This past semester, I, like so many other wide-eyed college students, left the comforts of my cozy, familiar campus for what I presumed would be the semester of a lifetime. While I had mentally prepared myself for four months of Italy’s best pasta, gelato, art and (of course) wine, I had no idea just how much my semester of new experiences would change me and my outlook on life.

Bucknell is a very fast-paced and competitive environment. The slow, yet somehow chaotic energy of an antiquated city like Florence brought a welcome change. Meandering around forgotten, tucked-away alleys with no real destination in mind became a common occurrence. You know when it’s late afternoon on a summer day, and the sunlight is a muted, hazy yellow that seems to slow time down to a lethargic pace? That is what the sunlight always looks like in Florence. Italy is a reminder of simpler times, when family, food, wine and beauty exceeded our seemingly inherent need to always be busy and productive.

Every single day I spent abroad was vastly different from the next. Seeing world-renowned art in Rome, lounging on a palm-tree ridden beach in Portugal and enduring a smelly, bumpy ride on a camel were all in a day’s work. While all of my eye-opening and enlightening experiences abroad seemed exciting in the moment, reminiscing about those days stirs up a much more emotional sense of nostalgia. Now, those moments seem dreamlike. It is a strange thing to feel like you have changed so much in four short months and come home to a place that has not changed with you. There is almost a sense of resentment for those who have not shared your experiences with you — a “you will never understand” mentality. Falling back into a routine of work, class, homework and monotony almost makes you forget about the breathtaking, humanizing moments that occurred. Yet, you realize that no amount of money earned or A’s received can re-create those indescribable moments.

I believe that routine is the enemy of time. Humans are drawn to reliable, scheduled days that often make us feel temporarily at ease and comforted. This sense of routine leads to the “newness” of all things exciting — like a new career, city or friend — to become dull and mundane. We always hear old people warning us of how fast life passes. We know that actual time does not pick up speed as we age, but we lose fascination and wonder with the world as we become accustomed to our surroundings. Our senses are no longer astonished and shocked to life by the way the world works.

This is why travel is so important. A change in routine, in your surroundings, in the people that you encounter can induce a whole new perspective and sense of living. Travel is a catalyst for all things creative, romantic, intellectual and challenging. It forces us out of our safe, easy lives and makes us question the significance of everything we do. It slows down time as each day brings something unfamiliar and interesting.

This is why it is difficult adjusting to life at home after spending time abroad. I find myself frustrated by routine and repetitiveness, yet feel an obligation to maintain the expected “role” I represent in society as a soon-to-be college graduate. Sometimes, my semester abroad really feels like a surreal, out-of-body experience that was too good to be true. When these thoughts occur, I make a promise to myself to always strive for excitement, change and novelty. To make travel a priority. To have a new experience every day, so that monotony and busy schedules revert back to that slow, hazy afternoon sun in Italy.