Howdy!
I am just about done with my time at Lancaster. Although it?s a great feeling to finish with exams and coursework, it?s bittersweet when you know your time abroad is coming to an end. The connections I?ve made with new friends while abroad are different than those made back home. Making little and big moments count to make your experience abroad worthwhile, such as throwing you a 21st birthday party (even when 21st birthdays are bigger in America). Learning about the differences, yet embracing them and intertwining our differences. Being taught new recipes from their different cultures and attempting to make them Texas BBQ ribs and southern sides with what?s available. Although I will say the weather is a bit on the colder side compared to Texas, I have missed air-conditioned rooms (especially as we near the summer heat). However, this has created more incentive to go outside and play ball or wear a flowy dress and have a picnic in the meadows.
Classes have come to an end, with the last few months only being dedicated to studying for exams. With the way the term and exams are structured here, I plan to do a bit of traveling around the UK to experience the different areas. Since the train station is not far from campus, it allows travel to be faster and simpler compared to America. So far I?ve gone to Wales, Manchester, and will be going to Scotland this week. Hopefully, I can do the most these last few weeks with lockdown easing in the UK and before I have to go back home.
I wish I could have spent more time abroad in different countries. So if I have anything to say to anyone interested in going abroad is: just go for it because the hardest thing is leaving, but once you go you?ll be craving more. Plus you get the benefit of being in college, so you get to see other different college cultures compared to that of TAMU. It is truly an eye-opening experience. Even within a lockdown, I would do it again or jump to any opportunity to go abroad.
