If I had told myself going into college that I would get the opportunity to study abroad, I wouldn’t have believed it. I came to Texas A&M University to run cross country and track, but after having some serious injuries and factors in my life, I no longer ran for TAMU. This was a really hard chapter of my life because that was my biggest reason for coming to school here, and since I was fully committed year-round to my sport, that was my source of friendships, free time, and dedication aside from academics. Once that chapter closed on my life I felt pretty lost on what to do next. I found out about the Marketing Europe Study abroad and felt drawn towards applying. I got accepted into the program and started to prep and plan for my summer ahead. I didn’t know anyone else who was going on the trip and happened to find my roommate by accident, but I’ll call it fate. I set off for Europe with a few connections and all of the research I had done leading into the journey, not knowing what was to come.
London and Paris were our first stops of the trip and the two I had done the most planning for. I had lists of all the things I wanted to do and see in our short window here. My roommate was up for absolutely everything and joined me on all the excursions I had my heart set on seeing. Along with having the best roommate in the entire world, I became close with all 80 of the other students on the trip. Although, there were seven among the 80 that became my best friends. The mantra around the trip was “sleep when you’re home”, there were so many historical landmarks we wanted to see, foods to try, and popular shops we had to see that not a single moment could be wasted. The seven of us pushed each other to try new experiences that would have never been possible without this program and being in new countries. The cultures and perspectives of the towns we stayed in made us want to squeeze every minute out of our time spent abroad.
Looking back at pictures from the month away, I can see myself grow and change in each new country we visited. My openness to new experiences grew and after talking with locals from the cities, there was no chance I could take a second for granted. I wouldn’t say there were any impressions I was wrong about, because as the trip progressed, I learned to not expect and to just allow myself to be guided by the people around me and the ways of the locals. I left this trip feeling inspired to see more of the world, make the most of every experience, and not be afraid to talk to strangers, because they might just become the friends you keep for a lifetime.
