Zip Line
Hotro Masni Yuliani Damanik (INA YES to USA YP 16–17)
Do you still remember how it feels when it was your first time riding a zip line? I still remember mine. I saw people flying at one tiny cable. They were screaming, laughing, and without them knowing, they were raising a glimmer of light in my heart, a glimmer of hope for me to feel the excitement that they felt.
Now, as I’m living my exchange year in the United States, I realize that going on exchange is like riding a zip line. Looking at how happy exchange students are made me brave enough to leave my comfort zone and see the world. My hope, motivation, dream, and purpose become my helmet and my harnesses.
I climbed until I reached the peak. From the peak, I saw how far I was from the ground, how small the things beneath me. The fear of falling started to overwhelm me. Panic, I began to ask the guard, “Is this safe? It’s safe, isn’t it? I’m not going to fall, right?” I thought I would be so ready to fly, but I was wrong.
It was almost six months passed after the first time I arrived in Alabama. But I still vividly remember how nervous and afraid I was at that time. I lost my confidence and I kept thinking that I obviously would fall on the ground. But life must go on and I had to fly no matter what it takes. I let go eventually.
My heart was beating so fast as I let go and flew away. The excitement slapped me in the face and I felt like my eyes finally opened. The beauty underneath me was indescribable. All the small things that I saw from up high made me speechless. It was all awesome.
Alabama is really different from the place that I had been living for sixteen years of my life. I love how they wear boots and say, “Hey, how y’all doin’?” “Roll Tide!” I love how they greet everyone with “ma’am” and “sir”. I love their country music, I love their food, I love their accent. I love all about these different things. All the different things that I found here make such a beauty that I will not find anywhere else. The way people talk, think, and do things make me realize that neither of them is right or wrong. It’s just different.
Time flies and I still find new things every single day. The new things have become my habit. I say “y’all” more, I say sorry and thank you more, it does not bother me anymore when I do not eat rice every day, and simply to say, Alabama has become my home. It is true that home is not a place but it is a feeling.
As I flew at one tiny cable, I knew that it was going to end soon. So I screamed as loud as I could before it had to stop and I had to walk away. As I’m living my dream here, I know that these best of days will end soon. Sooner than what I realize it will be. So I put my best effort to have beautiful memories for me to remember and hopefully meaningful reasons for me to come back.
My first time riding a zip line ended. I touched the ground again. I looked at the zip line then walked away. The excitement that I felt when I was flying did not stop there. It lasted. When I have to go back to my country, I hope the excitement that I feel here will last forever. I hope I can spread the excitement that I feel to all over Indonesia, or so, to all over the world.
In the end, I would like to thank my homes. Thank you for teaching me so well, Indonesia. And thank you for loving me so well, America. But for now on, I cherish every moment, every little thing. Because, I’m still flying, anyway.
The End.
February 7, 2017
12.12 am, central time
Hotro Masni Yuliani Damanik.
