There's a kind of stillness here.

[smileycrayons]

My first semester here has ended.
I've been living in Japan
for nearly four months now.
I've seen beautiful things
Met wonderful people
Made precious friends
Fell in love
and already experienced
and learned so much.
My way of life
My way of thinking
has all been changing,
and I'm living more than I ever have.
Now when I'm afraid
I see it as an exciting challenge
and continue on without running away.
There have been some hard times
as expected,
where I've questioned myself
where I've been frustrated with myself
But through that I've grown all the more.
I've been living these days
with the boy I love.
He's become like family to me,
like home.
I'm so grateful to finally experience it-
love, that is.
I'm not being unrealistic,
nor am I blindly hoping for forever,
All I know
is that right now
I'm in love with someone who loves me,
and it's crazy, it's fun, it's difficult,
it's a struggle, it's everything
and nothing I thought it would be.
And I never expected
How you get more out of loving
than from being loved.