by Cody Lucas| Fall 2024 |
I had never traveled outside the U.S. before coming to Leipzig, Germany, this September, and I was both nervous and excited for my first time venturing to another country, which involved three months of being away from home in a completely unfamiliar environment. There were a lot of anxieties I had about the upcoming trip, but I knew that no matter what happened, I would not regret the opportunity to study in Europe and travel to places that I had never seen before. Thankfully, the chance I took in coming here was one of the best decisions of my life. Although it was a challenging experience, there was not a single day when I regretted coming on this trip, and through my time here, I have learned the value of finding community and facing new challenges.
The biggest challenge I faced while studying abroad was navigating an unfamiliar language and discovering how public transport worked. During my first week, I felt lost very often. However, although I consistently ran into unexpected problems, I always found myself unbothered by them simply because I was able to lean on the people around me. For example, I was able to enjoy getting lost in the rain for an hour simply because I had one of my classmates with me, and we were able to laugh through it while we tried to find our way home. I deeply enjoyed getting to know the other students in my study abroad program, and my favorite part of this trip was finding community.
Going into this trip, I had never met anyone else in my program, and I was nervous that I would have a difficult time befriending the other students. After worrying about this some over the summer, I was surprised to find myself instantly bonding with people through the adventure of having new experiences together. From singing songs together by the piano to making food together in the kitchen, living together in the villa in Leipzig often felt more like having a big family than being in a college dorm. I often spent hours in the evening talking to my Bible classmates about what we had learned in class that day, and I enjoyed being able to think so deeply about what we were learning because we shared a similar class schedule and lived together. My favorite moments were the simple conversations that I had with my classmates every day in our shared living space, and I will always remember what it was like to share such an interesting experience with so many other people whom I would never have otherwise gotten close to.
During my time here, I had the opportunity to travel to seven different countries, including Greece, France, and Denmark, and I can confidently say that I’ve become more comfortable traveling on my own or with a small group of people. Although I have encountered some difficult scenarios, I now feel confident to pick myself up and keep going no matter what happens when I travel. Studying abroad has taught me independence and confidence in a way that I never thought I would learn those skills, and has greatly influenced my personal life. I have learned that I would like to work in a foreign country, and that I am passionate about language learning and traveling. Through the community I have built here and the challenges I have faced, my world has changed deeply from the moment I arrived in Leipzig three months ago, and I am immensely thankful for my experience studying abroad.
