may 31st 2022
There's an old parable in china i really love about a farmer and his fate:
He had one old horse that he used to plow his fields. One day the horse ran away and everyone
said "we are so sorry for your bad luck". The old man replied "bad luck good luck, who knows?". A
week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses which now belonged to the old man.
Everyone said "we're so happy for your good luck" and the old man replied "good luck bad luck,
who knows?" While his only son was riding one of the wild horses, he fell off and broke his
leg. Everyone said "what bad luck", and the old man replied "bad luck good luck, who knows?".
Shortly after, the army came to the village and took all the strong young men to be soldiers
for the emperor. The farmer's son was spared because he could not fight with a broken leg.
Everyone said "oh good luck" the old man replied "good luck bad luck, who knows?"
I write this excerpt from Retiro park in Madrid. This city holds a lot of significance in my life,
and at the same time none at all. In march of 2020,
I got placed in a university in Madrid for my year abroad; this university actually.
Just before the semester began, I was packed and ready to go; I even had my
apartment sorted. It was then that i received a very short and to the point email that said:
"Lucy your Erasmus in Madrid has been cancelled due to Covid. I'm very sorry."
I remember sitting there staring at the email for 10 minutes thinking "wow that's really bad luck."
My Erasmus year that i dreamed of was all over the second i read that email.
There was a large part of me that understood and agreed with the reason for cancelling. We were in
a dangerous pandemic and my Erasmus was not a high priority in the grand scheme of things. But there
was naturally another side of me that selfishly felt betrayed and as if the world were against me.
Fast forward one year and i finally got to go on my year abroad in Spain.
Not only that but I had the luck to spend an online semester in France and another semester
living in France with my boyfriend.Iit seemed like i got the best of both worlds somehow.
My year in Spain was spent in valencia working as an english teacher in a primary school;
a job i never realised i could love so much. This year has possibly been one of the best of my life
and I owe a great part of it to the city for being the perfect place at the perfect time.
Almost immediately after arriving in Valencia, i knew this city was the right one for me.
I made friends I'm lucky to call my second family and experiences I am internally grateful for.
It's pretty funny now as i recall receiving this email of the cancellation of my Erasmus
year in Madrid. Now i look back and think "wow what good luck".
Madrid is a beautiful city indeed, but it was never the city intended for me.
It's too big and busy for a country girl like me and there's no beach in sight.
Most importantly it was always lacking the strong friendships that I only would
have made here in Valencia, these specific people at this specific time in my life.
I sometimes wonder what my year abroad in Madrid would have been like.
Whether I would have been happy there,
how differently my spanish would have developed without the influence of the valencian language.
But we shouldn't ask ourselves the 'what if's, there's no sense in that.
Instead i believe we should look back on the decisions or choices fate had once given us,
as i believe a lot of events we once called bad luck will be turned into good luck.
have you ever experienced the bad luck good luck phenomenon