Saturday, July 19, 2014

A Summer to Remember by Isabella Cunningham

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”  -Henry Miller

The end of the school year is always a bittersweet time; everyone itching for finals to be over while eagerly waiting for summer days to officially start. But for me, this end was especially bittersweet since I had made the decision to spend the summer in New York City, living in NYU dorms and doing an internship at a production studio in Soho. Being abroad as I was in the fall made me appreciate the genuine and amazing friends I’ve been blessed to know at LMU, while I was gone and especially when I came back. Therefore, coming back to LMU in January, I was very happy to return to these incredible, long-lasting friends. But too quickly, the semester was over.

In May, two days after school ended, I was fortunate enough to travel to Bali with my mom for two weeks. I had been to Bali once before when I was four, so naturally I barely remembered anything besides getting a $5 dollar massage on the beach by four Balinese women who giggled as they each took a limb of my body to massage because I was so tiny.

What I quickly learned is that those $5 massages still exist and the people are just as friendly and warm as I remember. My two weeks were spent exploring the city of Ubud,
biking through the remote towns in the surrounding countryside, and scuba diving at the neighboring island of Gili Trawangan. The people I met and the things I saw on that trip will vividly remain with me forever. The Balinese people are the most amazing and admirable people in the world (or what I’ve seen of it). Hindu by religion, their culture is centered around being the best version of oneself possible, believing in karma and helping and supporting one another no matter the age, job, or social class. The Balinese people welcomed us with open arms, going above and beyond what is customary to make us feel comfortable, giving us more than just material gifts but the most important gift of unconditional hospitality and welcome. For instance, when we left our hotel for only three days to go to Gili T, we came back to find hand-picked flowers arranged into a sign that read, ‘WELCOME HOME’ on our bedroom floor. To them, the people they meet and the friends they make become family, and family is all that matters in life.

Being able to experience an environment of unconditional love and acceptance with such inspiring people is the most refreshing part of my last few months. It was a trip I will never forget and I hope that everyone is able to experience what I saw and did at one point in their lives, because it’ll change his/her perspective on life and what matters most, without a doubt.

Less than a week after I returned home to San Francisco from Bali, I packed my bags and flew out to New York City, where I started my summer internship and moved into my NYU dorm in Union Square.




Since I barely knew anyone in New York, it was a blessing to have two former LMU and Alpha Phi sisters, Jordan and Clare, already living there. These women inspire me, and were my saviors in those first days I arrived and felt like a lost kid at Disneyland. Clare is my grand-big and has remained one of my best friends despite her having graduated and moved to New York two years ago. Upon my arrival, she immediately dropped everything to help me move in, take me to dinner and make me feel at home. Jordan, on the other hand, has been a great inspiration to me (and thousands of others, I’m sure). A passionate health enthusiast and blogger, she was part of some extraordinary events these past two months, and I was able to also support her in some of these awesome experiences.  I saw first-hand how amazing the people I’ve been lucky to know from LMU are. These girls made my summer transition to New York not only easy, but also so much fun. I know they will remain friends of mine forever.

These two months in New York have also been a total whirlwind, and I’ve met some incredible individuals and had some of the best experiences of my life. This city is wonderful and has so much to offer. You find yourself busy all the time. Literally all the time. It was a big and scary decision to move out here for the summer and saying goodbye to my best friends again seemed crazy, but life is all about exploring and discovering everything this vast and complex world of ours has to offer, and sharing those experiences with the people who lift you up and enable you to become a better person. And it doesn’t matter if they’re right there with you or a Skype session away. My friends back at home and I, as I like to say, are always together, never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart!


I absolutely cannot WAIT to get back to LA and be back with all the amazing people I know! 


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