![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/files\/2025\/09\/Karolina-and-Isolde-running-220x300.jpg\")
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These past few weeks, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about my study abroad journey up to this point. From seeing presentations about studying abroad, to deciding to work towards doing it, to planning the last-minute details. I know that it may sound corny, but I genuinely cannot believe that I will be flying out of the US in two days. On the one hand, I\u2019m super excited. This is something that I\u2019ve been dreaming of for years now. A solo adventure to a country I\u2019ve never been to in order to push myself out of my comfort zone. On the other hand, I\u2019m going on a SOLO adventure which is completely out of my comfort zone\u2026 More on that later.<\/p>\n
Anywho, in preparation for this new adventure, I\u2019ve been getting to know myself. Asking myself hard questions that challenge my preexisting beliefs and subconscious reactions to others. At first, the idea of getting to know myself better seemed strange, but it has made me more self-aware and has taught me empathy by allowing me to see the world through other people\u2019s perspectives. I expect the program to help me become more open to interacting with people whom I don\u2019t necessarily know or with whom I don’t have any obvious commonalities. It may be tough to conceptualize as I am writing this from the comfort of my bed in Iowa, but I am intrigued to discover what the next few months have in store for me.<\/p>\n
Through this process, I\u2019ve been able to narrow down some of the strengths and weaknesses in order to make some personal goals for this adventure. I expect to increase my personal discipline by relaxing and allowing myself to prioritize things that help my emotional and physical health, rather than always focusing on deadlines and things that cause me stress. While the beginning of this adventure may be causing me a lot of stress right now as I fret about how many pairs of socks to pack or whether or not to bring my pillow, I know that, overall, this experience will force me to become comfortable with unfamiliarity. I will have to learn to prioritize things that matter and spend less time on the things that are ultimately unimportant.<\/p>\n
Along with developing proper priorities, I also hope to work on discipline and self-regulation. Over the years, I\u2019ve been surrounded by a Christian community that cares about my faith life and has lived on a schedule that regularly includes time to be in the Word. Now that I will be around people whom I don\u2019t know and in a new place, I will have to keep myself accountable in my personal devotional life and scheduling and prioritizing my connections with fellow believers. I will have to make a point of setting aside time to spend in the Bible and reaching out to others to find people who share the faith. This experience will test my faith and force me to put genuine effort into my personal faith. I hope to achieve a stronger faith in God through my intentional time spent in the Word and reliance on God to get me through new and often stressful situations abroad.<\/p>\n
OK, finally coming back to the fact that I\u2019m going on my first solo trip EVER to a whole new country. Of course, when I started planning this experience, the prospect of going alone sounded great. A complete reset. I love all my friends and family, and the Midwest will always be my home, but I need a little change of pace. I love travelling, and I know that every time I put myself into a situation that I\u2019m new to or not completely comfortable in, I flourish. Not that I disagree with the reasoning of my past self, but now it\u2019s getting to feel real. I know that it will all be ok and everything will work out, even if it doesn\u2019t go just as I planned. I don\u2019t know if the pre-departure nerves will ever lessen, but I am confident that this experience will help me achieve my goal of more self-confidence, especially when it comes to entering new situations and interacting with new people.<\/p>\n
For all two of you who are wondering, I chose this picture because I feel like it encapsulates the feeling of excitement I have as I metaphorically run towards the future. Plus, I love my sisters and I will miss them desperately, even if they do frustrate me once in a while\u2026 That being said, I will spend the next 48 hours stressing as I finally start finish packing and hoping that I remember all of the important documents that I need. I digress. Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll keep you updated every step of the way : )<\/p>\n
All the love,
\nMathilde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These past few weeks, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about my study abroad journey up to this point. From seeing presentations about studying abroad, to deciding to work towards doing it, to planning the last-minute details. I know that it may sound corny, but I genuinely cannot believe that I will be flying out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Lhdr-AU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/study-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}