If you ask anyone who has studied abroad how their time was, they will all answer the same – “It was amazing, I loved it so much!” You feel intoxicated with the exhilaration of meeting so many new people, traveling the world, learning about new cultures, and on the off chance you're not doing any of those things, maybe, just maybe, you’ll do a little bit of studying. Just as those before me, I too have found study abroad to be an indescribably amazing experience. And though I have just characterized the experience as “indescribable,” I will try my best to encapsulate what makes study abroad so special.
So yes, waking up and heading to school, which just so happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage building is pretty amazing. And exploring a new city or country every weekend is pretty amazing. And walking 15 minutes from your apartment to a medieval castle is pretty amazing. But to me, that’s not what makes studying abroad the amazing experience everyone says it is. To me, what makes studying abroad so indescribable is the foreign feeling of being uncomfortable.
For me, moving to a new country was just one giant leap of faith.
To start, I have never lived outside of the state of North Carolina (born, bred, dead – as we say at UNC). And to make matters worse, I have lived in the same town, in the same house, in the same room my entire life. Though I am eternally grateful for the stability I have been granted, even leaving for college just a couple hours away was a startling change for me. So you can imagine my disorientation when I was shipped across the world and dropped in a foreign country.
Next, I decided to leap... all. by. myself. I know a lot of people will go abroad with a friend or two, but, since I am a sophomore (and most people go abroad junior year) I came to Spain completely alone.
I arrived after arguably the worst travel day ever: weather delays, middle seat on an eight hour flight, lost luggage – the works. Arriving in Spain with only myself, I started to wonder if I had made the right decision.
At first, adjusting to a completely different culture was pretty hard, and it didn’t help that I stuck out like a sore thumb; as a blond, 5’10 woman it’s not too hard to recognize that I’m not Spanish. But what sucked the most was that not a single store had my 42 shoe size, and when I would ask the clerk for this monstrous size I was met with a response similar to “no hay para chicas, eso es para chicos” – that my size is for boys... not girls. So, I figured out the hard way that I was going to have to give up on my dream of European leather boots.
Okay, okay, enough negativity. You might be wondering how all of this uncomfortable-ness is amazing and indescribable? Because if it weren’t for this experience I would never have learned so much about myself. I would never have learned that I am capable of so much more than I ever thought. That even though I’ve lived in the same place my entire life and I stick out like a sore thumb in a foreign country, I am still able to get around by myself, connect with people from all walks of life, and have the confidence in myself that I can succeed at all of these things; and much, much more.
And now, I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have to leave this place that I have come to love so much. And, worse, that I have to leave these people who I have become so close with. People who also understand the secrets of the indescribably uncomfortable adventure that is studying abroad. Whether it is trying a new food or moving to a new country, take this as your sign to get uncomfortable, because I guarantee you it can only yield positive effects. Some may even say... indescribable effects.
