It has been about two months since I arrived back in the United States after my study abroad trip, and I can confidently say it truly was the trip of a lifetime. I had never been out of the country before, so this was a whole new experience for me. I gained so much experience and learned so much from my travels in Europe that I could only learn from being there. We traveled to seven different countries during our time abroad, and it was interesting to see that the cultures were all so different in each country even though they were all close together. In my first blog post, the only place we had been to was London. Although there definitely were cultural differences from the United States, I thought that overall it was more similar to the United States than I had expected. The language was the same, the marketing companies we visited were pretty similar to those operated in the US, and it was easy to get around. Because of this, my first impression was somewhat inaccurate of the rest of the trip. After we left London, we entered into countries where English isn’t their first language, and we experienced being the minority. This was a foreign feeling compared to the US where almost everyone speaks English and has the same culture as you. One thing I learned was how to adapt quickly in each country. By learning common lingo and social cues, we did our best to fit in with the locals of that country and not follow the negative perception Americans have in some places. One thing I was surprised by was how nice the locals were to us. Before going on the trip, I had heard that Europeans dislike Americans and treated them poorly, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn’t always the case. Although we did have a few experiences with rude waiters or negative comments from pedestrians we passed, overall, most of the locals were welcoming and did their best to accommodate us. Overall I learned so much on our trip from business, to culture to, history, and so on. I can’t wait to implement my new knowledge and experience into my future career. I would recommend this trip to anyone, and I can’t wait to go back to Europe!
