Wander and Learn

I'll never forget the day my boyfriend, now ex, said he got admission in Kings College and would be moving to London. We were living in India then. We met in school in 2008 and fell in love. Yes, we were too young to experience love, but till date, even though we are not together, I think that was the maximum I could devote myself to someone. We then moved to Mumbai for our graduation, the dream city of India. A year later, he told me he was moving to London. I like a good girlfriend, did not want to hamper his growth because of emotions. We promised to stay loyal, love each other more and get through the phase stronger.
Our most dreaded and feared, long distance phase began. Long hours of skype, online kisses and new stories, we started living on these. How beautiful the Big Ben is and how many statues of Indian celebrities they have at Madame Tussauds. London was now my next destination. To finally be there, and walk through Tower Bridge, holding hands, was a dream. But stories turned into justifications and skype sessions to fights. He started to think I was below his standards and could do much better than me. This got me a lot of sympathy points but I do think, back then it was true. He was better than me at a certain level. But I believed if we loved each other, nothing would matter. After all, we were still growing. Despite everything, it ended. I died inside and didn’t recover for a year. Somehow, finished graduation with a first class and parents pushed me for a Masters in the UK. UK for me meant him. Even though I did not completely move on, was sensible enough to not base life decisions on someone who is no more. I still remember the day my flight landed in London. It was my first time there, all alone, in an entire opposite situation than I had imagined. I did not believe I was in England.
I’m studying in Durham at present and have travelled almost all of the UK, seen the most beautiful places and all by myself. Contrary to what I imagined, I’m still single but after I came to UK, I realized that the 5 year old relationship made me lose so much more than just someone I loved, I lost myself. And here, in the Winter Wonderland at Edinburgh and the picturesque Durham Castle and fancy streets of Birmingham, I found myself and fell in love again, with myself.
Next week, after exams, for the first time in 7months of my UK experience, I am going to London, very much back in love, to see the Big Ben and Tower Bridge.