Living abroad

Well, I am officially back in the States, which means I have to use the past tense and say I “studied” abroad. I can’t believe this life-changing experience has come and gone so quickly, but I have no regrets and certainly no complaints.

I spent 132 days traveling between 2 continents, 13 countries, and 22 cities. I ate escargot, foie gras, frog legs, Polish pierogis, trdelniks, and way too many patatas bravas. I drank liters of beer in Munich, became a fiend for freshly-squeezed juices, and tried absinthe more times than I should’ve. I shared my tiny bedroom and twin bed with up to 5 people at once, squeezed eight people into a 4-person Airbnb in Amsterdam, and sometimes got no sleep at all. I met some of the most incredible people I have ever met, and I also got to share my experience with so many familiar faces. This experience was everything I could’ve ever expected it to be and so, so much more.

I loved traveling to new countries and being a tourist in new cities, but even more than that I loved actually living in my favorite city of all: Prague. Living in a city and visiting it to do the touristy things are extremely different experiences. In Prague I went to the grocery store, cooked for myself on a regular basis, had to do laundry an unfortunate number of times, and got mistaken as a Czech citizen more often than you’d expect. Despite not understanding more than ten words in their language, I was able to get myself around and do absolutely everything I needed to without much difficulty. I learned to work around language barriers, how to rely on a map to navigate a city when your phone loses WiFi, and even how to give directions to the occasional tourist who mistakenly figured you were a local. But I guess in a sense, I sort of was. I may be biased, but Prague was absolutely my favorite city that I traveled to. I love the architecture, the cobblestone pathways, the Vltava River, and I actually really loved not being in Western Europe. I would choose Prague all over again if I could go back.

This experience taught me so much about the world, and to be honest I still have barely seen any of it. I am so fortunate to have seen what I have and to have done what I did, but it’s only ignited a flame inside me to travel even more. I have a dream to make it to every continent and understand as many cultures as I can. I learned that I can get up, move, and feel comfortable living in a place completely different than home, and I’ll be okay. More than okay; I enjoy every second of it. I learned that I don’t know if I’ll ever be content staying in one place. I like change. I like to learn by completely immersing myself in a situation I’m not entirely comfortable in. Most importantly, I learned how to really be independent. My mom can attest for me on that one – even when I went away to school in South Carolina, I’d still call her every other day at least. Sometimes it was just to talk, but a lot of the time it was to ask for advice or help. In Prague I couldn’t do that, and I learned that I can’t always rely on her, or anyone but myself really.

My classes may have been easy, and I may have cut class a little more often than I should have… but honestly I learned more in this semester than I have in the past 3 years of college combined. If anyone reading this is considering studying abroad, I urge you to go. It isn’t all fun and games; there are tough days, you get homesick, and you can’t expect anything to be the same as it is at home. But it’s worth every dilemma, every wrong turn, every miscommunication, every moment. It was the best decision I ever made, and I’m beyond blessed to have had this opportunity. If I had the option to do it all over again, I would a thousand times. And I FULLY intend on traveling like this again in my future.

Thank you to everyone that made this a possibility for me (Mom, Dad, both Mamies and Papa, and everyone else that would take forever to name) I can’t express enough how grateful I am for the opportunity. Thank you to all the new friends that took the world on with me, and the old friends that became my tour guides when I visited your wonderful cities. Thank you for everyone who supported me in this crazy endeavor, and for all of you who kept up with this over-worded blog all semester

Prague, I will be back for you. 

 

P.S. keep your eyes peeled, I have a video coming soon that won’t even do my semester justice, but I will try nonetheless.