Over the summer I was blessed with the opportunity to study abroad for two weeks with my classmates. Our program was led by Beth Davis-Sramek the first week in Zagreb, Croatia and Richard Germain the second week in Prague. It was a wonderful experience to learn and discuss in depth our class material with two of our highly respected facility members. We were pushed to look at business in a completely different light and it was truly eye opening to see how different it can be. At many of the facilities we visited, we noticed how there were very few regulations in all aspects of how a business operates.

Now don’t get me wrong I love my new home in the Netherlands and all the amazing people I am getting to meet, but perhaps one of my favorite things is getting to travel to a different country every weekend. It is absolutely insane to explore these unique cities and see and try everything they have to offer. With each new city comes a new adventure.

One of my personal favorite memories happened two weeks ago in Paris, France. Now I know this may sound strange, but I was initially skeptical of Paris. I had some friends who went there and said it was over hyped, but let me tell you they were WRONG. Paris was magical. One day my friends and I got a bottle of wine, some bread, cheese, and macaroons and just sat under the Eiffel Tower. It was such a simple thing to do, but it was perfect.

Already a few friends have asked me what my favorite place is so far and I honestly can’t answer them. Each weekend brings a new city and country that is different, but equally as amazing to the others. I guess this is a good problem to have.

It was totally a life-changing experience for me!!! Never had more fun and never met such great people and bonded so strongly with them in such a short period of time (5 weeks).

Now I have friends from all across the globe i.e., China, Vietnam, Chile, Thailand, Turkey, Austria, Hawaii, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, Korea, Germany, England, Portugal, Finland. And the best part about this is that we all still keep in touch and are looking forward to planning another trip to somewhere in the near future again :)))

We did some traveling as a big group but we also had sufficient time to travel by ourselves to anywhere we wanted. For instance, we took a field trip to Jeju Island, which is outside of Seoul and it was about a 45 min flight, for 3 nights and 4 days. Each day was fun, adventurous and exciting. That was just only one of those fun field trips :))) there were a lot more……..

The foods were FABULOUS!!!The best part about Seoul is that anything delivers there; McDonald’s will be delivered right to your dorm as you please.

Anyway, if you were to ask me what was the best part about the program? I would say that the people that I had met on the trip; traveling would not have been as fun without them. We learned how to share with the people who will be our life-long friends.

Monday, August 24th

I fly out today. As my departure time nears, the easiest way to describe how I’m feeling is a mosh pit of emotions. Here’s what I’m experiencing:

Fear. This is almost an illogical, and possibly even a laughable one. I’m not exactly sure what it is that I’m fearful of…the culture shock, my inability to speak fluent Italian, or simply the fact that I’ve never been to Europe. My previous excursions out of the country include The Bahamas and Canada, and let’s be honest, those don’t really count as ‘cultural experiences’. All I do know is that this is will be a dramatic change from what I consider to be normal.

Nostalgia. I always try to be welcoming of change, but this is bittersweet. Things are going well for me, and I’m truly enjoying my place in life at the moment. I’ve been living in a loveable and diverse city, working on an awesome team of admirable mentors, and spending time with some amazing new faces whom I already miss. It’s hard to walk away from anything that makes you happy, but perhaps in this twisted sense of abandonment, I’ll uncover a renewed meaning of ‘home’.

Eagerness. Don’t let the first two fool you. My enthusiasm for going abroad is unparalleled to virtually all of my prior experiences. Consider standing in line for a roller coaster—the growing impatience as 10 minutes slowly turns into 45; the claustrophobic cozying up to crowds that are just as confused about your appearance as you are of theirs; the unwelcomed mob of butterflies that always seem to show up to the party. Nobody enjoys waiting in line, just as I never enjoy the controlled chaos that goes into preparing for such a trek. All I know is that this roller coaster looks like a hell of a good time, so I’m patiently waiting to get on.

