Since my internship abroad lasts 8 weeks, I won’t be home in time to blog about what life at home, post-abroad experience is like. Instead I decided to blog about where I am at now. Tomorrow marks the first day of my fourth week, which means I am halfway done.
For me this experience thus far has been an emotional roller coaster. I have really great days and then some not so great days, or even really enjoyable mornings and then really lonely afternoons. It’s very easy for that to get discouraging and even emotionally draining. However, I was on the phone with a friend recently who told me that she was “in awe of what I had accomplished.” It really took me aback at first because I hadn’t really been thinking about this experience in that way. I realized just how right she was. First, I graduated from an incredible university and got into graduate school at another great university. I’m living alone in a foreign country. I have thus far gotten to where I can ride the buses and walk around the city center comfortably. I know my neighborhood well enough to go for runs. I also most recently got on the wrong bus and ended up in an area of the city that I didn’t recognize, and I was completely able to ( somewhat calmly..) find my way home. Every day I am accomplishing things and I am begining to see that is one of the best parts of this experience. I am learning just what I am capable of in a way that I never could have if I had chosen to stay in Athens, GA for the summer.
I also am learning that I don’t have to have precise career goals right now. This internship may open my eyes to what I don’t want to do or point me in the direction of a new dream. And that is an exciting thing.
Overall, I have learned quite a bit during the first half of my time in Romania (most importantly that bus 32 will not take me to my neighborhood!!). I am excited for what the next four weeks may bring!
