A Few Things Learned

There a few things, reader, that studying abroad can teach you. Of course there is the apparent and hoped-for, such as, “they’re really not so different from us”, and “Gee, I would love to work some day to bridge the gap between this nation and my own”. But there are also things which you learn about yourself from living on your own, and about the world in the process which may surprise you, and which sometimes doesn’t. Here’s a partial list of things that I’ve been noticing and can recall at this moment in time:
1. Food: I’m a good cook; I love cooking and then inviting people over to share; I am willing to spend the most money on food.
2. America: Americanization is happening all around the world, but they really don’t like people from other countries trying to use our websites – a lot of videos and music are blocked if you’re connecting from out of the country; American politics and economics pervades everywhere else – I always just figured that when called ourselves a world influence we were just being really narcissistic, but nearly everyone you talk to can tell you about how politics function in the US and/or cultural things like how accents sound from different regions and how much of a flop that last Tom Cruise movie was; America is all about freedom, but you realize how puritanical it can be when things over there are a matter of heaven and hell, and over here, it’s just a part of life that you can accept or reject and you move on (i.e. alcohol, drugs, gay marriage). We are a passionate people, that’s for sure!
3. People: People are for the most part, very nice and welcoming (and this is not just here in Ireland, but it’s something that I’ve noticed whenever I’ve gone away); walking up to people and just starting a conversation is not nearly as scary as it might seem – I’ve made a lot of friends that way.
4. Different parts of the world look totally different, and they’re breathtaking and fascinating and always worth seeing because it adds a new dimension to your understanding of the world and its differences and how they happened.
5. I really like America. As much as I just complained about it, and as much as I really enjoy Europe and new places and new people, I will be happy to be home. It’s familiar, it’s beautiful, and sometimes it’s super annoying, but it’s my home and I’m proud of it. I think that going abroad is one of the best ways you can really get to know your own country – how other people see it, how it functions (or appears to function) abroad, and you’ll be surprised how willing you are to boast about it or defend it. Growing up I always complained about living in the U.S. and how I couldn’t wait to leave, but now that I’ve learned how to live in new places, I’ve discovered that I want to live in the U.S. of A. Go figure.