While reflecting back on my time abroad, I started by thinking about all my feelings I had before I left. I had a lot of anxiety about the fear of the unknown. Fear of meeting new people, finding friends, liking/getting along with my roommates, traveling alone, navigating a new city, feeling homesick, missing my life back home, running out of money- you know, all of the normal things to worry about when traveling 4,000 miles away from home for 4 months. My first stop was London, before I even made it to Italy. I felt like I had just been dropped off in a completely foreign country left to figure out anything and everything- oh wait, I was. It was close to one of the most overwhelming days I’d ever had. I had an overnight plane, was running on almost no sleep, fighting to stay awake in fear of not making any friends and wanting to take advantage of the time I had in this city. I distinctly remember coming back to the hotel late at night, walking to my room alone, realizing I locked my key inside, and I started to cry because I had no ones number, no service, was worried about who I was going to eat breakfast with the next day, and thought, “what did I just get myself into?” I got myself into the best 4 months of my life. So obviously it’s really easy to make fun of people abroad imitating what they say, like: “it changed me,” “I’m so different now,” “oh my gosh I love abroad so much!” And you just want them to stop talking about it already. And as fun as it is to make fun of it (we all do it too), it’s actually true. I gained so much from this experience and it has far surpassed my expectations and I could not be any more grateful. The amount of skills and traits I’ve acquired is far beyond what I imagined. It is literally the coolest thing in the entire world to meet people in such a short amount of time, become best friends, and just travel around Europe together...at age 20. Like what??? We all grew so much together and developed such an amazing bond, I will not ever be able to put my experience into words that will give an accurate representation of my journey. While all of the places I went to were amazing, nothing compares to Florence, and nothing compares to the amazing people I met. I want to individually thank a few people that made this trip what it was: But first....MY LIONS DEN HOMIES!!!! I just want to give a shoutout to all of my roommates. I couldn’t of been more lucky to get randomly placed with you guys!!!! Thankful for you all and love you forever. And to the honorary Lions Den homies (you know who you are), thanks for all the pregames, not leaving until 12:30 and ending up having to pay cover, the weird lingos- “sue me,” “ah jeez,” “not not down,” "well what're ya gonna do," “I go back to Italia!!”; Space wednesdays, Kikuya sangrias, Huji shoots, late night strolls, chill flower garden “lay” days; for all the smiles, tears, laughters and making this semester what it was. Cailey: Kale salad, my OG roomie, I love you with all my heart. Thank you for being my Space buddy, for always being “not not down”, loving EDM as much as me, staying up until 5am talking about God knows what, always skipping class with me to either get Le Vespe or nap, complaining yet always having the best reactions to our tight fit clothing, answering all my annoying school questions, and always making me laugh no matter what time of day or where we were. Hayleigh: Hayleigh Hayleigh Hayleigh, you’re one of the hardest working people I know and I commend you so much for making it look easy. You have really made an impact on me in terms of stretching my thinking and questioning how I view life and what I want to get from it. I loved our deep and substance filled conversations. Thank you for making me want to make the most of each day and savor every moment. I look up to you in so many ways and I hope you realize that. Sophie: I want to thank you for teaching me that it’s okay to be yourself. You’ve really opened my eyes to live for myself and no one else. The amount of times you’ve said “who cares” whenever I would worry about a “what if”. Or always saying “oh my gosh you guys look beautiful” when we’d put ourselves down. You’ve instilled a reminder of self love in me, and there’s no better feeling than to be your true self without fear of others judgement. Sydney: Squidward, my first friend abroad, my travel buddy, the 5th Lion’s Den roommate. Thanks for literally traveling the world with me (Hayleigh too), going on countless dinner dates (Hayleigh too), ordering endless amounts of sparklingly vino bianco (Hayleigh too), always being down for Mastro’s, and encouraging us all to “live a little,” (going out, to stop studying, skipping class, shopping til we drop- all the fun stuff;)) Even though you always seemed to show up an hour past plans (had to), I wouldn’t of wanted it any other way. I’m so grateful that I met you and I’m thankful to have you back GR with me. Ya can’t get rid of me yet!!!! <3 Becca: ....god dammit Becca I love you. I’m not sure how I got so lucky to come across such an amazing person like you in my life but I’m so thankful I did. You’re the strongest and most beautiful person I’ve ever met inside and out. Thank you for recording the entirety of our stay in Florence; from writing down all of our crazy psychotic quotes (mostly Rachel’s) to us running to and from Space, to regretful Opium nights, to us doing a cheers 5 different times until I looked like I was “having fun”, to us crying next to the Duomo saying goodbye, to our best nights, our worst, and everything in-between. Even though I gave you so much crap about petting every dog in site, especially when there were major crises at hand, I hope going home you get to walk/pet all the dogs in the world just promise you won’t get any weird diseases (HAHAH). I don’t think there was ever a moment spent with you that I wasn’t laughing and I love you so much for that. Please keep doing you cause you’re pretty great. <3 And finally to my parents: Thank you so much for allowing me to have this opportunity. While I do have to say, I did support myself for the duration of my time spent aborad, you lead me there. Thank you for making me into the hard-working and independent person I am today and for motivating me to see the end goal. Thank you for encouraging me to partake in this amazing experience and instilling the confidence in me to take the initiative to step outside of my comfort zone. I will never be able to put into words how these past 4 months have impacted me, I can only try. I am, and will forever be grateful for this amazing, life-changing journey. Thank you. My Flomies: you all rock. I couldn't of asked for a better semester or a better group of girls to spend it with. I love you all endlessly, this isn’t goodbye. It’s see you later. “You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again.” -Azar Nafisi
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