This semester, several of my close friends went to study abroad in Rome, Seville, and Paris. Although I was more than excited for them and looking forward to living out their adventures through Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, there was that little hint of jealousy and fear. I was envious of the fact that they would be spending their time traveling throughout Europe while I was back home in New York. At the same time, I was afraid that I wouldn't know what to do with myself on campus. They were the ones I would spend time with in between classes, so I didn't know how I'd be able to handle not having them around all the time. But I came to realize as the weeks went by, that not studying abroad was good for me and here are a few reasons why.
1. Not studying abroad taught me patience.
As I scrolled through my Instagram feed, I saw countless photos of the gorgeous European landscapes. Do I want to see all those things in real life? Yes, of course! But I came to learn that traveling isn't something that has to be done in one semester. I have my life ahead of me to take the time to travel and discover all that this beautiful life has to offer. Patience is a virtue and all good things can wait and I'm willing to wait however long I need for it to be my turn.
2. Not studying abroad taught me how much I appreciate my friends who stayed.
Thankfully, not ALL of my good friends flew off to Europe. Having stayed behind in America with my other friends allowed us to become even closer and form a stronger bond. I am beyond glad that I have them in my life because they make life's adventure all the more entertaining.
3. Not studying abroad taught me how to get myself out there.
I remember telling myself at the beginning of the semester that I would try to meet more people and form closer friendships with friends I didn't know as well or didn't see as much. Having my close friends around all the time created a friendship bubble. By having that wonderful security blanket yanked away from me, it forced me to be more outgoing and more proactive in my friendships with others. I'm thankful for that because otherwise, I may not have gotten the opportunity to get to know more people.
4. Not studying abroad taught me how to be more committed.
This kind of goes hand in hand with my last point, but I felt the need to make it a separate piece. In staying in the U.S., I was able to really see what mattered to me in terms of my extracurriculars. Sometimes people will join clubs and orgs because their friends are going to be at the same meetings. But not having my friends around allowed me to really think "do I really want to be here?" I was able to weed out certain activities and focus on what I am most passionate about. In doing that, I was able to be more productive in these clubs, contributing more to the conversation and immersing myself in the topics at hand.
5. Not studying abroad taught me how to have effective "me" time.
Everyone needs a time out once in a while, no matter how much of a social butterfly you are or think you are. Since my friends were abroad, I was able to take the time to spend some time on me, myself, and I. I was able to find out what I like and what I don't like, who are the people most important to me, and who are the people that maybe I needed some distance from. It's not necessarily a selfish act to wind down and spend some time away from others to focus on yourself. That is, as long as it's not all the time!
6. Not studying abroad taught me how much I love technology.
When your friends are abroad, you want to be able to keep in contact somehow without spending copious amounts of money on postage stamps. So thank you to laptops and cell phones for allowing me to FaceTime, snap, and message my friends in Europe. I was able to know the beauty of life abroad without having to leave my couch. But at the same time...
7. Not studying abroad taught me how much I hate technology.
Everyone uses technology in some way, shape, or form. And while that isn't a bad thing, I realized how much others--and myself--use it to get into everyone else's business. It made me see how addicting technology is and how we measure the worth of each other's lives by the number of favorites or likes a post gets. And even then, we are judging each other through the skewed lenses of social media; the real world isn't viewed through filters like Valencia, Hudson, or X-Pro II. I honestly could go on about this for a while, but I'll leave that to another article for another day.
8. Not studying abroad taught me how much I appreciate my friends who left.
Going through the semester without seeing my friends face to face honestly sucked. They are some of my best friends, so not having them around to talk to, joke around with, and spend time with was definitely difficult for me. It made me appreciate them so much more than I already do because you never realize how much a person means to you until they're gone.
9. Lastly, not studying abroad taught me how much I can't wait for the summer.
