It didn't hit me I was coming home until my second to last plane flight from LA to Baltimore. It was midnight, and I stared out the window unable to sleep because frankly I had no clue what time it was, let alone what it should have felt like to my body. So as I looked out my small airplane window, I scanned the sky for a familiar constellation just as I had done every night down under. Only it wasn't there. Yes, I could only see a small portion from my window, but yet the constellation wasn't where I was accustomed. It hit me cold. I was not going to be able to see the Southern Cross anymore. I had made it back to the land of the North Star, Big and Small Dippers. That was the defining moment that I was back in the United States, that I was going home. I sunk back in my seat, closed the window flap, and tried to get acclimated to this new feeling.When people ask me how was my trip, I struggle to find an answer other than amazing. It was simply the best experience I have ever had. I struggle to elaborate, instead my mind begins to wonder and reminisce. Its hard to relate just how spectacular that trip was to someone who wasn't there. Now with more time to digest the past four months, I have compiled my final list. Below is a summary of things I have learned from 3 amazing months abroad.
1) Limits. The more I looked back through this blog the more I feel in love with my limits post. It is my singular favorite piece of writing I have ever produced. This trip taught me so much about every type of limits imaginable. It brought me to my physical, emotional, spiritual, academic, and social limits. I learned the limit of hiking without my inhaler, which isn't much. I learned the limit of my time with people, occasionally I just need me time. I learned how to be pushed to my absolutely emotional limit away from home, without being able to immediately talk to someone who understands, without being able to get a hug from someone I loved. That was my toughest limit. However with every new limit tested, I found new strength and abilities.
2) Attitude is everything. It makes or breaks a weekend trip, a night out on the town, group work. How people approach things changes everyone's experiences around them. You cannot be an island. You affect people. Why not try to get the most out of your experience and go into everything with a positive outlook. No one enjoys a negative nancy. Be the positive Pollyanna.
3) Leeches are not fun. This only pertains to a small portion of the trip. Yet it counts as an invaluable life lesson. If the teacher tells you to wear pants because of leeches, listen. Don't wear short running shorts and expect to come out of the rain forest unscathed. You will get your legs covered by leeches, you will have to wait until they get plump to squeeze them off, and you will have to deal with the scars that cover your legs. They don't hurt, but they aren't fun especially afterward when they begin to itch. Lesson learned, listen to the teacher who has done this before. 4) Home is where you make it and it always there for you waiting. Enough said.
5) My last a final numbered list. STUDY ABROAD. Every single person needs to go somewhere new and have an adventure. You will see incredible things, meet incredible people, and learn a whole heck of a lot. The Pacific Program has made my grow more in three months than I could have in three years at home. It is an individual journey. I can tell you all I have learned, experienced, seen, but until you get out there yourself, you are not going to learn as much. This is also my shamless plug for the amazing program that brought me all of these opportunities. The Pacific Program is amazing. Simple amazing. If you ever doubt that, I encourage you talk to some of the students who have gone. We all have amazing stories, pictures, and memories.
I have officially gone abroad. I have left Atlanta and explored the world. I spent three spectacular months in New Zealand and Australia. I have gone on one-of-a-kind adventures, seen more new places imaginable, and did a whole lot of focusing on classes. It was most definitely a trip of a life time, and I got to share me adventures. Now on to the next one.
