A New Type of Transition

In music there are many types of transitions: key changes, tempo changes, dynamic changes, mode shifts, texture changes, etc... As a musician, I am always searching for any upcoming transitions that could make my fingers slip, or my voice falter. I have never felt intimidated for a transition because I usually practiced that transition many times before a performance. But now that I am preparing for the biggest transition of my life thus far, I find myself unprepared.  

Not only am I beginning my first year of college in a month, but I am spending my first semester across the Atlantic Ocean. My excitement for studying in London for four months is limitless, but I do worry about the transition to a new culture. I know that the United Kingdom is still part of the western world, and I will not have to speak a new language or hide parts of my body, but I am still a little intimidated by the change. Not afraid, my excitement trumps any fear that might be in my subconscious, but slightly uneasy. This is not a modulation I can practice and practice and practice until my fingers do not trip over accidentals. This is not an octave jump that I can sing until my voice moves like water. This is a real, jump in the deep end transition that I have never experienced before. 

The longest I have ever stayed away from home was two weeks, and I stayed with my extended family for the extent of that trip. I have never had to say goodbye to my mother, father, or sister for more than two weeks, and in one month I am going to say goodbye to them for four months. I will be saying goodbye to them for forever because I am going to be a different person when I come back. Hopefully I will be more independent and mature, but I will be different. This is the first transition that my parents will not be there to help me with, because we are transitioning to live apart from each other. I will have to say goodbye to the friends that have been by my side for years and years. I know I will make new friendships and relationships at school, but it is still unnerving to think that I will not sit in a hallway every morning with the people I have loved for the past four years. 

Over the next four years, I know that I will make new friendships. Thanks to social media, I have already begun to create friendships with my fellow London students. One of the most consoling thoughts I have about my upcoming adventure is that we will all be transitioning together. We are all going to figure out travel, budgeting money and time, and a new culture together. And that is what is going to make this transition easier. I will not be with my parents or high school friends, but I will not be alone. I expect the first couple weeks to be like a choir sight-reading a difficult piece for the first time: confusing and chaotic. But, as we become more used to each other, school, and British culture, I think each day we will become so in tune with our new lives that when the time comes for us to depart from London, our lives will be like singing a song we've known our whole lives: second-nature, melodious, and familiar. The transitions something that we have smoothed over until they are almost imperceptible.