In high school, and even in college, almost everyone receives some sort of label to define "who they are." In a typical American school setting, you have your jocks, theater kids, nerds, popular girls, bullies, hipsters and a billion other types of friend groups. If you have ever seen the movie "Mean Girls," you know that Janice Ian and Damien do a better job of breaking down the friend groups in their lunchroom than I ever will be able to. Also, if you have ever attended high school, you know which group you identified with. Whether your label was good or bad, you still felt a sense of family when you were with the people who you were able to share that same identity with.
Being in the same clique with a bunch of people who have exactly the same interests as you is definitely comforting. It creates a sense of security and belonging, but what would happen if that label was taken away? Would you still identify as a nerd, jock or whatever other title you had been given? One of the things going on a study abroad trip without knowing anyone prior has shown me is that I am more than just my "identity label."
In my case, my identity label would be considered "the cheerleader." Being a collegiate cheerleader takes up about 98 percent of your time. If you're not at practices, workouts, games or events, you're usually either in class or sleeping. So, naturally, all of my friends are on my team. I love them all like my own family, and I wouldn't trade them for the world, but being without my "clique" for six weeks has made me realize that there are other types of people out there who are just like me, but without the label of "the cheerleader."
I never would have thought that I would have found a girl who is literally a carbon copy of me while on this trip. It's actually kind of scary, but I absolutely love it. However, I would not have met her had I not broken out of my comfortable "clique." It's interesting how much in common you can have with someone even though you aren't spending that 98 percent of your time with them. You never know who else is out there outside of your bubble until you pop it.
Long story short, whatever comfort I felt from being "the cheerleader" was immediately taken away when I went on this trip. I no longer am "the cheerleader," I'm just a girl, who also happens to be a cheerleader. The hipster isn't "the hipster," he's just a guy who wears beanies in the middle of summer. The nerd isn't "the nerd," she's just a carbon copy of me who happens to have almost double my GPA. You never really can judge a book by its cover or even its title. The only way you can tell how well a book relates to you is if you pick it up and read it.
They say "break the mold." It's a cliche, I know, but I think I finally understand what it means, at least for me. At any moment, you will always be some sort of stereotype no matter how hard you try to stay undefined. Getting to break the mold of the ditzy, too bubbly cheerleader, and turn it into a multimedia journalism major who enjoys chill rap, yelling while talking and making terrible puns is mold worth breaking.
