My semester in Italy was unforgettable. I knew leaving Italy would be difficult for many reasons, but I somehow still wasn’t prepared for how it ended up feeling. I didn’t just leave the country I’d stayed in for a couple months—I left all the people I met and held close during the semester. Before long, upon return, I returned to the comfort of routine.
Pompeii was my first historical interest; I’ve been wanting to visit since I was a child, and suddenly a few weeks ago there I was, in the ancient ruins. I surprised myself with what I found most interesting, though. I found myself entranced by the ancient graffiti, some out in the open and some far more hidden, that unlocked secrets of Pompeii’s daily life.
I remember at the start of my study abroad program in Madrid that the one thing I wanted to be able to do by the time I finished was to be able to roll my r’s. At the end of my program, I can confidently say that I wasn’t able to learn how. Even though my pronunciation still leaves much to be desired, I feel like my life has changed since coming to Madrid. As I am heading back home soon, I wanted to take the time to reflect on how my life has changed since being abroad, my life back home in the U.S., and some major differences between the two.
Two weeks ago, as I looked at my semester calendar, I noticed that my remaining time in NZ is dwindling down at an alarming rate. And there's still so much I want to do! However, one particular trip I had been thinking about doing for a while was a journey down to Stewart Island. Two weeks ago, looking at how little time I had left, I realized it was now or never for that trip, so I chose the now. Last minute trip planning is never my first choice, but I'm so glad I took the leap. I booked my bus, shuttle, ferry, and hut bunks, and scored a nice pair of gaiters on Facebook Marketplace.
Last semester I took a positive psychology course at the IES Abroad center, taught by the amazing Marianna Pogosyan. In short, the course changed my life. I couldn’t have taken it at a better time in my life. I was in a new city (never mind a whole new country and continent, my mom joking that I keep moving farther and farther from California). I didn’t know a single person nor a word of Dutch.
I have been trying to figure out how to write this final blog post for some time now. It has been a week since I got back from Rome, and it already feels like a century has passed. This blog post is not even being written from New York City, instead in Ithaca, the college I took time away from. I am only here for a short time, and yet it feels like I never left. I am in the same routine as I would have been if I did not go abroad. Being in Ithaca, and home in general, has been really nice.
Study abroad is a different experience for everyone. Even if you go to the same location, have the same group of friends, and go on the same trips, your experience is unique to you and therefore you can take away new and different things. Here are the five things I’ve been reflecting on since returning home that are key skills I hope to continue cultivating.
When I decided to study abroad, I knew it would be life-changing. Throughout my last few days in Berlin, I’ve decided to reflect on some of the many wonderful lessons that I have learned (or lessons that have been emphasized) throughout my experience in Berlin and Europe as a whole. Knowing I will be going home soon makes me feel a lot of different emotions—but mostly a feeling of loss for the wonderful connections and community I have made here as well as an anxiety about integrating back into my home culture.
After the end of my program and some traveling while abroad, I finally find myself home in sunny San Diego, California. Salamanca has been the best semester of my life, a semester full of fun surprises and new experiences around every corner. While I have decidedly improved my Spanish and have learned a lot of new things living abroad the past three months, the thing that I will cherish most about this semester, and something that I will hold with me in the semesters that come, is the willingness and openness to say yes to life and to new experiences.
People have asked me a couple times throughout my year abroad if I’d ever live in Latin America, and most of the time I’ve responded with uncertainty. Until I went to Cuenca. For one of my last weekends in Ecuador, a friend and I hopped in a 15-passenger van and ventured the bumpy roads down to the country’s third largest city. Cuenca is a dream of a place. Situated at the foothills of the southern Ecuadorean Andes, the city is a large, yet tight-knit town filled with red rooves, colonial buildings, and beautiful art.