It was this time in August last year that I sat on a plane heading to Gaming, Austria to study abroad. As I watched Batman vs. Superman on the flight (my second film on the plane- I really should’ve been sleeping!), my brain was focused on three things:
1. Batman, or Superman?
2. Be happy, helpful and humorous.
3. By the time the flight lands, I need to have this entire pre-departure handbook memorized!
I sat highlighting parts of the school’s study abroad pre-departure handbook I had printed off the computer the night before leaving. I had already read it, but I just wanted to be extra prepared. In fact, I think I’m the ONLY student in the school’s history to print off the 60+ page pre-departure handbook (saying that it has PRE-DEPARTURE in the title kind of tells you something) about living, studying traveling, and surviving the study abroad experience. And this just wasn’t a one or two week program, no, I would be there for the entire semester.
I’ll admit, I was way more nervous than way more excited. My head was spinning with all sorts of what ifs and how will I questions. I needed something concrete. That’s why I had printed off the 60+ page pre-departure handbook to take with me on the plane so I could read through it again and again and highlight some more. I thought the pre-departure handbook would tell me everything I needed to know and what to expect and what I was going to experience each minute of every single day. Not only was I trying to memorize the pre-departure handbook, but I was also thinking of the three words my older brother, who had completed the study abroad program 8 years before me, had offered me before I got on the plane. He told me, “when you’re traveling with friends, it’s important to be “happy, helpful, and humorous.” Three words. That was it. I had not clue what that was supposed to mean. The more I read the pre-departure handbook, and the more I spent trying to remember to be happy, helpful and humorous (while watching Batman vs. Superman) the less assurance it gave me about what the semester was going to hold. Happy. Helpful. Humorous.
The first time I actually felt peace about the whole experience was when I stepped into the chapel on campus. My home for the next semester was going to be a former Carthusian monastery. Staring at the the religious images in the chapel didn’t tell me what to expect that semester. In fact they didn’t tell me anything. The pre-departure handbook gave me more information about what to prepare for and what to expect. However, what that chapel offered me was way more valuable than anything the 60+ page pre-departure handbook could have offered - and that was a sense of peace. In that moment I learned that I had to stop and be okay with not knowing the future, to fully be present in the moment at hand, and to be okay with expecting the unexpected. Sure, there’s a ton you have to plan, prepare, and research before you head off to study abroad for four months (you’d be the biggest fool if you didn’t!). But you need to learn that not everything is going to go as planned, no matter how hard you try. For example, I never thought the semester would lead me to a time when I was sitting on a curb with friends in Wales at 11 p.m. waiting for the ferry, laughing and telling ghost stories to pass the time.
When you’re out of your element, you really do have to be three things (as my brother advised). You need to be happy, helpful, and humorous. Happy, because on the road, you and your fellow travelers are going to be tired and hungry (did I say tired?) and it’s good to keep the peace. Helpful, because sometimes you’re going to have no clue where you are, or what country you’re actually in, or what you should do, but you need to let your friends know that you’re at the ready to look up a bus schedule or ask for directions in the very little of the country’s native language that you know. Humorous, because sometimes all your plans will backfire right in front of your face and the best thing to do is laugh and to figure out how to avoid dying on some random street in Rome.
Not only did I learn about being prepared and being OKAY with what life had in store for me in Austria, but I also learned a lot about myself. Before Austria, I was not an outdoors kind of person. I thought philosophy was boring as ever and had a hard time living a balanced life. However, when I went to Austria, things changed. I was always ready for a hike up one of the mountains nearby. I stared into space for long amounts of time reflecting and questioning on how art, literature, and theology, play a part in humanity. And, I learned the importance of living a balanced life. Not only did I survive my classes, but I also traveled a majority of the weekends of the semester. I taught piano lessons, formed an Irish band and performed in a talent show with them, hosted some pretty awesome wine and cheese parties (that turned into dance parties), AND even read books that were not on my course lists. The best way to prepare is to prepare for the unexpected. Why spend all your time worrying and fretting if you don’t know what’s going to happen? A lot of things that happened over there were completely out of my power - I had to learn to prepare for what was in my control and to accept those things that just happened because, well, THAT’S LIFE.
A year ago if you had asked me about studying abroad, I probably would have cried and said, “I don’t know what to expect.” Looking back at the best times and the worst of times (gotta love Dickens), I had while studying abroad, I am glad I didn’t know everything that was going to happen because that would have taken all the fun out of the adventure. When you live your life expecting the unexpected, you learn to prepare the best you can so when you’re in those moments of the unexpected, you can be happy, helpful, and humorous.
Photo credit: Mary Kate Anthony
Big thanks to my friend Mary Kate for allowing me to use one of the photos she took while we were studying abroad. The picture is of the Kartause, which was our home during the study abroad experience. Check out her amazing work here!
Also, shout out to Franciscan University for having the best study abroad program that's out there!