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Living abroad had been such a great experience. There has been highs, and there has been lows, but I have learned so much about myself and the world in only four months.
I feel more like an independent adult. My semester abroad coincided with the start of my Junior year of college. It was disconcerting to think that I only had two full years before graduation and I would be thrust out into the "real world." Before leaving for college I had never spent more than two weeks away from home (a summer camp experience I never had a desire to repeat). Then, living in a dormitory is not the same as living on your own in an apartment. My time abroad has been my first real chance to live like an adult. I go to the grocery store, cook meals, clean, and make sure I get to places on time. I now know that I can function away from my parents, and outside the conveniences of High Point University (i.e. free laundry and printing, meal plan). This four month trip across the ocean has given me the confidence to consider looking for summer internships that would require me to live away from home.
I am capable of making traveling plans, and executing them. As a child, your parents plan all of your trips, deciding how to get there, when to leave, and where you are going to stay. Now, I know how to research hostels, book plane tickets, find attractions in the destination city (preferably free ones), and how to get to those attractions. Planning is incredibly stressful, and when unforeseen events through off those plans it is even worse. It is hard, but remaining calm and optimistic that things will work out, seems to be the best way to deal with things.
I want to do more traveling when I am back in North Carolina. This is quite a strange feeling to me because I never liked traveling that much as a child, probably since it often involved long car trips or plane ride. With my tendency towards motion sickness, I was often miserable during the traveling portion of trips. I am also a bit of a homebody. I like being in familiar places where I can relax and be comfortable. After so much traveling throughout the UK and to Ireland and Spain, I understand the appeal of seeing new places. I am realizing that I have been going to college in High Point for two years and yet I have seen very little of the city and the two other nearby cities of Greensboro and Winston-Salem. I am hoping to make a goal of taking at least one day trip a month to see more of North Carolina. These could be hiking trips in the Spring, shopping trips to the huge antique mall in Charlotte, or trips to free museum days. I am also tempted to try out a hostel in the United States. Weekend trip to Charleston anyone?
In the future, I think I can see myself living abroad, at least for a little while. I will admit, that I chose to major in International Business mostly because it would make me a well rounded in the areas of business since it covers more subjects than just a Business Administration major. I thought that it would help me to stand out from other applicants who only studied Business Administration, while I have some language and cultural knowledge. At the time, the idea of actually traveling to other countries, to conduct business in a formal setting where manners and cultural knowledge are of utmost importance, absolutely terrified me. I am still afraid of being rude to people, but now that I have some experience living outside of the United States it does not terrify me. At times I have even found myself imagining what it would be like to live in one of the places that we visited. For some reason, Cardiff, Wales seemed to pull at me the most as a place to live. I am not sure why since it is so rainy and cold most of the time, but the city itself was very beautiful and it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Maybe I just felt I would have a better chance to get a job there, in a place that still speaks English but still has many cultural elements for me to learn about.
Living in a city is actually quite nice. Being raised in a small town, I always thought that I never would be able to live in a city, but there is so much more to see and do. I have found I really enjoy being able to walk to places instead of driving. I always thought that people in cities did not have access to nature, but there seem to be parks everywhere. Since living in Oxford, I spend much more time outside, whether it is walking to get somewhere particular, or just to think. It is so much easier find things to go out and do with your friends, or even on your own. At home, everything is so spread out that you have to choose a destination and plan around it to hang out with friends. In a city, stores are close together so you can just wander around with your friends and find things to do as you go.
Writing blog posts was a pain at times, but I know I will appreciate it later. When I first started my blog for my Travel Writing class, I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of writing three, 1000-word posts every week. I wondered how I would ever have enough to say to complete all those posts. Knowing I would need lots to write about, I began to pay more attention to my experiences, taking note of details like smells, sounds, tastes and feelings. Once I got into a routine, writing them was easier, but sometimes I would just want to go out and actually do something instead of sitting in front of a computer documenting what had already happened. Now, I am incredibly appreciative that I wrote down so many of my experiences so that in one, ten, thirty years down the road, I can look back at the person I am now and see how much I have changed.
It will be hard to go back to the United States. It seems like I have just got my bearings in Oxford and settled in, and now it is time to leave. I will miss all of the traveling and hearing ten different languages being spoken every time I go to the grocery store. Most architecture I will see once I get back will seem plain and boring after living in a city with buildings that are hundreds of years old. It will be so strange going back to the bubble that is High Point University, where most of my time will be confined to the college campus. I have no idea how I am going to be able to function with five classes, five days a week when I have had only four classes, three days a week for an entire semester. There will definitely be an adjustment period where I have to get used to the American, or at least North Carolinian, way of life again.
I am so happy that I was brave enough to turn in my deposit for this trip on that November day, over a year ago now. I know that this amazing experience has changed me in so many ways, and opened my eyes to the great world around me. The exact ways and to what extent are still to be determined. In the years to come I will learn many new things about myself, and I am guessing that many will be traced back to these four months when I experienced so very much.
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