Now that I’m starting my senior year, I’ve had some time to reflect. Whether my major was the right one, whether or not if I would move across the country after graduation and all the things I never got to experience as a college student.
While I have created a senior bucket list, there’s one thing I’m never going to be able to do, and now that the end of my time as a student is here I’m filled with deep regret. I’m never going to be able to study abroad.
Now, I know I can travel after graduation (which I plan on doing), but visiting a country for a short trip just isn’t the same as immersing yourself in the culture for a semester. When you study abroad you get the full package that a country has to offer. Since your there for (roughly) three months you get to explore beyond the tourist areas and the best of the best.
When you experience getting to live in another country through study abroad, you get to develop a routine, become a pseudo-citizen, and actually make connections with the people and places wherever you chose to study. Visiting or traveling to another country typically doesn’t allow that kind of emotional connection that studying abroad does.
None of my friends who have actually done study abroad regret it, if anything they all want to go back. I have other friends currently applying to study abroad, and they’re excited to pick out classes to take there, where they’re going to live, and what they’re going to do.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting here freaking out about my senior capstone class and whether or not I should add on a third minor. I had the extra hours and ability to do study abroad. I didn’t though because I thought life at App was too important to leave, even for a semester.
I don’t regret spending every semester at App, because every semester in these beautiful mountains taught me something about myself, but I do think I could have learned more in another country.