Coping with Emotions Before and After Study Abroad
There’s something strange about reflecting on my experience of studying abroad. When I try to remember how I felt before leaving, my mind goes blank. It’s almost like the experience was so broad and eye-opening that I can’t separate the emotions I had back then from the lessons I’ve learned since. But I found a way to piece it together. Recently, I opened up the journal I took with me to Germany and reread my first entry. The date was March 5th, 2024, and I was sitting alone at Atlanta airport, about to start what I called “the adventure of a lifetime.” I remember feeling excited—but scared. My parents had just dropped me off, and I was sitting at gate F3 with my brown sugar espresso in hand after a chaotic encounter with TSA (which involved me getting yelled at because I didn’t know “common sense,” apparently). As I sat at the gate, I did what I always do when I need comfort: I opened my Bible. That’s when I came across Proverbs 11:24-31, which says, “There is one who scatters, yet in...
