What are you looking forward to most?

Are you excited?

What are you taking with you?

Are you nervous?

What countries are you visiting?

Will you eat so much gelato and pasta?

These questions and more usually follow the phrase I’m studying abroad this semester. It’s always overwhelming, at least for me. The thing is, all of these questions have something in common: expectations. They’re all about thinking forward to my time in Italy and these questions push me to think about what shape my three months in a foreign country will take. Truthfully, I haven’t thought much about what my journey ahead will bring. I decided to go on this Italy trip on a whim. Yet, as I sit here and write this, I do have a few expectations, however broad or specific, that come to mind:

I expect to be exhausted and spent from my adventures.

I’ll be traveling whenever I can. Whether it’s a trek from my apartment to the market, or a long train ride from Florence to Barcelona, I want to go and see what the world has to offer. I’m going across the world for a reason, and it’s surely not to sit in an unfamiliar apartment and stare at Twitter. There are roads to be walked, places to be discovered, and cheap souvenirs to be bought. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity (unless you study abroad again) so why not traverse all across Europe while you can? I expect to walk the road less traveled, and then change lanes onto the road traveled more often; a journey that leaves no stone unturned.

I expect to take more pictures than I will ever need, ever.

Refraining from posting a quote about photography being some sort of sublime activity, I will just say that pictures are fascinating. Whether it be of someone in the streets of Paris, or a landscape of Cinque Terre, a picture is a memory held captive. A moment forever fixed in time on paper (or your Instagram feed). I love seeing these memories, whether mine or yours, and appreciating the beauty of a well-taken picture. Am I a professional photographer? No, but I have a camera and some editing software so I can shoot pictures throughout Europe and pretend to be one. I’ll take pictures to keep the memories as I move on, grow older, and forget. I expect to have so many photos that I never grow foggy on the details of my three months in Europe.

I expect to absolutely hate some of the food I’ll eat.

Yes, of course I’ll have the staple foods of Italy, and I’m sure they’ll ruin Italian food in the States for me forever, but I don’t want to solely eat the normal foods. I’m not a picky eater by any means, and I’m excited to go out on a limb and try new foods. Europe has weird food, people. Frittelle di cervella (brain fritters) in Italy, criadillas (look it up) in Spain, zungenwurst (blood tongue) in Germany, and so much more! This probably sounds nasty to most of you, and that’s because it probably will be, but where else can you get some of this strange food? May as well try it, hate it, spit it out, and say I’ve had it! I expect to have eaten more than a few pizzas and pastas once I’ve spent my time in Italy

I expect to change.

Honestly, last semester and this summer have been very challenging and have left me with some uneasiness within. I’m not going abroad to find myself or become a different person, I just have a few things to sort out, as does everyone at some point in their life. And that’s okay. We’re human. We need to process, sort, organize, share, listen, and live in community. Luckily, I’m going to Italy with twenty other people who, though I don’t know them all very well, will help me through any impending struggle. That’s what we do; we help each other. My surroundings will effect me in some way, big or small, that much is sure, and I’m very excited to see the results. No “new year, new me” nonsense happening here, just the realistic expectation of transformation. I expect a difference in myself when I come home.

What about you? What are you expecting? Whether you're abroad or not, expectations aren't a bad thing. They may not always be realistic, or they may be exactly what plays out in your story. Building expectations into your life is normal. Strong beliefs are all expectations really are, so what are you putting strong belief in this upcoming semester? What are you hoping for in this season of life? Find out what that is, and go chase it. Go eat weird food, go to that concert of an obscure band, wear mismatching socks if you'd like! Just go forward with purpose and desire.

— PG