I’m sure we’ve all had a moment where someone has looked at you and said, “You’ve changed.” I have had that said to me repeatedly during my time abroad. Some people may take these words a certain way, thinking, Wow, I have changed. What should I do? You should do nothing. Embrace it. As humans, we second-guess almost everything we do. I say embrace change. More likely than not, change is good. Uncomfortable, but good. It is also inevitable, and certain experiences completely reshape your brain and how you experience the world around you. Studying abroad has brought about a significant change in my life.
During my time abroad, I ran my first marathon, met students from various universities, gained new perspectives from locals, and traveled to many different places. All of it has reformed how I see the world. It has helped not only through the experiences themselves, but through the deep thought and reflection that followed.
Questions and thoughts I had never sat with before began to surface while abroad: Is the life I live daily on a trajectory toward the person I want to become? Wow, I really need to spend more time with my family and friends. I need to embrace every moment, because life can be cut short in an instant. While these questions are not new, they hold new weight here. Not the kind that crushes you, but the kind that shapes you. The same way resistance builds something stronger over time.
I will always be a thinker, an analyzer, and a deeply curious person. Being abroad has made me shed a layer of my former self. A rebirth. As cliché as that sounds, it is true. I am a very driven person and rarely have an off switch. That said, being abroad has forced me to slow down and think about what really matters: the memories I make and how I treat the people around me. You never know what someone is going through, where they come from, or what they are carrying. There is so much of this world to see, and so much it has to offer.
While traveling with friends is comfortable and memorable, I would also encourage you to embrace the uncomfortable. I traveled to Madeira and Lisbon, Portugal, completely solo. To say it sparked deep inner reflection would be an understatement. I believe solo travel and intentional time alone are among the most important things you can do for yourself. If you are not comfortable alone with your own thoughts, you will struggle to become the person you want to be. If you are on the fence about studying abroad, I urge you to take the leap. Embrace the discomfort, embrace the unfamiliar, and embrace the inevitable change that comes with stepping outside of everything you know. Nothing ever worth doing has been easy.