I was walking down Oxford street in early December. The winter sky shone a deep cobalt over my head as I gazed at the Christmas decorations and lights that lined the London skies. This is one of my favorite memories of my study abroad semester that has of recent, been popping up in my head and reminding me of the immense experience I had living ad studying in London.
Recently, many of my sorority sisters have been moving out of the house to study abroad this semester. I can’t help but be filled with melancholy as they post pictures of passports and airline tickets that remind me of how they are going to live in the city that captured my heart.
It's funny because I never really thought I would have a chance to study abroad. I always figured I would be so entrenched in life at USC, as my over zealous self knew I would throw myself into everything, that I would never want to leave. The day I received my USC acceptance letter was the day that blew all of this apart. Yes, I was accepted to USC, but it was as a spring admit. To be honest, I was completely crushed. I had never imagined that this was even an option and felt like I was going to miss out on the best semester of my life.
I wallowed for a while, threw myself a pity party despite the fact that I had still gotten into my dream school. For some reason I thought that because of this one month set-back I was somehow not good enough for SC, that I wouldn’t be able to make friends or that I wasn’t going to get into a sorority since I was going to miss fall rush. I put off making plans for the fall and really didn’t even want to acknowledge that I was going to have a whole semester to basically do whatever I wanted.
One day early June, at a small hotel in Amsterdam (on my graduation trip), I decided on a whim to apply to a school in London for my fall semester. Within a week I had been accepted, assigned a room and roommates, and had booked my trip to spend my first first months of university in England.
If there’s one thing I regret in my life, it's that I acted so foolishly about getting into USC as a spring admit. If only I could have known the adventure that awaited me on the other side of the Atlantic.
My first night at The American University of Richmond I knew immediately that I belonged there. Within weeks, I had made friends from Nigeria, Ireland, Russia, Spain and the Netherlands. I had already traveled to Bath and had planned trips to Croatia, Geneva and Paris.
My months in London passed by quicker than anything and looking back I wish I could grasp it more firmly and take even more advantage of the time I had there. It was so incredibly hard for me to get used to the idea that my life wasn’t going according to my naively structured plan that I almost missed out on the greatest adventure of my life.
The independence I gained from living on my own in a foreign country along with the world knowledge, tolerance and understanding I found within myself has become the flagship for my life. My experience also made me realize the importance of embracing the challenges and obstacles that I find within my experiences. My whole life I had one goal, and I spent years locked inside myself with a singular vision. I can’t even imagine the things I missed when I was younger because I refused to look around me and embrace the challenges and opportunities life was giving me.
I know college is hard, and sometimes things don’t go our way. Many of us have strict plans and goals that we believe will define the success of our lives. If I can say one thing, it's that this is the time of our lives to take advantage of the mistakes, obstacles and sometimes daunting opportunities that scare us. Travel abroad, change your major or just be open to a new experience because it may change the way you see the world, the way you see your life and the way you see yourself.
