On the practice from Berlin again to Prague, a woman in my program stated she hadn’t completed her homework but, however that was a “music for a distinct dance.”
I’d by no means heard this phrase earlier than and it charmed me instantly. Whereas she used it to confer with her homework, it applies to many facets of learning overseas.
One thing that I’ve been battling just lately is feeling like I’m not benefiting from my time in Prague. I’ll have a look at my neighbor in school and see they’re reserving flights to Spain, Portugal, or France for the weekend. I’ll go on Instagram and see folks from my program at fashionable eating places or well-known landmarks. It’s arduous to not be afraid that I’m losing my time, that I’m not doing sufficient.
Views from the practice. Someplace within the German countryside.
However learning overseas isn’t nearly touring each weekend and getting your photos in entrance of Prague Fortress or on the Charles Bridge. After all, these are enjoyable components of learning overseas and one of many causes folks select to review off-campus. Nonetheless, along with that, learning overseas is about constructing a brand new routine from scratch out of the country. It’s about adjusting to life in a distinct tradition and gaining independence you’ll have by no means constructed earlier than. It’s about changing into assured in your self, your id, and your potential to maneuver by a multicultural world. It’s about studying how one can go to the grocery retailer and never royally mess up.
This takes time, and it gained’t occur in a single day. I do know I nonetheless get nervous each time I stroll into Lidl, my native grocery retailer chain. However I already really feel challenged, stretched, and grown up, which I feel is the purpose of learning overseas.
Once I body my research overseas expertise on this manner, I don’t really feel as a lot strain to maintain up. To borrow from the woman in my practice compartment, I understand all of us have our personal songs for various dances. No two individuals are going to have the identical study-abroad expertise, nor ought to they.
So, as I transfer into my third week in Prague, I’m going to maintain this thought in thoughts. Sure, I’ll plan journeys and go to Prague Fortress, however I’ll additionally depend grocery buying and taking the trams as large victories. I’ll hearken to my very own music and do my very own dance.
In any case, life occurs within the mundane. Even life overseas.
