Several years ago, I read a book about a woman who traveled to England to complete her master’s degree, and decided I wanted to study abroad when I went to college. With that goal in mind, I spent my first year and a half at UVM figuring out how I was going to do it. I met with professors and the study abroad office, consulted my parents, looked at program websites, and knew where I wanted to go before I started my sophomore year. I sent in my application at the earliest possible moment and knew toward the end of January 2012 that I would be spending the fall semester of my junior year in St Andrews, Scotland.
When I mention that I studied abroad at St Andrews, I often get one of two reactions: the person asks if I golf (I don’t) or says something along the lines of, “Oh! That’s where Will and Kate went!” (It is, but it hardly dominates life in the town). St Andrews is a small town located on the North Sea, roughly an hour from Edinburgh by both train and car. It has seven golf courses, the most famous being The Old Course, which is located right off of downtown St Andrews and has a beautiful view of the North Sea. The town also boasts the ruins of both a castle and cathedral. The university itself was founded in 1413, so my time there coincided with the start of their 600th anniversary celebrations.
I fell in love with St Andrews during my research into study abroad. They had classes that interested me and, from the pictures, it looked beautiful. When I finally arrived to study there, it exceeded my expectations. The town is small and walkable, Scots tend to be nice and friendly, and I took two interesting classes. In spite of having only two classes each week, I had a lot of work. My semester officially ended in December, when I flew home to New Jersey, but the semester did not feel complete until spring break, when my transcript arrived from IFSA-Butler, the program I traveled through. With the arrival of my grades, my study abroad experience seemed to come to its final ending.
But study abroad doesn’t actually end upon return to the States. One of the things they warned us about at orientation was “reverse culture shock.” I experienced very little culture shock going to Scotland, so I doubted that the reverse would affect me much. I also did not expect to have jet lag, but I struggled to normalize my sleep pattern for almost a month. I still sometimes feel tired at strange times for the east coast, but are perfectly normal times to be tired in Scotland. Perhaps the most alarming bit of reverse culture shock has been crossing the street. Even though it felt as if I never looked the right direction in Scotland, I keep finding myself looking the wrong way back in the United States, which has nearly gotten me into trouble.
Even before I left St Andrews, I began to have some concerns about transitioning back to life at UVM, mostly because I would go from taking two classes to taking five and I was worried I would have forgotten my way around campus. In reality, I forgot nothing about getting around campus. The academic transition has been harder. While I had a lot of work for my two classes at St Andrews, the courses were paced differently, so it has been hard to find my footing again here at UVM. Both of my courses at St Andrews only had two assignments due all semester, so taking five classes, each with its own exams and essays, has been more daunting than it would be otherwise. I feel as if I am constantly studying or writing a paper, even though I’m not.
What has helped is staying in contact with my friends from study abroad, both regular St Andrews students and other study abroad students. It makes the transition easier to talk to both groups, those who are still there and others who are transitioning back to their own universities. It was especially reassuring early on to know other people were having some trouble readjusting to American university life. Talking to people who are still at St Andrews helps me maintain a connection to the place I loved so much, even though it is strange to see the inside of my friend’s room through a computer screen, rather than in person! I do miss St Andrews. I would love to go back, both to see my friends and to revisit some of my favorite places, like the castle and the cathedral. I also miss silly things though, like the food. There were some delicious meals I had, things that can’t be shipped to me. Sometimes I find myself craving them once in awhile, only to be disappointed with whatever I use as a substitute. They do sell some of my favorite things from Scotland here in the States: I fell in love with Galaxy chocolate and was sad to leave it, only to discover that it is sold here in the States under a different, yet familiar, name– Dove.
“Now what?” That is the question I keep asking myself now that I’m back. How do I translate my experiences into my life here, arguably my “real” life? Now what happens? After all of my preparing, now that it’s over, what do I do? I am still working on answering those questions, among others. I’ll let you know if I figure it out.