Out of My Comfort Zone: Oxford Study Abroad 2015
As I began my journey, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. I was diving into a new and strange world that I did not even research! I did hear stories of study abroad and how incredible the experiences are, but never did it occur to me to take the time out to research where I was going and the history of the of the different places I was planning on going to. Although we were given a tour of the history of Oxford and other areas, I am still bummed that I did not do my research beforehand. The most shocking thing for me was that I never realised that this world could be so big and so small at the same time. The first week here, I was too overwhelmed with the sight that I did not really recognize the fact that I was in England and in a great country with a long history. When we toured around the University, I was still not convinced. For some odd reason, when we toured London that Friday, I began to actually acknowledged the fact that I was in England. However, after I saw Big Ben, I was completely awe-inspired and I began to feel overwhelmed with wanderlust. I became excited and somewhat anxious to begin to learn so many new things in this interesting and history-filled culture. Throughout my Science and English courses, I am able to connect everything and I am recognizing that we are all interconnected. Interconnectedness is the most important and intriguing idea I learned in my Environmental Science class. Traveling the world makes it seem so much smaller that you notice the different impacts that each country makes on the rest of the world. Interconnectedness means that we are all connected and we all do depend on each other to make this world a better and more sustainable place. We also took this word to the next step and correlated it to how we can change the world through other ways not just through the environment; politics, humanistic ways, and social ways. I have happily come aware of the fact that there is so much for me to learn and I have just started my path towards a more knowledgeable life. Learning about the history and culture of a country is just the first step to noticing the bigger picture. I cannot wait to learn more on my journey and am excited to travel knowing that I am actually being taught a plethora of topics that can be directly adapted to others.