Can I go back?

Now that the semester is somewhat coming to a close I feel like I can reflect on my adventures more from this side of things. As this week is International Education Week I am honored I get to talk more about my experiences and how my study abroad affected my life. 

I have come to love my experience and have taken what I learned from those classes and my time overseas to my advantage. I have learned so much about myself. I learned that I can push myself a lot further than I once thought, I have become a lot more responsible for not only myself and my finances but for the people around me. I have realized to not be as uptight over events and to not let stress get to me. While I was overseas I had a hard time letting go and actually going to experience some things on my own. However, I never regretted not doing anything that I did. Especially towards the end of my trip when I was more stationed in my apartment at the end of the day because of how tired I was from the beginning of the journey. 

I have learned so much about accepting the cultures around me. I have come to appreciate the risk and the elation that the international students at my school have. Simply because at one point I was one of those students! Especially while I was in Spain and I was new to the language and the food and the people around me. While I was in the British Isles I was very comfortable and did not feel as though anything could get me down since I was so familiar with the food and the culture around me. I realize now though that I was not as invincible as I had thought. I was very naive honestly, regarding some of the times I would go out with friends and meeting new people. However, I learned to become more aware of my surroundings and to sometimes question the people around me and get to know more about them before assuming anything about them. 

I want to share my study abroad experience with everyone. Starting from the moment I decided on my program to the moment I had to leave my apartment in Spain and trek it to the airport and wait for 8 hours for a flight! I want to share all the great cultural experiences as well as the experiences I had in meeting new people, all the food I got to try, and of course the history I had the honor of learning. I wish that more people I knew had the chance to study abroad and I will forever stand by the fact that everyone should at least get out of their home country at least once in their lifetime. 

So now where do I go from here? Well I have had the honor of representing CISAbroad as one of their alumni ambassadors. I have loved every minute of it because it all benefits me in talking about my studying abroad as well as getting the chance to meet others like me who want to study abroad as well. I want to study abroad again sometime. Anywhere honestly, but if I could chose another destination right off the bat I would have to choose Australia. Shout out to all of my Ozzie friends! 

Well, it could be possible this blog is over, but I know that I will probably reflect on my study abroad next year and the year after that and I will want to blog all about it!

So. . . until then!