Bregenz was my home for a month this summer and I enjoyed every second. It is in Northwest Austria on Lake Constance (or Bodensee as they call it). The town is home to about 28,000 Austrians. I had the privilege of staying in a family’s home while in Bregenz, with one roommate who was also studying. We lived in an apartment above a flower shop with a husband, wife, and 10 year old boy. They were wonderful to us. They made sure we had everything we needed, especially when our luggage had not arrived. Our home was only about a 20 minute walk from our school building. This is where I could always be found between the hours of 8am and 3pm.

After classes and on the weekends, I would explore Bregenz and the surrounding areas. We took trains to nearby towns where we went to a cheese factory, women’s museum, churches, and local markets. Throughout my stay in Bregenz, I was also able to visit some larger cities including Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Venice, and Innsbruck.  I hiked a mountain, found small shops, and went grocery shopping. Grocery shopping was fun because I would always buy something I had never seen before.

Every night for dinner, I was provided a meal at the Hirschen, a restaurant in a main square of Bregenz.  They would feed us a traditional Austrian three course meal with soup, an entrée, and dessert. My favorite meals included soup with pancake like strips, pork and rice, and a crepe with apricot jam. Once dinner was over most things in the town were closed. Therefore, most of the group would go down to the lake to hang out and watch the sunset. I loved being in Bregenz because I was able to really get a feel for the town. It was a very relaxing place to come back to each week after a weekend of travel. I can truly say it felt like home.

When I signed up to go on this trip, I felt like I was checking off another box on my college “to-do” list. It was a two-week program, a scholarship was built-in, and I would now be able to say “yeah, I’ve done that” when asked about going abroad without making the physical, financial, and emotional investment of spending a semester overseas.
I suppose I prepared for a sightseeing trip, something that would be fun, but far from life changing. I was expecting to “do” a lot, but I don’t think I was ready to actually “experience” anything.

I am so glad to say that I was completely wrong.

Croatia is absolutely incredible. When I was researching this trip, I focused on my time in Prague, Czech Republic. The city of Zagreb, Croatia wasn’t a place that was really on my radar screen, and it was easier to just tell people that I was going to Prague rather than to explain where Zagreb was and that we were really there 8 days of the two-week trip. Lesson learned: one’s personal ignorance of a place does not correlate with that place’s worth.

Prague was one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever seen in my life, but if you asked me where I would return first, I would say Zagreb without question. Zagreb had everything and more that one could want out of a European city. The architecture, the culture, the cuisine, you name it. However, whereas Prague is a city full of tourists, Zagreb allowed us to actually interact with the Croatian people.

While I wouldn’t want to bore anyone with the details of our activities with our Croatian friends, I can offer some insight on their general qualities, interests, and opinions. As an overall rule, Croatian people are awesome. More specifically, they are remarkably intelligent, incredibly protective, and unquestionably brave. They have a strong national identity, vast knowledge and understanding of national and global events, and genuine curiosity about other cultures. Though there were vast differences between our upbringings, we found shared bonds and interests that brought us together.

As someone interested in politics, it was fascinating to be confronted with ideas that greatly contrasted with my own beliefs. Touring Croatia and the Czech Republic with College of Business faculty was enlightening, since capitalism is relatively young in both of these countries, and the imprint of communism still lingers in many aspects of life.

While it feels like a “big” statement, I would be comfortable saying that my two weeks in Europe were amongst the best in my life. I can honestly say that I’d go back tomorrow. I don’t know exactly when or how, but I will go abroad again before graduation. That’s a promise.

It was an incredible six weeks that I was able to spend in Seoul. Every day was a new adventure. The classes definitely kept me busy, but I still was able to invest all of my free time into seeing as much of the city as humanly possible. People often asked me near the end of the trip if I had seen everything that I wanted to see in Seoul. The answer was complicated, yes and no. Seoul is a mind bogglingly large city. I got to see everything I planned on seeing before getting there, but every day that passes you discover something else in the city you want to see, and your list just keeps growing. I could spend a lifetime there and still leave the city thinking I missed something. And that’s what made finally having to leave such a somber moment.

