Home

You don’t have to dig for the good stuff

Published on by rhiannalewisLeave a comment

Watching my classmates from DU post pictures from airplane windows on their way back to the United States this past weekend has been bittersweet. On the one hand, I’m jealous. I’d give almost anything to not be glued to this computer cubicle in the ACG library working on final papers. But on the other hand, it’s starting to land that in less than a week, my study abroad experience will be over. Not to worry, though! I’ve got some final-but-not-final thoughts from this semester that I think are worth sharing.

The program I am here with, ISA by WorldStrides, offered us the chance to complete “micro-credentials” while studying abroad. You can work on up to two of these extra courses during your time abroad to earn badges and real-world experience to add to your resumes (and experience of being human) along with your classes. I decided to do the “Choose Earth” micro-credential while here in Athens because I was taking two sustainability courses this semester towards my minor! For our final ‘assignment’, we had to complete some sort of environmental challenge.

During the second half of our program here, I began to recycle my apartment’s bottles, cans, cardboard, and plastic containers. I know that at first, it might seem silly to prioritize recycling plastic bottles so much in the grand scheme of things, but my apartment this semester has been me…and eleven other people. I have only lived with one other person the rest of my life, whether that be in my home or my college dorm, and I was not aware of how much waste 12 people can create in a day. Twelve people can make a lot of waste in a week, especially when those people all come from different homes and do not all believe in consuming things at the same speed. Because of this, I decided to make a serious effort to get our apartment to start recycling.

As easy as this task sounds, it became incredibly clear that it was going to be difficult to complete it for two reasons: my unnecessary stake in it and my roommate’s lack of it. If you’re one of my roommates reading this, Hi! I love living with you and keep reading so you don’t hate me! I made this recycling effort so intense for myself that I felt like I was somehow failing the challenge even though I was in charge of creating the rules. There were days when I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I was digging through the garbage just to make sure we had recycled everything we could. I think this was prompted by the fact that I was also taking two environmental justice + climate change classes this semester, so I constantly felt like global warming was completely my fault as an individual and that I singlehandedly needed to stop it. (Spoiler alert: that’s not how being an environmental steward works.) My roommates also didn’t all remember to do it and some of them don’t recycle at home, so they aren’t used to it. It was a lot of give and take, but slowly we started to recycle.

The biggest thing I learned from creating this challenge was that it’s okay if things don’t go perfectly as long as they are ‘going.’ I felt like this in many other aspects of my life abroad, too. I didn’t think I was taking advantage of traveling in Europe enough while I was here, but I’m bringing home souvenirs from four countries I had never been to before this fall. I was worried my friends from DU who were abroad elsewhere had forgotten about me since we didn’t talk much this semester, and then we had an impromptu FaceTime call last week discussing our excitement to be back in Denver soon. Instead of looking at the big picture, I was getting stuck in the minute details of my life, which was obscuring all the good parts.

It’s easy to get stuck in things like this when we’re passionate about something, especially when we’re in a new country, with new people, and trying to find our footing. This is a reminder to anyone, especially as the calendar year comes to an end, that it’s more important to just do something if it’s that or nothing. Being abroad has taught me that changes won’t always happen seamlessly, but there’s no need to go digging in the trashcan to try and speed up the process.

Travel Fatigue

Published on by gwenmorgan323Leave a comment

To be able to study abroad is such an privilege, one I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

That being said, there is this sort of unspoken expectation to travel…all the time…every weekend.

Well, I might be a little dramatic, but sometimes it’s hard to separate what you would like to be doing versus what everyone else is doing in terms of “making the most of your study abroad”. I remember at the beginning of this all talking to a friend about avoiding being stuck in a state of comparison, and I feel that I have done my best, to prevent from falling into that state.

That being said, I traveled almost every weekend for the first two months of studying in Bilbao, and I have three main things to say on the matter. One: I feel I traveled more than enough and had some of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Two: I feel as if I could have traveled more and planned out which places I wanted to hit a little better. And three: to travel as much as much as we have takes a certain toll on your body that I have never experienced before. Scientifically, it’s not good for our bodies to be constantly on the go (I should know as someone who gets sick quite often from stress).

I’ve had the privilege of traveling to my dream city, Paris, London, Portugal, Malága, Madrid, and so many more cities around Spain. Halfway through November I noticed I was more tired than usual, more irritable, I knew my body needed a break.

Now, as we are nearing the end of our program, I decided to stay in the Basque country the past four weekends. Though I felt a little regret for not leaving the country as much as my peers, I realize that you can easily make the most of your study abroad experience by staying right where you are. For me, the past four weekends have helped engrain that sentiment. I’ve kept myself busy, visiting little cities around Bilbao, working on my drawings and having my first cat-cafe experience. I volunteered to paint a room for a deaf children’s facility and attended my first Athletic Club game. (So fun!)

It doesn’t matter where you study abroad, or how long you did, I’m sure we all feel a sense of “did I do enough?” The answer is always yes. If you feel happy, if you feel accomplished, then you did more than enough, even if you only traveled out of the country once or twelve times.

I’ve learned so much about gratitude over these three months in the beautiful Basque Country. Gratitude, and the art of being happy where you are, knowing the universe gives us people and places for a reason, right when we need them.

What a beautiful life.

Agur!

-GM ❤