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Life > Experiences

From Farewell to Forever: A Love Letter

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at McMaster chapter.

We pack our bags with clothes, dreams, and courage – but what about the weight of the goodbyes?

It’s been 518 days, 23 hours, and 56 minutes right down to this instant since I’ve pinched my baby sister’s cheeks, embraced my mom, or sipped on a cup of tea with my dad. It might have been just a minute longer, since I’ve hung out with friends who come excruciatingly close to being my other family. People often say navigating a long-distance relationship is tough – the physical distance, the time zone differences, and the influx of novel experiences that cross both you and your partner’s paths.

Why is it that no one ever talks about the long-distance friendships that go through a similar ordeal, if not more?

One moment, you’re enthusiastically making plans to surprise your friend for her birthday, and the next, you’re rushing to shop for warm clothes to withstand the negative temperatures of North America. Coming from a simple home of loving yet overprotective parents, I wasn’t even allowed sleepovers at the friends place. From then to now having them make the life-altering decision to send their daughter off to a country 6473.64 miles away alone was, to put it mildly, quite the shocker. Therefore, you can imagine that talking to my friends about this transition wasn’t particularly enjoyable either. We found ourselves bawling into tears every five seconds before regaining our composure the first time around. 

Life abroad might appear glamorous and appealing, and it might genuinely be so to a certain extent. However, what value does that glamour hold when your loved ones aren’t around you to share it with? What’s the point of making memories, if only those memories are destined to gather dust in your mind’s attic forever? Why take a chance at a potentially better life when those who have guided you to reach this point aren’t even here to witness it?

The minute you decide to pack up your entire life into a 23-kg luggage, it seems fair to proclaim you bade goodbye to a lot of constants in your life. It is an unsaid promise that you make to yourself to never revert to being the person you once were. Do not mistake my poignant recollections as a show of sorrow, I truly relish being an international student. Each day presents an opportunity to discover your own capabilities, acknowledge your achievements, and prepare for experiences to surprise you. Not to mention the spontaneous solo trips along hidden alleyways, getting complimented by a stranger, and getting to absorb the vibrant cultures of a new country help too.

Yet, there are those one or two days where you glance at photos of your friends cracking up, which pinches your heart just a little and sends you into a spiraling fear of missing out. 

However, if I’m being wholeheartedly honest, I’ve been fortunate when it comes to friendships. From being a lending ear to a certified relationship guru, I’ve experienced the larger part of friendships in the form of video calls across distances. I’ve ventured through the scenes of their lives through their overly comprehensive yet riveting voice notes. I’ve listened to them cast themselves as the heroes in their stories, sometimes stepping into the roles of a villain or even at times having a tussle in between right and wrong to emerge as a grey character. 

From vicariously learning about medicine from my aspiring doctor friend to receiving career guidance from the one majoring in business; from hearing the latest gossip from one to having the other one sharing her recipe for a new concoction of a dish; from scrolling through long texts filled with life lessons from one friend to having the other one share his umpteenth business idea; from one inspiring me with his relentless pursuit of excellence to another boosting my confidence with a constant “You got this!” text – my friends have always made me feel as if I had never left in the first place. They’ve shown me a profound amount of love, even when I’ve felt undeserving of it. They’ve helped me mend the pieces of a broken heart, been my biggest cheerleaders, and supported me through every hurdle, no matter how small or significant.

Most importantly, they’ve kept me sane in a world where it is fairly easy to be susceptible to a virus called ‘loneliness’. 

People have often remarked how I am a person that leans slightly on the less emotional side of the spectrum. Staying true to that observation, I don’t recall ever expressing to my friends what paramount importance each and every single one of them hold in my life. Even if I don’t articulate it daily, know that I appreciate your presence. I vow to be there for you in whatever capacity I can, even if it means peeking through the pixels of a screen for the time being. And perhaps one day, you’ll awaken to a subtle knock at the door and find me standing on the other side with a bouquet of flowers.

Nusaiba Yasin

McMaster '27

Nusaiba is a sophomore at McMaster University majoring in Biotechnology. She is joining as a full time writer at HerCampus McMaster this fall. Born into a family of physicians, she hopes to incorporate her love for Biology into inventing something that might just be the warrior fighting the next global pandemic! On a regular day, you will find Nusaiba hopping from one bus to the next in search of the hidden gems the city has to offer. Apart from that, she is a tea enthusiast at heart, an avid follower of all classic sitcoms and a fanatic of the Harry Potter books. Nusaiba believes that you've all got a friend in her. At night when she dozes off to sleep, she dreams of spreading just a little more of positivity into the world.