes (I think that's what it was called anyway) and part of that section was to list your favorite quote. My quote was the opening line of The Departed: "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me." I was thinking about this quote again last night and I realized that my feelings about it have completely changed, especially when I think about my upcoming year. I'm going to France to purposefully be changed by my new environment. I want to be a product of Toulouse. In high school I think this quote made more sense to me because I was so involved in clubs and activities and felt like I was the one shaping the "world" around me. Although I'm still super involved in college, I think I've learned how to adapt and appreciate the situations around me more, rather than constantly wanting to change and shape them. Maybe it's because I'm surrounded by people from different backgrounds who bring different perspectives, rather than the same old high school crowd. I think this change in attitude will be an asset during my upcoming year, where I'll not only meet new people from the US but new people from around the world. It's interesting how a person can change in two years. Although in a year from now I'll probably be saying how it's amazing how much a person can change in less than a year.