Most students come home from their study abroad program feeling a little different...or really different. About themselves. About their goals. About life. It's inevitable. When you are studying abroad, or traveling in general, you are exposed to new people, new ideas, and new ways of living that are difficult to leave behind. But what do you do when you return home? Do you adopt the habits and philosophies that guided your life abroad? Or do you return slowly to your old ways of being? There is no right answer. And it is not the same for everyone.
When I returned from my study abroad program in Spain, I had a year's worth of experiences that I wanted to incorporate into my life at home. I told myself that I would walk more (either for pleasure or transportation, since I walked everywhere in Salamanca), that I would cook the foods that my host mom made (because the food was honestly one of the best parts of the experience), and that I would move a little slower and soak up every moment (because life does move a lot slower over there). Now, a few years after coming home and nearing the end of graduate school, I drive almost everywhere, the closest I get to cooking Spanish food is making sangria, and my life seems to be moving faster than ever before. But I love my life, and my study abroad experience has had an impact on me in so many ways over the past four years.
I save money with my next adventure in mind; I read travel journals; I buy every special issue of Nat Geo (like 100 Most Beautiful Places, Wonders of the World, 125 Years of Great Explorations); I page through guidebooks and peruse travel blogs; I work in the NIU Study Abroad Office; my walls are covered with pictures and maps; I try to explore this country as much as I want to explore countries abroad. The list could go on and on, not to mention how my worldview has been widened and diversified since studying abroad. The independent travel I have done since has only added to this.
So, how will you embrace the lingering effects of your study abroad experience? How will you foster that travel-bug, wanderlust-fueled, roaming adventurer's spirit you had while you were away? It's up to you.
Happy Trails,
Kristen
Note: Today, I was inspired by the essay below (written by Robert Moor and published on BuzzFeed):
https://www.buzzfeed.com/robertmoor/heres-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-hike-the-appalachia?utm_term=.qsLMGJn0g#.ujEm93XM6
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