Dear Future Study Abroad Students
DEAR FUTURE STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS
By Eric Abruzzi
I’m sure you have heard from your advisers or study abroad alumni that these next four months will probably be some of the best of your life. Studying abroad is such a special opportunity to discover so much about the world we live in. It was undoubtedly my greatest adventure, and I have so much to be grateful for. Not just for the picturesque travel destinations, amazing food or the rich history, but the lessons I learned about myself.
I want to encourage you to make the most of all that you do. For me, that meant unplugging from technology. It meant taking my eyes off the screen and focusing on the sheer beauty that surrounded me on a daily basis. It meant not worrying about the number of likes I would get on an Instagram post of me in front of the Duomo. Most importantly, it meant living in the moment.
These next four months are going to absolutely fly by, and before you know it, you will be saying goodbye to your new home. Rather than burying yourself in social media, go explore; embrace the travel bug, and don’t miss out on the adventure of a lifetime.
What I am proposing does not mean becoming a hermit and cutting off communication with friends and family back home. It means finding that healthy balance with your devices and spending more time discovering everything this world has to offer. In our generation in particular, this may seem like a daunting task, because we are always “on” and too connected.
Not using my phone allowed me to take time to learn so much about all of the amazing places that I ventured to. I was eager to learn about all of the history Florence had to offer and by putting my phone down, I opened myself up to a whole new world.
When I was nearing the end of my time abroad, a group of tourists overheard me talking about the Calcio Fiorentino, which is essentially a mix of soccer and boxing that is unique to Florence. They began to ask an array of questions about the event and asked for other recommendations of things to do in Florence. After they left, a Florentine citizen who was listening to our discussion told me that he was impressed and that I sounded like a local. Putting my phone away allowed me to learn so much about my new culture and this moment is where it all came to fruition.
Unplugging also gave me the opportunity to build and grow relationships with my now lifelong friends. I was able to be more present, not focusing on the things I was missing back home, and give my full attention to the people I spent the best four months of my life with.
Trade scrolling through twitter for a journal, pen, and the unexpected. I used writing as a way to counteract the current technological takeover we have grown so accustomed to. I would write about all of the trips I took and all the memories I made, capturing those snap feelings that I can now look back on today and relive in just a few minutes.
By no means does less technology use correlate to a better experience abroad; I am simply one success story. That story though continues to this day. I still encourage myself and others to use their devices less, because there is so much more to life than likes, comments, views, and shares.
Life is much too short to be spent behind a screen, so please enjoy all the little things. Be curious, learn as much as you can, and fully immerse yourself in this once in a lifetime experience. I miss living and studying abroad more than anything and will be eternally grateful for not only the views in Santorini or kayaking in the Swiss Alps but for the things I discovered about myself. I am so thankful for my time abroad; for allowing me to grow as a person and for teaching me what it truly means to not only be human but to be a citizen of the world.
I learned that I am passionate about traveling. I discovered that there is so much more to this world than I could even comprehend before my time abroad. It made me question the way I was living my life and made me stop worrying about the little things that would frustrate me or stress me out. Disconnecting from technology was my method to achieve this self-discovery about who I truly wanted to be.
It was a special moment where I took a stand against the norms of our society and was able to have a better experience because of it. I am still trying to find my identity but studying abroad helped me begin to put the pieces together. And remember: when you unplug from one thing you are actually plugging into another. Step back from technology and step up to life.