_Italian word of the week: Comportati da adulto! – Grow up!_
Studying abroad is like the Pringles of school; once you pop you just can’t stop. During orientation, one of the international office employees told us he’d also studied abroad here. He was from America and came here on exchange about four years ago. He told us that we were never going to want to leave and to make the most of the experience. He said that he planned to stay for a semester, then told himself, “Just one more exchange semester.” Then said, “Just one more year.” And then applied to be a regular student at Universita Cattolica. “Then another.” And now he has a job here and lives here permanently.
Now, I don’t plan on staying here another semester. I love MU, and I really do miss it. But I can see how this principle of “just one more time” can work out for a lot of people. Many people study abroad because they want to travel, but sometimes, people study abroad to escape. They don’t fit in where they are, and they need a solid reason to get away from their situation, whatever it may be. One of my friends is an example of this. She lived at home, went to school and had been dating someone in her friend group. And no matter what she did, she could not escape running into him, hearing about him or being the target of gossip.
They say that home is where the heart is, and it’s so clichéd. So sometimes if your heart is somewhere else, you need to go find it. That was my friend’s case. Her heart wasn’t in her home country anymore, and so she needed to leave her city because she didn’t feel like she belonged there anymore. Once there, it’s easy for some people to feel like they belong more than they belong at home. So maybe you’ll want to stay for an extra week, month or even a year. And it’s so easy to find ways to justify staying here just a little bit longer.
One of those ways is an internship, a way that was just presented to me last week. Of course, I had already made plans for the summer. I had lined up a job, trips with friends and concerts, some of which were already booked. So it was a really hard choice. Although, getting the option to make this decision did make me feel like a grown-up for the first time in my whole life, which was weird and stressful.
After a weekend of debating and weighing the pros and cons, I finally decided to accept the internship, even if this means I won’t have a good job over the summer and therefore will be completely broke. Isn’t that what being a college student is all about? My mom always tells me that you haven’t lived until you’ve spent a period of your life living off mac ‘n’ cheese and ramen — but not even the brand name kind, the generic brand from ALDI.
I think this might be the last of the Pringles, though. It is a good batch, but I’m ready for my traditional Mizzou flavor. Who could miss Homecoming? And I really think my body will shut down if I don’t get some La Siesta in my system in the near future. Sometimes you have to accept that you aren’t the little kid begging to go down the slide, “just one more time,” and go home to live out your life.
Ciao for now!
