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by Ella Venegoni<\/span>\u00a0 | Fall 2023\u00a0 |<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n This semester has been such a blessing and a very formative time for me, and I truly did not expect this much change. Before we left for study abroad many people expressed genuine excitement for me and said that I would grow immensely from this experience. I have had many times that allowed me to grow individually in the way I interact with others, communicate with others clearly, and learn to be able to go with the flow even when I have strong opinions on things. This is all possible because of the stretching I have had from being out of my comfort zone. Living with new people, specifically 33 others, has been very hard, and I have learned that I am a huge homebody. <\/span><\/p>\n I love the time I have been able to be in Leipzig. Even though my trips to Garmisch, Italy, Greece, Prague, and Copenhagen have been so fruitful and memorable, the relationships I have built through conversations and late nights talking in hotel rooms are the moments that have impacted me the most. I have struggled with being alone, straying from the group, feeling left out, and saying no to things. I have noticed that when I don\u2019t spend some time doing things that bring me pure joy, I start to get really down. I get short with people, and I am constantly tired. I spread myself too thin to the point of exhaustion, and it is not healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n I am learning more and more about myself each day, which is a good and a bad thing, haha! I definitely have made some of the most genuine and Christ-like friends that have been there for me in so many ways since we have been here. I have been able to relate with them like no other, and these 3 months have brought so much community and love into my life. I have learned how to be a better cook and baker from having kitchens to use! And, in turn, I have learned how to clean up after myself REALLY well. In a way, I feel like I have had a very real trial on how living on your own works and the realities of being an adult. <\/span><\/p>\n I am in Leipzig with my boyfriend Cole, and it has been such a blessing to be able to navigate this time with him. He balances me perfectly and is a huge role model for me. Our relationship has grown beautifully in a way that I am not sure would have happened at home in Abilene. All my friends have made traveling and living abroad in Europe the best experience and I will continue to recommend this opportunity to any and everybody. Needless to say, I am thankful. I have a feeling that the reintegration back to life in the States will be much harder than the integration coming here to Germany. I will be leaving Leipzig with so many memories and friendships that will stick with me forever.<\/span><\/p>\n \n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”71890,71888,71886,71887,71889″ show_title_and_caption=”off” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_gallery][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Ella Venegoni\u00a0 | Fall 2023\u00a0 | This semester has been such a blessing and a very formative time for me, and I truly did not expect this much change. Before we left for study abroad many people expressed genuine excitement for me and said that I would grow immensely from this experience. I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20655,"featured_media":71889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20655"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71883"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71892,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71883\/revisions\/71892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}