Author: Caroline Cheek | Major: Environmental Soil and Water Science | Semester: Fall 2024
Outside of the Louvre!
From a very young age, I knew I wanted to live and travel abroad in some way. I attribute this mainly to how I grew up- immersed in the outdoors and in books. It was here that I developed my love of traveling, whether it be corporeal or imaginary. When deciding on where to attend college, well-developed and diverse study-abroad programs were high on my list of priorities- you could say I knew I wanted to study abroad from the start! I had an inkling, then, that there was something important to be learned by spending time outside of the United States, and though I may not be right about a great deal in life, this, I’m happy to say I was. After spending two summers traveling on faculty-led summer programs in the U.K. and Australia, I decided to spend my Fall 2024 semester as an exchange student. I chose the University of Essex in Colchester, England, for its classes, proximity to London, and accessibility to international travel. After a year spent filling out forms and attending study-abroad meetings, September 2024 rolled around sooner than I could’ve ever anticipated, and it was time to leave.
Writing this now, I can honestly say the experience has been rich—though not always in the ways I expected. Academically, Essex has been a standout. My marine ecology course offered hands-on learning, including boat labs on the local estuary, where I watched breathtaking sunsets. I also loved my class, The Neuroscience of Human Nature, where I had the opportunity to participate in my professor’s research on facial recognition. These classes deepened my understanding of topics I began exploring at UARK, giving me a broader, global perspective. Yet, arguably, the more important lessons came outside the classroom. Traveling solo brought a great many joys and challenges I hadn’t anticipated. Weekend trips to Scotland, Spain, and France were incredible and provided memories I will hold dear for a lifetime. However, adjusting to a new culture, campus, and city without in-person support was harder than I imagined.
Though you can read about culture shock and try to prepare for it, you don’t truly know how to combat it until you’re in it, and unfortunately, it hit me quite hard unexpectedly. I realized that my previous traveling has always been done with family, friends, or even just people from where I’m from. Through this, I’ve always experienced new places with a sense of comfort and safety. This time, I faced all the newness on my own! There were hard days, in fact, I reckon that all the days I was abroad presented challenges! But, despite it all, there is such deep value in the experiences I’ve had and the things that I’ve learned. If given a do-over, I would choose to do this again and again and would not trade this time for the world.
Reflecting on it all, I am left with a couple of prevailing thoughts. First and foremost, it is the small aspects of day-to-day life where I find the most joy. Yes, getting to see La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, walking through the Louvre in Paris, or spending a day in Edinburgh (my favorite city ever!) was wonderful. These moments stirred and deepened my love for adventures abroad. But found within daily life were the small, celebratory moments that showed me my capability for starting over and adapting. Being here taught me that life is so, so special. More than this, though, I learned that life can be created and found anywhere and everywhere.I also gained an appreciation for our need to rest. Life moves slower here. At first, it drove me insane. With only one class a day and little to no homework, no internships, jobs, or research to juggle, I found myself going stir-crazy. The stress even carried over to my sleep, where I dreamed I had missed a deadline or meeting. But after some time, my body seemed to take a deep breath and finally relax. In that stillness, I realized just how busy my life had been before. Americans are wired for busyness—it’s a rather inescapable part of our culture. I’d unknowingly developed a mindset where I felt guilt for relaxing, as though there was always something more I should be doing. While I don’t plan to give up all my internships and extracurriculars when I return, I now want to ensure that I have time to rest throughout my week. It’s not indulgent, it’s essential to being able to function at a high level and it’s time I start treating it that way.
Finally- everyone who can should study abroad. Everyone. Life is not fully experienced when we remain in what is comfortable, and the experiences that travelers have (including myself) are a testament to this. It is a scary thing, stepping into the unknown, but it is well worth it. And after doing so, you will never be the same! What a thing to celebrate! I finish off this lovely blog post from a corner booth at a little cafe called Honey Harvey’s. The window pane is frosted over, but the hot chocolate is keeping me warm. I can scarcely believe that the time has flown so quickly. Despite, at the beginning, my wishes for time to speed up so I could see my family and, at the end, my wishes for time to slow down so I could squeeze in just one last trip, time has moved at the same pace it always has. I have one week left in England, and though it is bittersweet to say goodbye, I cannot wait to find more of the hidden pockets where life simply exists. In this week and all the rest of them!