Back to the Heights After a Semester Abroad
Last semester, I spent 5 months in Rome, Italy and although I did not want to leave, I wanted nothing more than to come back to the Heights when I returned stateside. I missed everything about BC: my friends, the atmosphere, the professors, and campus in general. I was away for 9 months and missed the grand opening of Stokes, the giant snowstorm, the Marathon Monday bombing, and a mumps outbreak just to name a few.
I was lucky enough to move back to campus early and I have been making the transition back to life back at BC ever since. Here are five ways to ease the transition and keep the spirit of living abroad alive:
1. Explore Boston. If you’re anything like me, I’m sure you crammed as much traveling and sightseeing into your abroad experience as possible. Towards the end of the semester, I realized that I had seen and done way more abroad than I’ve ever done in Boston. We have one year left and who knows where we’ll end up after graduation. It’s time to put our wanderlust abroad to use in Boston and do all the things we’ve been putting off the last three years. Go explore!
2. Dinner Parties. One of the perks of living and traveling abroad is the food. Sure we all love a good old American cheeseburger and we can get just about any ethnic food we might be craving but there is nothing like eating homemade pasta in Italy or having tapas in Spain. Look up the recipes for your favorite meals while abroad and make them for your roommates, blockmates, or friends! After all, nothing brings people together like a good meal. Even if it doesn’t turn out as good as you may have hoped, you can still have fun in the process!
3. Keeping in touch. I know as well as anyone that once school starts, it can be difficult to stay in touch with friends from home, let alone friends from abroad who may be in a different time zone. Make the effort to stay in touch! You had some great times together and who knows, maybe your paths will cross again one day.
4. Decorate. Make a bulletin board of all your favorite abroad places, moments, and memories as a reminder of your time abroad and all the lessons you learned.
5. Plan another trip! As St. Augustine said, “the world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page.” Experiences abroad are certainly not limited to studying abroad and what better time to travel than after graduation? Put the real world off a little bit longer and travel!
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