So many things have happened since I first arrived in England, dead on my feet after being awake close to twenty-four hours. I’ve toured so many places in England, Wales, and Scotland, and I was even allowed the opportunity to travel for thanksgiving break outside the UK, places I had previously thought would be impossible to see in light of Covid. But I did see them, and I learned so much.
When previous students of study abroad speak on the subject, one thing that seems consistent between them all is how the experience changes you. For some, peace of mind is gained, independence is earned, and friendships are formed. This. . . Wasn’t quite what happened to me. As strange as it may sound, I went into this program wanting, actually wishing for this to change my life. I wanted to enter this program and come away a new person, a better person. I wanted to be exciting and fearless, learning cultures and gaining invaluable experience. In reality, it wasn’t quite like that but to say it wasn’t life changing would be a lie.
Life never follows a plan and is never how you expect. I love the UK and everything in it, but as time went on I realized that things weren’t going how I expected. I’m not a different person, I haven’t gained any new talents or mysterious knowledge, but I have found this experience to be a test. It’s a test that doesn’t matter whether you’ve gone to Montevideo or Oxford, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in introvert or extrovert. The test is a challenge. It demands for you to fully embrace another culture in every way. To accept it’s mistakes and sorrows and to celebrate their history and legacy. Study abroad asks that we become a part of the culture that we step into, and to acknowledge that the world is so much bigger than anything we’ve seen before.
And I won’t lie to you, it’s really hard sometimes. I’m a homebody, I’m an introvert, and to find myself in a place with seventeen strangers in a time zone six hours from home? I found myself in dark places sometimes, and many tears were shed. But coming back from this, I feel so much stronger in myself and my loved ones. I can say to myself that I did it, I lived my own life and my family lived theirs, and we all came out okay. And that wasn’t even the only thing I learned! Before study abroad, I procrastinated, I was unfocused, and I honestly felt a little directionless. Now (though I still procrastinate), I have found so much deeper meaning in my faith and in my work. I have never felt more spiritually close to God than I have while studying abroad. And there are other things, little things, like knowing how to respect difference, work through issues, or even just making it on time to the train station that come with being somewhere so entirely different from what you know.
In essence, I didn’t travel abroad and magically return popular and charming, that’s not me and it’s something I’ve learned about myself. But what I have returned with? It’s lessons learned, memories made, spiritual growth, and so many other things that are just priceless treasures in my heart. And I find myself excited to come home, not only to reunite with my loved ones, but also to share my discoveries with everyone I know, hopefully, giving them a little piece of what I found while studying abroad.
