I'd like to start by saying this: To all of my wonderful, world-traveling friends, I love you to pieces and I'm so happy for you and your plans to study abroad! You are adventurers and dreamers and world changers and you inspire me! I hope your experience is absolutely amazing!
With that being said:
I came into college fully intending to spend the fall semester of my sophomore year in Europe with our university's study abroad program. I loved the idea of traveling the world with my friends and seeing all of the places I've always dreamed of visiting. I have a tendency to make things larger than life, and my plans and visions of what studying abroad would be like were grandiose and fantastical.
Then I started actually thinking realistically about what it would mean to study abroad. Leaving the country—something I've only done one other time in my life. Getting a passport and having to hinge on other countries letting me in and out of their borders. Living in foreign places and trying to navigate public transportation and handle a different routine everyday while also doing school work. Living out of a suitcase. Not seeing my family for three months. Not being home for my birthday or our usual fall traditions. Not being on campus for the fall semester. Missing out on intramural softball (something I never thought I would say) and recruiting and Homecoming.
You might be thinking, "What's the point? That sounds like an adventure." And that's where I realized the difference between me and people who study abroad: I'm a homebody. And that's okay.
I like my routine. I like sleeping in the same bed each night after washing my face and brushing my teeth in the same sink. I like keeping my clothes hanging all orderly in my closet at the end of each day. And I like being with my family too much to be away from them that long. I like knowing that my mom is within a 500 mile radius. I'm having a hard enough time just six hours away, adjusting to college. No way would I be able to handle things changing every week and never being able to go home.
I'm just a homebody. I'm not the person who's up for the crazy adventure. Does that make me boring? Maybe. Is that a disappointment to all of my teenage dreams? Probably. But I'm learning that it is okay to be who I am, and that it is okay to live a quiet, simple life.
I'm still finding my own special moments everyday. College is full of surprises and new experiences and—dare I say it—crazy adventures, and I really like it. And maybe someday I will go to Europe. Maybe someday I will study abroad. But for now, I am happy studying right here.
