I’m coming to the end of my first study abroad experience and as most do, I’m feeling nostalgic about my time here.
I spent the last three months in Edinburgh, Scotland and cannot be more thankful for the opportunity to have interned at the Scottish Seabird Centre—If you ever find yourself in North Berwick in East Lothian, I would highly recommend giving the Centre a visit!
Unlike a lot of people, I chose to complete an internship experience rather than a classic study abroad. Which ever you have the opportunity to complete, I suggest you do. The reason simply is, you become a better version of yourself. By transplanting yourself into a new country, you will be taken out of your comfort zone, your world perspectives, and those cultural habits you’ve been accustomed to. And it’s the best feeling in the world.
I think the first time someone mistook me for a local when asking for directions was one of the most flattering things that has happened since being here. Even when they heard my American accent, they didn’t realize that I wasn’t local until the very end of our conversation. The ability to fit into another culture is one of the best feelings, I’m not even sure how to accurately describe it, but I know it feels somewhere between accomplished and satisfied.
As a part of my internship course through Linfield, I was required to read a book called "The Defining Decade: Why your twenties matter and how to make the most of them now" by Meg Jay, PhD. And she wrote a brilliant phrase where she said, “forget about having an identity crisis, and get some identity capital…do something that’s an investment in who you might want to be next.” Studying abroad is exactly that, getting identity capital. It shows you exactly what you’re made of and where you need to improve.
There are so many things to love about being abroad, the people you’ll meet, the places you’ll go, and everything else there is to experience where ever in the world you choose to go.
But for me, the best part by far are the memories and experiences I have made that have improved me as a person. The ways in which this experience made me more empathetic, more patient with myself, and perpetuated my willingness to respect other cultures, are all things I will treasure.
