You are incredibly spoiled, but probably don’t realize it. Living in Lund affords you a luxury that would have made old kings green with envy. Justin Chan urges you to count this special blessing while it lasts.
As of last week, Lund can count 500 new foreign faces among its group of friends. In coming weeks, newcomers will shake hands with possibly hundreds of new people from lands so diverse, some students might learn for the first time that certain countries exist.
But as much as going abroad is about finding excitement through things that are different, the thrill of these novel experiences eventually dissipates. Experiences which used to dazzle you become less spectacular over time.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our social circle. How many nationalities can you count among your friends? It’s probably a vastly higher number than what it was back home. This fact was probably mind-blowing during your first month here, but now, not so much. You come to expect that any dinner party you attend will feature at least four nationalities at the table. It’s like living in some model-UN world where national identity has been rendered irrelevant.
The fact that we become so accustomed to this lifestyle is hardly negative, however. On the contrary, our capacity to be good global citizens can only be enhanced through sharing our daily lives with other members of the world.
What we should be cautious of—because it is quite easy to do—is taking our current lifestyle for granted. How often in your life will you reside in a foreign city so densely packed with people from every corner of the Earth? While that hardly sounds extraordinary to anyone in Lund, to the vast majority of people in the world, it is.
You have to step out of your little world to grasp the bigger picture. Times like now—in the dreary humdrum of winter—are when it is most important to do that. Your mood sinks, turning petty concerns into overblown issues. Such times call for a change of perspective. You possess innumerable daily opportunities to become better acquainted with foreign customs, politics, and philosophies. Kings would have envied this luxury hundreds of years ago.
Who would have thought that you lead such a charmed life?
