Why I Chose to Make Friends Outside Edinburgh’s Queer Community
As an asexual person, I live a very quiet life in the LGBTQ community. I identify as queer, so it鈥檚 hardly surprising that I have a lot of friends who also identify as queer. Well, I do back home that is. I didn鈥檛 regularly attend any LGBTQ clubs or groups or anything like that on my home campus, simply because I had no time, but when I looked around me, I realized I had a very diverse group of friends in Chicago and on campus.
Here in Edinburgh, I chose not to get involved much with BLOGS, the LGBT+ society on campus. Consequently, here I鈥檝e noticed my friend group is more culturally diverse instead of sexually diverse. Naturally, neither one is better than the other; I鈥檓 just happy to be able learn things from all sorts of people. It allows me to see things from a new and different perspective.
That鈥檚 not at all to say I鈥檓 uncomfortable at the University of Edinburgh鈥擲cotland is a remarkably open place (equal marriage was legalized at about the same time as same sex marriage in the U.S. and I just read this interesting about the incredible diversity of the Scottish Parliament). But being surrounded by a different variety of people has led me to explore different parts of my identity, an essential part of studying abroad.
Traveling to a different country forces you to start all over again; as a junior, I feel like I鈥檓 reliving my freshman year. Figuring out classes, making new friends, joining new clubs鈥攊t鈥檚 all familiar, yet different, so I approach things from different angles. My real freshman year, I was just coming to understand my orientation, so it fed into my core identity at my home university. Now that I鈥檓 comfortable and aware of that part of me, I can focus on what else makes me, me. I know who I am as a queer person, but I鈥檓 still learning who I am as a global citizen.
Because of this, I focused primarily on the societies and opportunities that aren鈥檛 available back home and I鈥檓 glad for it. By surrounding myself with a new group of diverse people, I鈥檝e come to realize things about myself that I never thought to explore before. I鈥檝e learned who I am without my friends and family from back home, what I like to do in my free time now that I actually have free time, and more. Studying abroad helped me figure out these different aspects of myself.
Studying abroad is all about trying new things. It鈥檚 a semester鈥攐r year鈥攐f exploration. For me, that exploration has been mostly outside of the LGBTQ community, and I welcome that. It鈥檚 important to surround yourself with people who understand you, but it鈥檚 just as important to gain understanding of yourself. Changing your environment is the quickest way to do this, whether it鈥檚 a different city, country or just opening yourself up to new friends.
Megan M. | History, Anthropology, and East Asian Studies major with a minor in English | Brandeis University | University of Edinburgh Partnership聽in聽Edinburgh, Scotland聽| 2016 | IFSA International Correspondent