Study abroad was nothing like I had possibly imagined – and yet it was everything that I needed.
Before I left, I would have totally considered myself an introvert. I studied alone, and that is what I spent most of my time doing just to survive my engineering career. If you know, you know.
I was stuck in my comfort zone: only speaking to old friends, working a minimum wage job , and sticking to chicken tenders and ramen whenever possible. The typical life of a struggling college kid.
So, when I enrolled in a semester abroad in my sophomore year, my family was shocked.
Going to a country where I knew nobody and didn’t speak the language…what could possibly go wrong?
You might be thinking, “What changed?”
Nothing. That’s the thing.
Nothing had changed.
Growing up, I envied college kids because they were only subject to their own limitations, not those set by their parents. This illusion was crushed sophomore year, when schoolwork and friendship drama made life feel like an extension of high school – just a new town. After being in college, I started to look up to graduates instead, thinking “One day I will be that independent.”
But…and this may be very cliché…why wait for “one day” when you can make tomorrow day one?
I always wanted to go abroad but never thought it was within reach until after graduation. It is.
Start that application.
Talk to your parents and advisors.
This is your sign to start NOW.
Is it hard to live in a country where you do not speak the language? Yes.
Would I do it again? Absolutely.
I cannot put into words how much fear I had when my plane landed in Madrid, knowing I knew zero Spanish and had no friends. If something went wrong, I was completely on my own for the first time in my life. It was scary but equally freeing.
Because, in the end, if I didn’t click “submit” on that application on a random Tuesday, I would never have met some of the best friends of my lifetime. Studying abroad throws you into the dark but also allows you to meet people that you would’ve never would’ve otherwise been exposed to.
I learned to ski in Zermatt with friends I met outside of Alabama.
I got to watch the sunset in the Saharan desert.
I’ve gone from eating chicken tenders every meal, to experiencing local cultures (ex: trying paella in Valencia and chicken tagine in Morocco).
And it is some of the best food I’ve had in my life.
Prior to studying abroad, I was waiting for my dream to go. But taking one risk changed everything. I finally felt as though I was living my college experience – not just surviving it. I learned how to balance life and school so that I could do things which I enjoyed.
And, as it turns out, that’s the whole point.
Don’t wait to start living how you want to live. Your new life just might start on a random Tuesday.
