Second-Guessing Study Abroad

In 53 days (I just counted) I embark on my journey to the illustrious Great Britain, land of bad teeth and dry pastries. My future began to take shape just under a year ago when I attended a mandatory "meeting of interest" for my designated program in September of my sophomore year. September. Sophomore year. Jesus Christ. This so-called meeting of interest created an unstoppable momentum that leads me to where I am now: 53 days from studying abroad for an entire year in Great Britain. Two weeks after the meeting, I was choosing potential courses of study and writing essays on how each course would further my overall academic goal for a program I had yet to be accepted into. For which I had yet to apply to! The wheels kept turning and I got swept away with it. To take time for considering whether this is what I wanted would come later when deadlines weren't nipping at my heels.

Now I'm at Georgetown for the summer clinging to familiarities and memories as if I'll never come back. While I know that the opportunity to study abroad at a top world university is an immense privilege, I can't help be feel like I was pushed into it all without the opportunity to really consider my options. It feels similar to the decision to attend college, not really a decision at all. With approximately 50% of Hoyas also choosing to study abroad, I assumed I would be one of them and now I'm trapped in a current that sends me off for an entire year. "Are you excited???" I reply a obligatory, "Yeah." And I am, but I'm also scared and nervous. OIP doesn't prepare you for the toll that studying abroad takes on relationships with girlfriends or boyfriends or even friends.

The OIP has many flaws, as we've discussed before, but I'd say rushing students onto a seemingly irreversible course to study abroad is among its worst. It might be criminally cheesy to discuss issues of leaving boyfriends or girlfriends or being homesick for Georgetown at an information session, but maybe it's what we need. It might be what I need. I'm not sure... cynics have complaints, not solutions. "Cheers."