by Abby Madera| Fall 2024 |
Seeing the Northern Lights and wandering through the Alps were incredible, once-in-a-lifetime blessings, but the best thing I received from studying abroad in Oxford was the ability to find equal joy in my adventures that “didn’t feel real” and the mundane rituals of everyday life. I didn’t expect myself to enjoy the mundane as much as the once-in-a-lifetime at all. Mind you, the trips I went on this semester were tough acts to follow. I swam in the Mediterranean in Barcelona, watched the Northern Lights race across the sky in Finland, and hiked in the French Alps. When we were in the Lakes District, a group of my friends went canyoning, where we slid down waterfalls and leapt off of tall boulders.
As awesome as these experiences were, I know the ones I’ll cherish most are the quieter moments shared with friends. The last three months were truly some of the best of my life, and I know that they truly would not have been as sweet without the people that I shared them with. By the end of the semester, I can confidently say that we became like family. We literally and metaphorically climbed mountains together. When you’re studying abroad, it’s easy to forget about the “studying” part, but we got through it. C.S. Lewis, Old Testament, Children’s Literature, and Global Studies, though great classes on their own, were made even better by the thoughtful conversation and enthusiasm of my classmates. They even helped me to get through Greek, which I took by myself online, through pep talks and words of encouragement (I loved Greek, by the way). In other words, I appreciated my classes even more because of my friends. I even audited Dr. Winn’s British Writers class because they recommended it.
The most mundane part of it all was the walk between classes in brisk weather and sometimes pouring rain, yet I found just as much joy in the fifteen minutes between Quaker Meeting House and the ACU house on Woodstock Road. I loved popping into Taylor’s with my friends for pre-class millionaire shortbread or sandwiches and watching the leaves fall from autumn-colored trees. We had meaningful conversations as we walked down ancient Oxford streets and while sitting on the floor of the house common room before the Spiritual Teachings of C.S. Lewis. Don’t get me wrong, though, Oxford is not at all a boring place to be. We went pubbing with Oxford students after St. Aldate’s Student Night, wandered through the Christmas market at Blenheim Palace, had a few Emma Watson sightings, and frequented Vaults and Gardens as regular tea drinkers.
In the same way, traveling isn’t always as glamorous as it looks on Instagram. My friends and I slept on airport floors, took red-eye bus rides, toured major cities for hours on foot, and shared hostel rooms with strangers. Still, I delight in reminiscing about our first night in the Barcelona airport just as much as our first sighting of the Northern Lights in Finland. The mundane and the adventure-filled moments are made equal by the friends I shared them with. It’s cliché, but the people really do make the place.
