By Gabriella Rodriguez | Staff Writer
My first night in London, I sat in my new and rather empty dorm room, and wondered what I had done. I had come all the way across the ocean; I had sat on a cramped plane for five and a half hours overnight. I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep because my body had been coursing with excitement, but now that feeling had transformed into a deep homesickness I couldn’t quite explain.
I was here for four months. I was in a huge city, and it felt like I didn’t know a single soul in the entire country. This wasn’t true, as I had a cousin living on the other side of the city and family friends on the southern coast – but in that moment I questioned everything I had been jumping for joy about just 24 hours earlier.
Looking back at this moment of panic, I can’t help but laugh. The four months I spent in London, England were the best of my life. It’s hard to explain the wonder you feel when you’re standing in front of Stonehenge, buffeted by cold winds. It’s hard to explain the joy you feel when staring up at the Scottish Highlands, despite the fact that you can no longer feel your toes. It’s hard to explain the carefree feeling of sitting on the side of an Amsterdam canal, letting your feet swing back and forth above the water. It’s hard to explain the sadness you feel when walking through the rows of standing stones dedicated to the Holocaust, or trace your fingers along what’s left of the Berlin Wall. Most of all, it’s impossible to explain waking up in a city you’ve fallen in love with, and still wondering every morning how it’s possible that you’re actually there.
If anyone were to ask me for one bit of advice I would tell them this: Travel. Go study on the other side of the world in that country you’ve always wanted to visit, where you don’t know a single other soul – and it’s okay because everything around you is different and wonderful. Do it while you’re young and still in school, because it’ll never be that easy again.
London became a home to me. The River Thames, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace all became landmarks I was used to seeing. I learned how to navigate the bustling metropolitan better than I knew how to get around my own country. I made amazing friends and the best of memories. Most importantly, I grew so much in such a short span of time. Never have I felt more independent or more confident in my abilities.
So I repeat myself: Go, and travel. If you still have time in your college career and room in your schedule, pick a place you’ve always wanted to visit, and go. Go to classes and study, but most importantly experience. You may never again have the opportunity to live in a foreign country for months on end, or to visit a different city or country every weekend because they’re so close by and cheap to get to.
The choice to study abroad will transform your college career and how you view the world. Next time you find yourself walking past Drexel Hall, pop in and say hello. You might find yourself making plans you had only dreamed of before. You might find yourself across the world.
