Adjusting to life on an American campus after a year abroad is no easy feat, especially given the chilly vibe of pre-formed cliques.
A question that arises again and again when meeting new people, however, is, "Why did you go abroad?" If you ask any Freshman Florence Experience student, they will probably give you a mundane answer that doesn't truly sound believable. I tried to investigate deeper into why we all decided to travel the world for a year instead of joining our peers for boring intro classes and binge-drinking, and I found the unusual answer in a concept a friend was describing to me while we wandered the streets of New York City.
The "liminal" is a word that literally means, "the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks social status or rank, remains anonymous, shows obedience and humility, and follows prescribed forms of conduct, dress, etc.," according to dictionary.com. The word liminal, however, comes from the Latin word limens, which translates to threshold.
The concept can best be described as the space filled with uncertainty and anxiety in between the leaving behind of the old and the anticipation of the new. For example, I was living in the "liminal" after I returned from Italy but before I started college in America. The continuity of an everyday routine or place that you once knew is about to change because you are on the threshold of a whole new adventure or journey.
There are some people in the world who are adrenaline junkies, thrill seekers, and full-time adventurers, but for the travelers in the middle, I think the idea of the liminal space describes their existence perfectly. I think the middle ground for these types of people lies in the liminal because it truly revolves around the idea of being uncomfortable with the end of one era and the anticipation of a new one.
A lot of people are scared of change and they never leave the place they were born, they maintain the same job, and they hardly travel. This may be fine and dandy for someone who doesn't feel comfortable in the liminal, but other people thrive on change.
Change isn't easy, although some people may make it seem so. A change requires you take the chance in discovering something new about yourself and the world around you. People who thrive on change thrive in the liminal because it is constantly about rotating your sense of belonging, identity, and values. The liminal requires you to have faith in yourself and believe that things will ultimately work out in the way that they are supposed to be. This lack of control, this idea of letting the universe take control, is difficult for some people, especially those who stick to routines.
Most people thought the author of "Eat, Pray, Love," Elizabeth Gilbert, was crazy for the fact that she dropped her elitist New York City lifestyle to travel the world alone (as a woman, too!) and work through her grief.
Gilbert, however, was just living in her own liminal space after going through an agonizing divorce and struggling with her purpose. Sometimes it is the breakthrough that the liminal journey offers that attracts so many people to enter their own creative process.
In David Seamon's 1979, "A Geography of the Lifeworld, he describes five main traits relating to the idea of home: rootedness, feelings of possession, spiritual regeneration, feelings of being at ease, and warmth. These five traits alone sum up why it is so difficult to transition from one place to another, especially, for example, high school students who did not attend boarding school and suddenly are dropped in a school further than fifteen minutes to home.
The liminal is an intimidating space, but the best way I can describe why forty-six of us decided to drop the comfort of home for a year abroad is because we were intrigued by the notions of discovering somewhere in which we did not belong or necessarily have a purpose. There are people who seek to be on the brink of something extraordinary, and often that is the closest way to put that feeling into words.
