[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ min_height=”992.9px” custom_margin=”-43px||-75px|||” custom_padding=”6px||4px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Studying abroad has meant the world to me and I would hop on a plane right now to go back if you handed me a ticket, but I am also grateful for the time that I had there and how unique situations bring people together. The people in these pictures ARE study abroad for me. Not the cool places we visited. Not the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we had. Not the amazing food or pretty souvenirs. Sticking pans out the window so you don\u2019t set off the fire alarm, looking out the window on the balcony of the Quaker Meeting House, coming together in the common room with whatever is left in your pantry to eat after coming back from a trip to laugh and recount with the professors all the crazy things that happened on the trip, singing and dancing in the laundry room, assuring each other no matter what happens it will be okay and wondering how in the world your life got to be this cool…THAT is study abroad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before I left people went on and on about the community, but I had no idea how much these people would mean to me after 2 short months. This may sound weird, but it is like going through a traumatic life experience. You always come out of that closer to the people you went through it with than you were before. There are only 34 other people on this planet who know exactly what you are going through. How can you not form a bond because of that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When we were told we had to go back to the United States, the bus was filled with emotion. If you were to be a fly on the wall and listen to every conversation being had after that point, I don\u2019t think you would hear a lot about the cool places we had planned trips to but wouldn\u2019t get to visit. You would hear about how we wouldn\u2019t get a chance to go back to St. Aldates and tell our small groups goodbye. It wasn\u2019t \u201cOxford\u201d, the famous city that we were being stripped away from, it was \u201cOxford\u201d the place where I sleep in the bunk under my best friend, in a house with 35 of my newest friends, and spend way more time with my teachers than I ever had before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I have always been someone who seeks guidance from people older than me (parents, teachers, church leaders, etc.). Jacque taught me how to remain calm in very stressful situations, Dr. Talley taught me how to take being a woman of faith and wanting to be a teacher and meld them together, and Dr. Bennett taught me the beauty of taking the time to sit down and learn someone\u2019s heart. ACU faculty is amazing but you have no idea how amazing they are till you live with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and get to know them as a teacher and as a brother or sister in Christ.\u00a0 I will cherish every memory from studying abroad in Oxford for the rest of my life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n God bless Texas and God save the Queen.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” min_height=”415.4px” custom_margin=”|auto|45px|auto|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2022\/07\/Hess_SP20_5.jpg” title_text=”Hess_SP20_5″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2022\/07\/Hess_SP20_2.jpg” title_text=”Hess_SP20_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2022\/07\/Hess_SP20_4-1.jpg” _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” title_text=”Hess_SP20_4 (1)” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Studying abroad has meant the world to me and I would hop on a plane right now to go back if you handed me a ticket, but I am also grateful for the time that I had there and how unique situations bring people together. The people in these pictures ARE study abroad for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20655,"featured_media":5654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n