Her elbow collided with my nose. I heard the crack of my bone. A surge of intense pain. Tears streaming down my face. My first football (or soccer as we say) game in five years and 35 minutes in, I break my nose.
After the initial shock, my face swelled to what felt like the size of a beach ball. My teammates rushed to my side and a slew of “oh my god’s” filled my ears.
The swelling was at its worst over the next three days when conveniently I was headed to Edinburgh to visit a friend studying abroad from UNC. That was when my violently purple and black shiner set in to accompany my engorged nose. I was told that if I painted my face blue, I would look exactly like an avatar. Wish this collision had taken place for Halloween—then it could’ve worked double duty!
As I boarded the train from Manchester, everyone’s eyes were on me. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. In fact everywhere I went I could feel the eyes of curious onlookers upon me. At first I had almost forgotten about my puffy, bruised face and all the attention almost felt flattering. But the longer people stared the more it began to eat away at my self-confidence.
On top of that, I was headed to a new city in a different country where I knew no one but the two friends I was going to visit—my swollen purple face being my lasting impression on the people I met. Everyone could identify me as the girl with the shiner or the American who broke her nose.
I admit, at first this was really difficult to get past. Sure I tried to make light of it. I really attempted to not be pre-occupied with my physical appearance—I mean I was still me. However, my “me-ness” seemed to be a bit dulled that weekend.
As my three days in the land of the Scots progressed, I learned to apply a little humor (in addition to a pack of frozen peas) to my swollen nose. It was actually a great pub conversation starter—the stories that could accompany a break like that! The possibilities were endless. Once I decided to embrace my injury, things were on the up.
They say that when you travel you learn a lot about yourself. Well I had never thought of myself as an image-driven person before this. However this incident reinforced (however cheesy it may be) that confidence and the impressions you make on people truly are based on who you are as a person, not on what you look like. And when things don’t go your way or put a damper on your mood, embrace the less-than-ideal situations and work them to your advantage.
After all, what better way to break the ice than with embellished tales of breaking your nose?