London/Dublin 2015 – The End

One of the best things about this trip was the pairing of courses with the cities we traveled to. London and Dublin, both being English-speaking countries, made me initially assume there wouldn’t be an extremely drastic culture difference. Upon arriving, I learned that this assumption was flat out wrong. Fortunately, my courses in mindfulness and wellness abroad taught me a great deal about acceptance and letting go. I learned to let go of certain predispositions and became more open to possibilities. The little things don’t seem to bother me as much as they used to. Especially while abroad, you try very hard initially  to find some sort of normalcy or comfort to enable yourself to survive the journey. But I found that accepting the discomfort and embracing it fully allowed me to have the most fun possible.

My wellness course taught me that classwork and academics should not consume a person’s life. Life shouldn’t be a 50/50 split between work and everything else. If that’s the case, you leave a great deal of time dedicated to your work, and leave very little time to further hobbies or interests or quality time with family. It is important for our overall wellbeing to evenly dedicate our time to the different aspects of our lives. From this, I in fact ended up discovering something fascinating about myself. I dedicate a lot of my attention to others, or being around other people, because socializing is something I enjoy. However, I realized that I didn’t put in a fair amount of time into giving myself enough attention.

This has really become a new mantra of mine in a manner of speaking. I feel that people should remove the complicated aspects of certain situations and just do what makes them happy. So what if no one else wanted to go for a run around the campus of UCD with me? I would do it regardless because I enjoyed it. What if I wanted to do my work outside on a nice day? I decided rather than following the pack, I could sit with myself and do this because deep down it was what I wanted. I learned a real difference between being selfish and focusing on the self.

Prior to studying abroad, I had some, but not too many fears as to how the trip would go. Fortunately, I had such a great group of friends on the trip that all those fears seemed to dissolve no less than 48 hours into the trip. I learned that friendships and the support they provide us truly to keep a person sane and strong.

Studying abroad has made the world seem just a little smaller to me. It was fascinating to immerse myself into TWO different cultures in under a month. I felt the shift between America and London, London and Dublin, and then Dublin back to America. But every time I’ve been abroad prior to this trip, I felt wiser knowing of other cultures, and more accepting, and I would definitely say that this trip has done that for me again. And this, to me is the greatest benefit of studying abroad; becoming a global citizen.

My favorite experience from this trip was travelling to the Cliffs of Moher in Galway, Ireland. It was an absolutely beautiful scene. I swear it looked like it came out of a painting. My friends and I hiked along the paths and stopped every so often. We took pictures and laughed and relaxed and stared out and took it all in. It fascinates me how such magnificent places can be formed purely naturally. We only had about two and a half hours to be there, but I stood there, present with every second, and let the memory stain my brain. I can still remember how the path wound around and brought you further and further out where you could feel the intensity of the wind even more. I never want to forget that.

My advice to future participants of a dialogue is to do all your work, but remember to be mindful that you need to remain present. One can get so caught up in work or tours and not truly appreciate the finite amount of time they have abroad. For this reason, I seriously stress to all future travelers to ensure that they be appreciative and present in the moment. And without a doubt, if I could do this again I would. So maybe I’ll see some of you on another dialogue in the future? Until then, cheers to the opportunity I was given, the friendships I made, the places I explored, the material I learned, and the memories I made. They are all unforgettable in their own unique ways. And I’ll be back to visit London and Dublin very soon I hope!