Facing the beginning of an exciting and hectic fall semester, it is hard to believe that the last time I was in a classroom I was at the AIB in Bonn, Germany. On the one hand I feel like just yesterday I was sitting amongst my luggage, writing my first blog post and mentally preparing for my ten hour flight the following morning. On the other hand I feel like so much has happened and changed since then, it’s almost as if that were years ago, not three months ago. Regardless of the time that has passed, I am still blown away by how truly impactful those six weeks were on me as a person and on my perception of the world.
Looking back at the very beginning, my first blog might have given the impression that I was an experienced traveler and knew how the next few weeks were going to play out. The truth is that my “only” expectation of adjustment was about to encompass every aspect of my daily life and bring to light other expectations that I never knew I had or was initially too scared to admit to myself. From the language barrier to the lack of air-conditioning and extreme reliance on walking and/or public transportation, I don’t think I realized how much of an adjustment there would be. My day to day life looked drastically different than when I was home. I was walking sometimes ten miles a day, getting very little sleep thanks to the heat wave, and feeling helpless in the face of the difficult German language. Within the first week I distinctly remember thinking, “what have I gotten myself into?” It was challenging and often times uncomfortable, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Sometimes in life we have to be challenged and uncomfortable in order to grow and I think that’s exactly what happened. Through the discomfort I learned to lean on the people around me, and as a result several of us became closer in six weeks than I am with some friends I’ve known for months or years. By confiding in each other we were no longer facing the unknowns of the summer as individuals but as a group, and we were able to laugh at the misfortunes of late trains, cancelled flights, bruised toes, and mysteriously swollen ankles. In all I think this focus on community is one of the biggest lessons I took from my time abroad, and is something that I’m striving to implement now that I am back home. For example, most of us didn’t have international phone plans to waste on Instagram and snapchat the moment we sat down at dinner or to texting others when we were on the bus ride home. Instead, we looked each other in the eyes and had real conversations about our hopes, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, etc. and really got to know each other. It made me realize just how much I don’t like social media and the way it diminishes conversation, popularizes comparison, and controls “free” time, and how much I long for genuine conversation. Consequently, I have deleted most social media apps from my phone in an attempt to focus more on the people around me and building those relationships, just as I did in Europe.
As for those friendships built in Europe, I am so beyond grateful for the impact they had on my time abroad, making every day in class and every weekend trip more exciting and memorable than the next. It doesn't stop there though. I am beyond excited for us all to be back in College Station and able to spend more time together! The continuity that is made possible by us all coming back to the same place makes Texas A&M feel even more like home. It's amazing how small a school of nearly 70,000 students can seem when you see people you know in class, eating at Sonic, ordering your Aggie Rings (another benefit of the hours taken this summer), standing in line for the football game - basically everywhere. I just still can’t believe I got to spend my summer traveling to eight different European countries and meeting some of the most fun, intelligent, and caring people, but I am so thankful for every second of the journey and every lesson learned along the way.
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