How Nora Clossey’s time abroad inspired a new way of living
Returning to Memorial Union, Nora Clossey looked like the average American college student with her UW-Madison hat, red sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. Yet, beneath the casual exterior was someone who had lived in Utrecht, the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands, and completed a six-week internship in rural Kenya. Whether she was getting dressed up to stroll Utrecht’s cozy streets or dancing with the women and girls of a Kenyan village, each experience helped her become the person she is today. Now, back in Wisconsin, slipping into athleisure feels strangely foreign.
“I could not wear this [in the Netherlands],” Clossey said, glancing down at her outfit. “You dress up more there.”
From August 2023 to August 2024, Clossey spent the year abroad. She returned to Wisconsin, where she’d grown up, and decided to go back to college at UW-Madison. Clossey explained that life seamlessly picked up where it left off.
“It felt like I had never left,” Clossey said. “That was sad because it felt like a year of my life never happened. But it was a very big year, a lot of things happened, so I felt like I had to actively remember everything.”
Her time abroad exists in memories, pictures and stories, but its impact is woven into her everyday life. Clossey’s travels emphasize how exploring the world transformed her perspectives and habits. Since being back in Wisconsin, Clossey has used her bike more, started to get more involved in the community and began appreciating the simple moments like speaking with strangers — proof that a travel’s impact extends beyond the trip itself.
Biking through the Netherlands became Clossey’s main form of transportation — a change she realized would be non-negotiable when she got back to Wisconsin, as it let her quickly get from place to place and explore unknown areas with ease.
“I’d usually wake up, ride my bike to some sort of cafe to meet a friend, then I would probably bike to school for class, bike to eat, or just bike somewhere and get lost,” Clossey said. “I use my bike to go everywhere now.”
Kenya reinforced all the lessons Clossey learned.
“They both put in perspective for me that there is so much to learn from where I am now,” Clossey said. “In Madison, I see myself trying to do things with different organizations or find new hiking paths. The world is out there, you just have to go see it.”
In Utrecht, Clossey joined a rugby team without knowing her teammates also play on the Dutch national team. Rugby allowed her to travel around the Netherlands, meet like-minded people, learn the Dutch language and immerse herself in local culture.
Clossey said that this team showed her, “how influential the community is. I realized you can find community anywhere. I was with my rugby team and I felt so at home.”
In Kenya, Clossey was forced to go out of her comfort zone by speaking with strangers. This led to an unexpected connection with a local dentist who she wanted to help because of her passion for dentistry. The clinic, as fate would have it, was funded by the Dutch government.
“If that wasn’t a sign I was where I was meant to be, then I don’t know what is,” Clossey said.
Now back in Madison, Clossey approaches life differently.
“I’ll talk to anyone and everybody,” Clossey said. “I used to judge people, but now I’ll talk to them because you can learn so much from other people and other people’s cultures.”
These experiences abroad have etched themselves into her everyday life. Every time she gets on her bike or strikes up a conversation with a stranger, she’s reminded of the lessons she learned abroad.
“Before I left everyone was like, ‘It’s going to change you! It’s going to change you,’ and I was like, that’s kind of a clichè thing to say … but being in the Netherlands helped me figure out who I am as a person and what I want in life,” Clossey said.