Editor’s Note: In each issue this summer, The Crimson White will publish a column written by a student who is studying abroad in order to share their experiences in a foreign country.
Summer is the season for study abroad posts. Spring semester students return, summer term students board their flights, and underclassmen research opportunities to go abroad next year. Pictures and nostalgia fill my Facebook feed, and everyone laments the end of ‘the best time of their life’.
As I returned home last month from two semesters in Prague, Czech Republic, I began to worry that all those Facebook posts were right. Maybe study abroad really was the best time of my life. At 20, I was afraid I reached my peak. However, after all the tearful goodbyes, one sad Spotify playlist and some self-reflection, I am determined that my life will not end here. I will use the past nine months to create a future even more adventurous and impactful.
I studied abroad, but my life did not peak.
My life has not peaked because studying abroad taught me about global perspectives. Living in a post-Soviet country like the Czech Republic opened my mind to new opinions on class, war and capitalism. Befriending people from Latvia, China, Peru and Belarus gave me opportunities to engage in challenging political discussions, which tested beliefs I took for granted at home.
My life has not peaked because I’ve built relationships with people who push me to try more and succeed every day. The Czech culture is not always friendly, but when someone decides to befriend you, they are in it for the long haul. I’ll never forget the weekend I spent at my Czech friend’s hometown. Even though her parents and I could barely communicate in my broken Czech, they welcomed me as their own daughter, and invited me to come back with my whole family. I know that seeing my study abroad friends will be difficult in the future, but if we have the opportunity to help each other succeed, I know we will.
I’ve only gotten a glimpse of what the world has to offer. Traveling Europe was an experience that brought me mountains, massive glassy lakes and wild cities that I never thought I’d see, but the world is so much bigger than student living in Europe. Working abroad would be a very different level of immersion, and living in Japan or Korea would be completely different from the Czech Republic. With my new international experience, there are even new adventures waiting for me here in Alabama. I am excited to get more involved with our international programs in the fall, and I’d love to help make someone’s American study abroad experience great.
Even though studying abroad really is as great as every annoying Eiffel Tower picture on Instagram says it is, I will not let this year be the best time of my life. It cannot be downhill from here. Studying abroad is one of the best times of my life, but the things I learned abroad will open up doors for many other ‘best times’ in the future.
