Next semester, I will be across the world in Bologna, Italy, learning all what there is to know about the culture, language, people, and way of life. As incredibly stoked as I am to be going on this next adventure, I do, like any other student who loves their college, have qualms about leaving my beloved home on the Hill. Spring Hill has been nothing but good to me over the last four semesters, and I could not be a prouder Badger. It's time, though, that I step out of my perfectly landscaped bubble to see the world, so I wrote a letter to my college before I leave it for nine months.

Dear Spring Hill,

It will definitely be weird not seeing anybody and everybody every single day for almost a year. Weekly walks up the hill in a sorry attempt of exercise, seeing your friends everyday in the cafeteria, and going to chapter on Sundays will be only a few things that I will miss. I will miss walking across campus and finding the professor whose class I skipped that day coming up to me to ask me where I was. I will even miss going to the apartments every weekend as a part of the necessary Spring Hill social life, as well as hitting up Club Burke during the weekdays. I will be leaving some of the very best friends that I have ever had to live in a country where I will know only those who accompany me. By the time that I return, you will have changed, but I, too, will have changed.

Studying abroad holds the opportunity for me to uncover pieces of myself that I would have never discovered. I will be learning all that there is to know about the social injustices in Europe, the cultural norms of Italy, and surround myself with people who are unlike me in background but similar to me in humanity. John Cheever once said, “I’ve been homesick for countries I’ve never been, and longed to be where I couldn’t be.” I have been lonesome for chances that push me out of my comfort zone and attached to places I never knew of before. This is my leap, my jump, my scream of a hallelujah for an opportunity to see the world that surrounds you and I. This is the moment that my heart has longed for, and I assure you that I will pursue the urge with every ounce of my being.

I leave you in good company and with full intention of returning to you. You are home, Spring Hill, and you will always be, but I must leave you for a while to learn about the mysteries of the world that surrounds us. I would not be here without you, and I could not do this without you.

I will see you soon.

Love Always,
A Faithful Student