GOALS:

Goals. One of my favorite words. It’s pointless to go through life without goals. There is always something to strive for in every situation. Life is about wanting to better yourself and goals help achieve that. One of my lifelong goals is to experience other cultures and countries. This world is filled with so many beautiful things that can only be experienced when you step outside of your comfort zone. When you leave your happy, protective bubble.  To me, studying abroad is the most amazing chance to experience this. To step outside the bubble and into the unknown. 

My main goal when studying abroad is to elevate my cultural awareness and skills of cultural assimilation. I recently had an amazing study abroad experience in New Zealand. Throughout the entirety of the trip, I witnessed how unaware our culture has become. We rarely stop and observe what is around us. I feel that my awareness greatly increased because I realized how self-important we act. Taking up large spaces and having boisterous attitudes. I hope that in my future study abroad endeavors I will be able to further my skills of cultural assimilation and observance.

I am so happy that I had the chance to first travel with a group to New Zealand before embarking on my own journey elsewhere. Prior to this trip, I was quite nervous about going abroad for a full semester. There are so many ifs and I am more of a confirmed type of person. I was worried of getting lost or forgetting something. One of the lessons that I took away from the New Zealand trip is that some of the most amazing things happen when you are in a place you aren’t familiar with and you have no idea how to get back to the hostel. These situations force you to think and really use the resources around you. I am actually excited about getting lost in whichever city I am placed in. The best food, shops and places are found on your journey back. 

I am a little uneasy about being alone in the beginning, but I plan to make the best of my situation. There is no time to waste! I am very excited to immerse myself into the culture. I find cultures so fascinating and awe-filling. There are so many things that are different in other countries that we never learn about. It is always the small things that surprise me the most.

Throughout my semester abroad I hope to visit nearby countries to maximize the experience. I think this is the best opportunity to visit various countries while saving some money and time. I think this will really enhance the trip by being able to closely observe cultures that are located near to one another. I also plan to embrace all the mishaps. I am not going to go as far to say there will never be a time that I am frustrated with a situation, but I hope that I can, in that moment, realize that I should be embracing the trouble not freaking out about it. Along with embracing the mishaps, I definitely plan to step out of my comfort zone and do activities that I wouldn’t always participate in here in the US. I think by fully accepting the culture and all the “norms” I will have a maximized experience. Stay tuned to see how that works out for me!