The last day of my trip, I remembered a quote from Edward Higgins White (first American to walk in space) that stuck with me for the rest of the day. As he began his return to Earth, he said “I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.” My whole life my goal had been to travel to Asia. It was such an odd feeling achieving this dream, and reaching the point in my trip where I realized it had to come to an end. I had to return to my normal life. Never before had I been able to relate so clearly to this sentiment from Mr. White than in that moment.

Regardless of how regretful I was to leave Seoul, I know that it will not be the last time I will have the opportunity to explore another part of the world. And until that day comes, when I can have new exciting adventures, I will always have the memories of the past six weeks I spent in Seoul.

If you’re reading this, then you need to know how to survive a study abroad. Keep reading to learn a few rules to follow in order to have a great trip.

1. Go study abroad. This is the cardinal rule, and there are no excuses for breaking it.
2. Be open to going to a place you’ve never heard of before. During my trip, I went to a small city I had no clue existed (Zagreb, Croatia) and a large city that I did know existed (Prague, Czech Republic), and I would choose the small city every time. The experience that I got there was so much richer than the experience in the Westernized city; the people were genuine, the culture was more distinguishable, things were cheaper, the streets felt safer, and the city itself was more navigable.
3.  Order the fish with the bones and head, the seared squid, the goulash, the schnitzel, the sauerkraut. Whatever it is that sounds super gross and weird (yet oddly enough, everyone else in the country likes), ORDER IT. Because even though the fish has eyes, I promise it is the best fish you’ve ever tasted; and even though you hate sauerkraut, I promise it tastes a million better in the Czech Republic.
4. Go to McDonald’s, but only do it once. This is just to experience how different it can be in another country. For example, have you ever heard of the “McCountry”? I hadn’t, either.
5. Talk to your friends and family, but not every night.
6. Stay out way later than you probably should have. Maybe even watch the sunrise in the park when you have class in just three hours.
7. When your friends want to play in the fountain, let them. It’s not as frowned upon in Europe, and you’ll get great pictures of them.
8. Within the first few days, at least learn how to say “hello,” “goodbye,” “please,” “thank you,” and “bathroom.”
9. Ask locals to teach you phrases, but also make sure to double check what they tell you. You may be trying to learn “I love this pizza,” and they’re teaching you something far, far different.
10. Be prepared to point at the menu when you order food. Your index finger is your new best friend.
11. Realize that you will be the loudest person in the room and that you do have an obvious American accent.
12. Pack a rain jacket and a few light sweaters, even if you are going in July. Louisville isn’t the only place where the rain creates a temporary river.
13. Do not expect the bread on the table to be free, and never order mineral water.
14. Pack a jar of peanut butter to keep in your room. (Unless you’re allergic to peanuts. If so, then this rule does not apply to you.)
15. If you are used to having a washcloth, pack one. Because you may very well not get one in your European hotel bathroom.
16. If no one wants to go with you to a specific site, go anyway. This may be the only time you’ll ever be in this location, and if you want to go see the John Lennon wall, then by golly, DO IT!
17. Jot down notes of all the things you do every day. They don’t have to be full sentences, and they can be in your Notes app on your phone, but do at least write something down to remember what you did.
18. The nights that are the most fun are the nights where you’re all together. I know this doesn’t apply to every one, because few study abroads are in groups, but the best dinners were the ones with 6 or more people.
19. Always carry cash. Aside from not being able to use your card in some places (because they may give you a funny look when you say “do you accept Discover? Diners Club?”), our bills were always grouped together. And if you have the nerve to ask for a separate check, expect a glare.
20. Follow the cardinal rule.

There you have it. Follow these simple steps, and you’re all set!

My time in Zagreb and Prague was easily two of the best weeks of college, and they’re two weeks that I will always remember. Yes, after food, a passport, insurance, airfare, tuition, and souvenirs, they were two expensive weeks, but they were worth every penny.

Hvala, and good luck with wherever you go!