Friday, August 9, 2013

Home Sweet Home

  • So after two days of travel (one for the flight back to the US and one for the train ride back from the East Coast), I am finally home and settling back into normal life. I have re-adjusted my sleep schedule and am back to work, but I am missing London and the people that I met there. Before this trip, I had never been that far away from home for that long by myself. It was a life changing experience.
  • While I was away, I learned a lot about myself. For instance I've noticed that I've become a more independent person. Despite being away from home and anyone I knew (before this trip) for such a long period of time, I did not get homesick. I also felt very self-sufficient and confident within the city when I was on my own (during the days that I extended my trip).
    This trip allowed me to experience things that I've never seen or done before. Some of these made me think about what I'm planning to do with my life. Seeing the musical Wicked (the first professional production that big that I've ever seen) positively affected my outlook on theater and the arts. Though both are thing that I've always had an interest in (and have been doing for a while), this show made me want to become more involved. Don't get me wrong, I do love biology (my major) but if I would have seen this show before entering college, I would have probably decided to major in theater production. This show made me realize just how big of a part the arts play in my life and how I need to find some way to incorporate them into life when I graduate and am working in the Biology field. I knew that I liked the arts but it surprised me just how much of an impact they have on my life.
    Like some other people I met on my program, this wasn't the first time I've gone abroad (last time I did though it was with the Carlow University Theatre Group). Naturally I did have a couple of worries. The scariest one was that the exchange rate between dollars and pounds is notoriously bad. To make myself more confident I saved up spending money for months before I left till I had a comfortable safety net (extra money in case anything unforeseen happened). I also gave my parents my banking information and since I just used my American debit card to withdraw money while abroad, my parents had the chance to deposit money into my account that I could access the next day. Another issue that I was apprehensive about was making sure that I packed everything that I would need for the trip. To combat this, as I mentioned in my first blog, I packed and repacked my bag about 8 times.
    Studying abroad has made me realize how much there is to see and do in the world. It made me want to travel more, see more, and do more things throughout the world as well as within the United States. I am no longer content with just experiencing the same things all of the time. I want to adventure. It has made me more confident in my ability to handle the new situations and experiences that I know are out there.
    For me the single greatest benefit to studying abroad was that I got to meet so many amazing people. Though I didn't get the chance to meet and get to know many (or for that matter any) British people, I did get to know some amazing people on my program for the States. So far we're all still keeping in contact with one another and attempting to plan a reunion trip already. Though through this trip I got the visit London, a city that I've always dreamed about going to, the people that I met topped that.
    By going on this trip, I had the chance to experience many different and new things. As I mentioned in my previous blog, My favorite place to be within the city was the South Bank walk. However, my favorite experience of the trip was just getting to experience the city with a bunch of new people (most of which were also there for the first time). It was exciting to explore a new city and experience the differences in culture between the US and the UK.
    For anyone who ever wants to study abroad, my advice is to do it. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my life. I had the chance to meet people from all over the United States (who were on the same program) as well as Russia. Nothing quite matches the excitement of being in a new place with people you just met. In saying that, I hope to go abroad at least one more time while I am a student. Weather it is with a third party program (like with this time) or with a Carlow University class or program.
    Though I attended numerous talks about culture shock, one at Carlow and several through my program, I feel that I escaped the grasp of it for the most part. I did begin to miss my family half way through the program, but after talking to them over Skype, I felt a lot better. While I was there, I kept my mind open and didn't see London as better or worse than Pittsburgh. I think it was easier for me because it was an English speaking city. Some words were different, but it was easy to get used to.