Most Study Abroad blogs would have you thinking that every moment of every waking day of these trips are happy- that there are no melancholy moments, no brief seconds where you miss something, no seconds where you feel any tinge of blue… and they’re right, for the most part. The only time that really trumps the happiness you feel while studying abroad is when you say your goodbyes. Goodbye to your homestay family, goodbye to your friends from different countries and states whom you may never see again, and goodbye to the countries themselves.
In the words of our amazing Study Abroad trip coordinator, “The hardest part is going back.” And you weren’t wrong Milly. I know that I am going to miss so much about being in Antigua- the way that the volcanoes rumbled in the night, the beautiful people of Antigua who wore traje and represented their Mayan culture, the storefronts on every building that confuse the heck out of you because they all look the same- and most of all, I will miss my study abroad friends and faculty that helped me to adjust to these whole new worlds of Guatemala and Belize. As sad as this blog post may seem, it is only the reality of what many study abroad students must face. We have to adjust and come back, whether these homes be in the States or on a whole other continent, the fact of the matter is that students always come home. And as much as I hate to say it, study abroad broadens your horizons, but it always leaves you wanting more. Seeing parts of the world that some people have never seen, things that are not in the textbooks, people that have never been asked these questions… it really changes you. So, although every study abroad student must face returning home to the familiar, you never really return home the same way you left it. And to me, that means much more than any textbook or lecture ever will.
