Illustration by Gauraang Biyani
Students Share Stories of Saying Goodbye
At a place like NYU Abu Dhabi, students often have to learn to say goodbye over and over again.
Myera Rashid
,- and
Larayb Abrar
Nov 19, 2016
At a place like NYU Abu Dhabi where people are constantly hopping on planes, where home is miles away, friends are countries apart and graduation means possibly not seeing someone ever again, students have to learn to say goodbye over and over again.
Saying goodbye isn’t just emotionally difficult, it has an impact on us psychologically too. According to recent neuroscience research, saying goodbye can have an effect on the pleasure regions of our brains.
“When humans become attached to someone, they derive pleasure from the attachment, and their nucleus accumbens activate,” noted clinical psychologist Mary-Frances O'Connor of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Seeing as it is so hard to say goodbye, people often have to develop ways to deal with the initial sadness that follows. Some people like to forge good memories, others see goodbyes as temporary and some remain unsure of how to deal with the experience.
“I try to have one good final good memory with someone and keep it with me until I see them the next time,” said junior Rosy Tahan.
Some people, like graduated alumnus Devin Cuinn, like to think that they will see their friends from NYUAD again.
“I suck with goodbyes, but … I tell people that they should let me know if they were coming to Ireland, and that they were always welcome in my house … and I actually mean that.”
Cuinn also told people that they’d definitely meet again, because he likes to believes that it’s a pretty small world.
Leaving home is an altogether different struggle for students at NYUAD, as some have never lived away from home and some are unsure of how they will adjust to college.
“I told my mom to not hold me for too long at the airport or I would start crying and not be able to go,” recalled sophomore Ghaniba Ali. Although she sees the incident as somewhat dramatic now, since she is still constantly in touch with her mother, she does see that separating from someone for an extended period of time can be emotional.
“I still don’t know how I’m going to say goodbye to [my friends when they study abroad]. I really don’t want to deal with it,” Ali elaborated.
Sophomore Mani Rehman, like Ali, sees goodbyes mostly as something temporary.
“I know they’ll be back and I know we will still be friends,” he wrote to The Gazelle.
Much like how Tahan says goodbye, Rehman also attempts to leave with good memories.
“I usually couple a goodbye with doing something nice for them. Something they can remember me by,” he says.
Myera Rashid is a contributing writer. Larayb Abrar is Features Editor. Email them at feedback@thegazelle.org.
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