Live, Laugh, Love.

‘How did I end up here?’ The one question that constantly plagues my mind. Allow me to introduce myself. I am a twenty year old student currently living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was not born here, I did not grow up here, yet five years and counting I call this place home. Though it may seem strange, incomprehensive or just plain mad; I would not change a single thing. Here I feel welcome, here I feel whole, and here is where I found myself.
I believe nothing in life is by chance and that everything happens for a reason. Whether we learn from our experiences is up to us and our lives are solely determined by our perceptions. Positivity and an open mind can change our outlooks and enable us to see beauty in everything around us. This was a challenge I had to face and a virtue I had to perfect in order to see light in the darkness of my situation. Simply changing high schools for any sixteen year old girl is a nightmare in and of itself but changing your whole entire life was my reality when I found myself moving half way across the world from Canada to Bosnia almost five years ago. Why, you may ask? The simple answer; I didn’t have a choice, yet since then I can honestly say I haven’t regretted a single day of life in this hidden gem. I have grown in ways I would have never imagined. I’ve experienced life. I lived, I laughed, and I loved. Bosnia has been an open door to endless possibilities as I have had opportunity upon opportunity to do what I love.
Since moving here I’ve travelled more then I have in my entire life, being able to visit places such as Turkey, Sweden, and New York all the while writing about my experiences. I was able to become a freelance writer for a local news paper and allow my creativity to grow with every new article. I was able to find inspiration and passion in my surroundings allowing me to see the world through different eyes. I did not know what it meant to live outside your comfort zone; I did not know adventure and I did not know how it felt to actually be alive until I got here. What initially seemed like the worst turning point in my life quickly became a living dream. Reality changed when I ended up here and though I’m still not sure how everything fell into place, I’m sure glad it did.