Spare Some Change?

Everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change.

I'm 20 years old and the past 5 years of my life have been on the turbulent side. I've lived in Japan for one year, France for one year, New Jersey for one year, and Clemson, and South Carolina for two years. That's not to mention the fact that I have been to over 15 countries in the mean time and all over Japan and France (to the point that I know these individual countries better than my own country.) Unconventional life for an unconventional kid.

One of the things I've noticed about everyone I've encountered is how one changes, or doesn't change for that matter. Verona, New Jersey, for instance, my home town, has not changed one ounce. The people are still slightly obnoxious, close-knit, very involved with themselves and the town happenings, and slightly hypocritical. I say this in the nicest way possible. Since, after all, it's a great town to grow up in. Everyone knows your name and business, which is good for me since I'm generally a well-respected kid. Not that anyone seems to understand why I would want to leave the almighty Verona High school to go away to some bizarre East Asian earthquake-prone country, or even go to college in a faraway place where you can't come home every weekend for  home-cooked meal and Mommy's love. (I realize this sounds super sarcastic, in the traditional JujuB sense... but I'm being completely serious.)

My question is: Is it better to be malleable and change and 'do as the Romans' or stay true to one's roots and never change?

I've changed so much in the past 5 years that I sometimes don't even know who I am. The Queen of the Couch and the potato chip wrapped in Bacon is now a Vegetarian Granola marathon runner. I went from Deadhead to Parrothead to Goth to punk to Roll out of Bed fashion to Sorority prepster, and now I'm back on the market for not having a clue. Conservative to Liberal to Libertarian. Liberal arts shoe-in to big football public university CLEMSON! The list goes on and on and it will continue to go on and on. I'm malleable and adaptable, and I change all the time. Sure, I still have some pretty deep beliefs that never will change, but I'm a big fan of doing in Fixin what the French do, in Kochi what the Japanese do, in Bielefeld what the Germans do, in Armidale what the Australians do, in Clemson what the Southerners do. And so on.

But that's just me. And I don't think it's wrong to have set beliefs that don't change. Sometimes I wish I was a little more solid and less malleable. Maybe I wouldn't be so confused all the time. Maybe I would be able to make up my mind once in a while rather than let others do it for me. I don't consider myself apathetic, just more or less willing to roll with the tide.

The reason I've been thinking about this so much is that I'm finally going back to France, and finally going to see the R's. I'm not entirely sure the whole plan yet, but I'm hoping on staying with them for a few days in Fixin. I've kept in pretty decent contact with them, so I've been able to infer that things haven't changed all that much since I've left. But I'm anxious to see what  has changed. Subtle differences sometimes have the most impact. Of course, it it's anything like Verona, than Fixin and the R's have changed about as much as an inch a year. The change that correlates to the newest PTA president.

So back to the initial question: Is it better to be malleable and change and 'do as the Romans' or stay true to one's roots and never change?