As I’m typing this entry, sitting in a cafe in Paris, it’s hard to believe it’s already halfway through my semester here! As the time is coming to a close, I find myself wishing that I could stay for the rest of the year. I find that the pace of life here is much more agreeable than my normal college life at Rollins. At Rollins, where most students study and live on campus, with their whole lives centered about the school community, French students do the complete opposite- take classes during the week, and outside of school, with the exception of homework assignments, have the time to do as they choose. The best part about my daily study abroad life is that I’ve had the time outside of class during the week to really discover small daily activities that I enjoy outside of my school life. I have been able to learn so much more from the city just by walking around the different neighborhoods after school, drinking coffee at a cafe or people-watching for hours. I can attend different events around the city, on a moment’s notice, and have the time after my classes to do so. Free time the most surprising luxury that I could have ever hoped for in Paris.
I have also had the time and ability to travel cheaply on weekends to different cities in France and Europe. I’ve stayed with friends studying at Queen Mary University in London and walked through the city’s historic open markets, stayed at an Airbnb in a coastal district just outside Barcelona, visited Giverny, France to see Monet’s gardens, or visited the castles in the Loire Valley of France. Travel is remarkable in that it takes you out of yourself, and shows you how truly insignificant you are as an individual, and how your home country and culture is just one of thousands globally. When you stand in a castle built centuries ago, something that has stood the test of time, and will outlive you , it fills you with a sense of awe and reverence. The more you see, the more you realize just truly how much you don’t know, and that is amazing. To see the way of life in other countries, even for a short few days, has been more educational than anything I could learn in a book course at a university. First hand learning, being able to travel and touch and see where people lived, how they lived, and what they built has made me so grateful to studying Europe.
My hope for coming back to Rollins is that I will be able to use this new perspective to live a different kind of lifestyle at school. I hope to take fewer courses, to allow myself more time for my own health and well being, and to remember that Rollins is a very small part of a very large world, and so are its problems and stress. I know that I am capable of navigating foreign countries, and if I can do that, I can easily handle finishing the rest of my major and minors. I found a renewed sense of self and purpose here, and I am excited to come back to Rollins refreshed from these adventures.