For three days I have been without a cell phone. I feel completely isolated from the world, which is silly because I go to work every day, drive two hours a day and interact with my family at home, I am just a normal product of this technological age – a girl ATTACHED to her cell phone. Aside from these three days, the only times I have been completely devoid of my cell phone in the past eight years were my trips to Ireland and France.
During my trips I am so busy seeing anything and everything, I don’t think about my cell phone much. Not having a U.S. cell phone abroad is a good thing for me. For one it eliminates embarrassing myself like this. It also forces me to be completely involved in what I am seeing, doing and learning – an experience I have to fully soak up because with all the places in the world, I may only be in that given place once. Probably most importantly it eliminates one more American thing about me.
I love being American, but unfortunately we have a bad reputation for thinking we are entitled abroad. I do love constantly connected to my microcosm of the universe, but by temporarily discarding my habits, I can be open to other ways of life. I make an effort to try things because you can’t know you don’t like it until you try it.
While the experiences abroad are exciting, what is sometimes more rewarding are the changes back home. Going abroad with a completely open mind allows for broadening of horizons and views. The subconscious shift from viewing everything abroad through an American lens to coming home and seeing things differently because of your experiences abroad is magical, beautiful.
Study abroad comes at the perfect time. College is when people really start to discover themselves. Studying abroad changed me and taught me so many things about myself in such a short time. Although I am in my early 20s with many more experiences ahead of me and still much to learn about myself, I know that my experiences abroad will continue to shape who I become.
No comments:
Post a Comment