Everyone seems to think the decision to go abroad is such an easy one. Why NOT go abroad? But its so much more than that. At the majority of colleges, financial aid does not carry over, and so going abroad can become an almost unrealistic goal; luckily this is not the case at Vassar, but that doesn’t necessarily make the decision any easier.
The idea of going abroad is both enticing and terrifying in itself. There are so many things to consider. Where do I want to go? How long do I want to go? What is there to gain from this experience? Will it make me a better person? What will have to be sacrificed? Once you’ve answered all those questions, you decide (or so it seems).
What they don’t tell you about going abroad is all the work that has to be done before you even leave. From plane tickets to student visas to insurance to pre-departure courses to abroad course registration to housing requests to financial aid requests, it's a never-ending process. But none of that is the hard part. I can fill out forms and write essays and plan my future curriculum until I’m blue in the face but it’s the goodbyes that are going to be the hardest.
So, before leaving the country for 12 months here are a few things I (and probably every other student going abroad) have to say:
To my best friends: I’m going to miss you more than life itself. I’m not sure if I would have ever made the decision to go abroad if you hadn’t been around. You’re always motivating me to step out of my comfort zone. You’re the mac to my cheese, the spoon to my avocado (we both know how deep my obsession for avocadoes goes) the banana to my Nutella. Nothing in life would be nearly as sweet without you in it, so I promise to come back to you.
To my close friends at school: It's only a year. We can do this. It’ll be fine! We have Skype and Facebook, and I want to hear about everything that’s going on in your lives! Most of you are also going abroad and I’m super proud of you! This is going to be a great experience for all of us and I know that we could all use the time away to immerse ourselves in a new life and culture and reflect on what we have here at school.
To my friends and family at home: 6 months away and then I’ll get to see all of your beautiful faces and then 6 more months away. (Oh, did I mention I decided to go away for a whole year?) It wont be too different from how often we see each other now! But I’ll surely miss you a lot more.
To the friends I recently made: Not having your little tushes 100 feet away every night might make bedtime a little bit rougher but I truly adore you guys and I befriended you knowing I was leaving. I hope the connections we’ve established will stay solid while I’m gone because I fully intend to come back and be all in your room and beds at night. I want to hear all the stories and adventures that I missed and I promise to tell you all about mine.
To the friends who I will lose while I’m gone (because let us be realistic, not every bond we build is strong enough to endure a year long separation): We had a nice run, and I’m sure our friendship didn’t end because we didn’t like each other. We just grew apart, as people do when experiencing the world, and it’s okay. No matter what we’ll still have the memories.
It's the goodbyes that are going to make us feel the twinge in our hearts. But as the separation anxiety begins to set in, we must remember that one day in late August we'll all find ourselves roaming the sidewalks of campus with all of those people we missed (at the very least) on the same continent.
