Stepping foot off the mainland
I’m not usually one for stepping out of my comfort zone. I like my routine, and sometimes I even need that routine to help me get through this transitional time of my life (first year of college, living away from home, the list goes on). So I guess you could say I surprised myself when I decided to apply for a study abroad program in my first year of college. After moving a thousand miles away from my family to live in a part of the country I had only seen in movies, I had about as much change as I could stand. Or so I thought.
I have never left the country before; my family always planned to take us to Europe, but I suppose we just never got around to it. So here I go, on my first trip abroad, without any family coming with me. There seems to be a lot of that going on—that feeling of separation, independence and becoming my own person. My introverted spirit has always loved being a part of this close family, and it’s quite strange going about life with them no longer within hugging distance of me.
To be honest, I’m slightly terrified. I so badly don’t want to be pegged as the “annoying American tourist” who is constantly butchering the phrase, “Where is the bathroom?” in a language as close to Arabic as I can muster. I know I will stick out at least a little bit (my hair happens to be a bright shade of blonde), but I hope to minimize my awkwardness as much as possible. My research topic is on the perceptions of genetically modified organisms in Spain and Morocco, and I’m going to be asking a lot of questions (and hopefully receiving mounds of answers). We will be visiting with local residents and government officials, so this should give some good insight into how these two realms of life perceive the world.
It still feels like there are a million things to do, and a million things I will forget along the way. But I suppose that’s part of the adventure of travel. You never really know what you’ll need, where you’ll go, how you’ll manage. I’m guessing this will turn out to be an incredible experience. I’ll check back with you afterward with a verdict!