Tales From aBroad

Uruguay is home to many interesting things on a tourist’s checklist: mate tea, Italian architecture, intimate barbecues called asados, and endless hidden-gem coffee shops. However, it’s little known that right in the heart of the country lies the world’s longest continuous sidewalk. La rambla, which directly translates to “the promenade”, stretches 22.2 kilometers along the coast of Montevideo and is maintained by the city for free public access.

Before departing for study abroad, I decided that I wanted to take every opportunity to educate myself on new cultures, foreign experiences, and engage in a different way of life. This was not an easy challenge, but as I reflect on the past few months, I see more than several instances in which my time here has changed or challenged perspectives I’ve had for years.

There are many beautiful and formative things one can experience while on study abroad. Perhaps the most obvious is to be able to do and see things I never did before. Being in Leipzig during the fall is certainly an experience that I will never forget. As a history...

While studying abroad in Oxford for the semester, I learned a lot about myself. The biggest thing I learned is that my Christianity might look different from the faith of those around me, and that’s okay.

Heimat. That means home in the German language. Leipzig has truly become home for me. Three months ago I came to Leipzig not knowing what to expect. I was nervous, intimidated by the language, and already missing the familiarity of Texas. But those feelings did not last long as my time abroad quickly began to transform me. I was transformed by stepping outside of my comfort zone in three ways; I became independent, open-minded, and I learned how to love those around me better.

My heart was racing, my palms sweating, my tears swelling, and my breath panting. Those were my visceral reactions during take-off. The culmination of anxiety, restlessness, excitement, and relief flooded my senses during that take-off from the Dallas airport. I felt incredibly small thinking about how I have never needed a passport before, hardly been in an airplane before, and certainly never left the country before. I genuinely thought that my study abroad experience wouldn’t even make it off the runway– but there I was flying through the air watching as my comfortable little world grew smaller and smaller. There was no turning back — I was diving head-first into the unknown.