What Study Abroad Taught Me

I could say a lot of things about what my two months in Ireland did for me but firstly I’d like to give a bit of context.

A couple days before leaving for Ireland, I was scared out of my mind. For whatever reason it wasn’t until I had about a week left in Arizona that I really started to realize how many things I was going to miss out on with my friends during spring semester and seriously began to question what the hell I was doing. I had traveled on my own to work in Alaska the previous two summers but Ireland? That just seemed like a totally different ball game altogether. I had no idea what to expect from another country and it honestly scared me half to death. 

Facing a long distance relationship for four months, I was terrified by how much I would miss my partner. I was terrified of whether or not we would make it out the other end. Four months suddenly felt like the longest period in the world. 

Between my flight getting delayed in Phoenix, having the option to stay in Arizona one more day and my mom telling me it wasn’t too late to stay before dropping me off at the airport, I felt like everything was screaming at me not to go. I was a little numb to what I was doing on my way to Dublin. I don’t even remember crying on my 10 hour plane ride. I just remember taking the next available flight and telling myself I had to get on the plane before I freaked out and begged my mom to come get me. Even recalling the process of leaving as I write this gets me pretty worked up.

Essentially—I was scared. Probably more scared than I’ve been in a long time. More scared than leaving home and moving to Alaska for three months for the first time when I was 18. I was scared I wouldn’t get along with my roommate. (I have PTSD.) Scared I wouldn’t make new friends. Scared I wouldn’t like it there. Scared I would spend four whole months wishing I were back home. 

And I’m not gonna lie. My first week there was rough. My sleep schedule was completely flipped around but not because I was jetlagged — because I couldn’t stand the thought of not talking to the people I loved while they were awake and then not being able to when I was awake because they were asleep. 

Almost a week into my time in Ireland, though, I met Judita, my fiery, spunky roommate from the Czech Republic. I could say so many things about Judita and never feel like I completely captured everything she did for me or meant to me. She was my perfect fit. She stayed up till 2 a.m. like me. Slept in as late as she could like me. Did everything she possibly could from the comfort of her bed like me. 

I know this may sound a little mad considering that I was in a new country, but in the week before Judita arrived, I only left the house once. I had finally run out of all the fruit snack packs and pasta my mom had packed me and desperately needed food. What can I say, though, I woke up as the sun was setting and was too anxious to venture out by myself at night. Within the first half hour of meeting Judita, though, we left the house together (in the dark) if that says anything. And the rest was history.

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We got lost on the bus system together, showed up 30 minutes late to our orientation and generally were inseparable from the moment we met. Judita made me curious. She asked me questions constantly and inspired me in the way she wanted to know everything about the U.S. and told me everything I could think to ask about the Czech Republic. She talked to me about love and relationships and what we wanted out of our lives. We came from completely different backgrounds and places and yet she made me feel like we had been living such similar lives thousands of miles apart the whole time. 

Without fail, we went on a trip together every weekend. Either through the school or on our own. And lemme tell you we had them planned out weeks in advance. Within the first week or so of meeting we spoke about wanting to go to London and can you guess what the very last trip I took before the pandemic broke out was? That’s right — London. 

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The friendships I made in Ireland taught me that no matter how long you know people for, whether it’s two months or since the 8th grade, genuine friends can and will carry you through anything. They’ll get you out of the house. They’ll encourage all your wildest dreams. They’ll even hold your hand in an Airbnb in London when everything seems to be falling apart and you can’t stop crying. 

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Ireland taught me how to be confident. It taught me that no matter how hard or impossible something seems, I am more than capable of doing it. 

It taught me how to appreciate cars but more importantly it taught me to learn to enjoy the inconveniences that come along with packing two suitcases and moving to a new place. While a 40 minute walk to class and then back home and then to the store and then back home with groceries from the store wasn’t ideal, I learned how to make my daily commute enjoyable because the only other option is being a terribly grumpy person or just going absolutely insane. It taught me that podcasts can be your best friends sometimes and that the feeling of discovering new music never gets old. 

Which brings me to my next point — my time in Ireland taught me how to love routines. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a little bit all over the place since starting college. I’ve been trying to fit so many people and so many things into my life constantly that I’ve let other less mandatory activities such as exercise, eating well, doing things for myself and even having a consistent morning and nighttime routine fall through the cracks. Walking up in the morning while everyone I knew was asleep taught me to appreciate time to myself. It made me realize that self care outside of spending time with the people I love and things I have to do isn’t just important — it’s necessary. And being that I’m pretty dang extroverted, this was a strange one for me to wrap my head around. 

Ireland taught me to appreciate cooking and the skill that comes with it as well as how to be smart with my money. I learned to look for deals, the cheapest grocery stores, how to say no to things I didn’t need and that eating at home saves sooooo much money. Like, it’s kind of ridiculous how much money it saves.

Not to mention, it taught me to never take familiarity for granted again. When everything around me was so foreign and unusual from the brands of foods in stores to the accents of the people talking to me, all I wanted was a glimpse of home. That was one of the things I missed most — knowing what kind of chips I liked to buy, being able to understand everything my peers were saying. Familiarity isn’t something I’d ever thought to appreciate since I’d never been surrounded by so many unfamiliar things before. Hearing someone talk and recognizing that they were from literally anywhere in the U.S. never failed to put me in a good mood. 

More than anything else, though, studying abroad in Ireland really just showed me what I’m capable of. I know living in another country on your own for a couple months isn’t the craziest thing a person can do. But for me, at the time, it was the craziest thing I could do. And at times I wasn’t even sure I could do it. I had been wanting to study abroad in Ireland since freshman year of college and now that I’ve done it, I feel more equipped than ever before to make my other seemingly far-fetched ideas a reality.

It’s amazing what you’re able to experience and take away from things, even if you have to force yourself to get on a plane.