I don't really think there is anything specific that I regret, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to think about and put out here - who knows, maybe it'll help someone
1. Theoretically, I would like to have waited, just to be more financially stable before studying abroad. I had some difficulties with financial aid and didn't realize until about a month or so before I was supposed to be leaving that my study abroad program would not in fact be covered by my regular student loans (which they had basically told me repeatedly that it would), and so I had to rush around and find the money. So my parents took out a parent plus loan, which I wish hadn't been necessary. Also along the same line, I made the stupid mistake of not saving my tax return money that I received in the beginning of 2011, thinking, once again, that my regular student loans were supposed to cover my expenses. (Although even still, I should have saved that money anyway). And so now, I'm in a lot of debt, and probably will be for awhile.
I wish that I had realized that studying abroad costs a lot more than I thought it did.
2. I would have taken more videos. I took tons and tons of pictures, and I'm really glad that I did - I don't regret the pictures that I have. But I have a couple of videos from the various places I went (one from the top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, one by Big Ben in London, etc), but I just wish I had more. Watching those videos brings me right back to being in those places, and it would have been nice to have more. Even just for normal stuff like walking down a street in London.
3. I would have liked to make more friends who were locals and/or not Americans. And I do not mean that as an insult to my American friends because I am so glad that I met them and am friends with them. But I also wish that I had made more friends who weren't Americans. However, I'm not sure if this is something that is my fault. I don't think that the University did a very good job at encouraging interaction between local students and study abroad students. It might sound stupid but, during the first couple of weeks, you pretty much become friends with the people you'll be friends with the whole time, and all of their orientation activities for us kept us completely seperate from local students. And as much as I enjoyed the fact that we got an extra week to get to know the city before classes started, we were alone in Cairncross House for a week or so before local students moved in.
My last do over is not a true do over, but:
4. I would like to have eaten all sorts of local cuisine, and I really regret the fact that I didn't eat pastries or baguettes in Paris, couldn't have a pint of Guinness in Dublin or have pretty much any of the other traditional foods. I do feel like I missed out on something. I hate the fact that the only food I ate the entire time we were in Paris were McDonald's french fries. However, there was nothing I could do about that (I am on a gluten-free diet), so its not a real do over. I only put this out there because I feel like its something that people should make an effort to do when they go to these different countries. Now I'm not saying that you need to eat the seriously gross sounding stuff, but I think eating traditional food is important.
Thats pretty much it for my do overs. Anything else is either very specific (and I was trying to look at the big picture), or I consider it as part of the study abroad "learning experience". For example, while in Paris, we went to the Louvre on a Friday night, when it had free admission for students. I'm super glad we did that because it saved us money, but we never really got the best view of the outside of the Louvre, because obviously, it was dark. And none of my pictures came out. We had hoped to go back at some point during the day but ran out of time. So I wish I had been able to see that during the day. I also wish that we had gone up the Eiffel Tower during the day, both because of how cold it was at night, and because maybe we would have been able to see something. So those are a couple of very specific things.
And then as far as the "learning experience" ones, there is the whole, missing our flight out of Paris and then wandering around Paris at 2 am, thing. As much as that sucked and I didn't enjoy it and wish it hadn't happened, I do consider it to be a very important experience for me. And I know that might sound stupid but... I was basically in an emergency situation and had to try to figure out what to do for myself, without my parent's help. I hate to sound arrogant or something but I am proud of myself that I was able to not fall down crying, and able to come up with ideas on what to do (even though some of them didn't work). I'm also happy that my brain knows more French than I thought it did, and I was able to communicate with people in an attempt to fix our situation (even though I don't think THAT helped either). So yeah. DISCLAIMER: I am not advising you to get stranded in Paris at 2 am in an attempt to become a stronger person. :)
Ok thats all for me. At the bottom here is the link to the article I was talking about. I think she's got some very good points but while reading the article it was very clear to me that these do over things are something that are really specific to each person, so don't necessarily take any of these (hers or mine) as being rules or advice you should live by... just something to keep in mind.
One last thing... All last summer I was thinking about this really cool thing I was going to do during my whole study abroad trip, where I would take pictures of my feet in all the different places that I went (so some would just be me standing on random streets, and some would clearly be places like the Eiffel Tower or something else recognizable). It's a lot cooler in my head than I'm describing it here, but anywho, I never did it. I don't know if I forgot or if I just thought it would take too much time or be too silly or something. But I really wish I had taken the time to do that. I still think it would be really cool.
http://bostinno.com/channels/if-i-had-a-study-abroad-do-over/
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