Now that it has been a couple of weeks since my travels abroad, I have had the proper time to reflect and do my final blog post. As I have readjusted to life back in Louisiana, I can’t help but think about the incredible weeks I spent abroad. While the destinations were incredible, there is one thing in particular that makes being back from the trip so hard. I find myself telling people that “I can’t believe I will never get to experience something like that again,” to which they reply “I’m sure you’ll get to go back to Europe someday!!”
It is hard to explain that it is not the trip itself that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. In fact, my next trip to Europe is already in my planner, and I leave on Sunday. When I decided to study abroad, I always knew it would open my mind and heart to European travel, but I never realized that it would give me the boundless friendships and memories I ended up developing. The opportunity to spend time abroad, learning and experiencing new countries together, was a truly priceless and once in a lifetime opportunity.
I constantly find myself thinking back to the very first night I met the rest of my classmates. Sitting at a bar that we all collectively decided to go to, and asking for each other’s names. My friendships abroad developed faster than any relationship I have made back home. It is crazy to think that I feel as close to some of these classmates as I do to my friends back at home, whom I’ve known for many months and even years. These individuals, in just a very short time, got to see parts of myself that very few people have ever gotten to know — including the parts of myself that were growing in light of this new experience. They saw the joy in new countries, the homesickness from being away, and the sparks of curiosity.
Creating these friendships was the most beautiful part of my study abroad experience, and one that I know I will cherish for the rest of my life. When my high school best friends parents told me to “Study Abroad because there is nothing like it,” I finally understand what they meant. There is nothing like traveling abroad with complete strangers in your 20s, and coming back as the closest of friend. As I prepare to head back to Alabama for my final year, I can not wait to continue developing those friendships I formed in Europe in a whole new space, because these really will be friends for life!
