I can easily say that the reason why I loved my time abroad was because of the kind people I met. My host mom, the Emory students and advisors in my group, and students in my classes created a supportive community around me, making every day exciting and memorable.
People (and food with said people) must be the most important aspect of my time in both London and Seoul. Though I spent most of my time alone, wandering around shops and writing papers in the library, I also made several acquaintances who made my time very memorable.
A study abroad experience isn’t one person, one place, or even one experience. It’s a culmination of everything that results in something you’ll never forget. My time in Salamanca, Spain left me with memories I’ll have for the rest of my life, and everyone involved in the program helped achieve that.
I arrived in France feeling extremely jet-lagged but also excited for my semester abroad. I had lived in Brooklyn and Atlanta my whole life and wasn’t sure what to expect living in a country that seemed so far from home.
Community is a vital part of Spanish culture, and what better way to establish community than through food? From the pastries to the tapas to the home-cooked meals, food was involved in just about every social interaction I had in Salamanca, always making it taste so much better.
During, my stay in Paris, I did not go out to eat at restaurants very often. Since I was planning on staying for a little over 6 months, I was planning on budgeting my money so I could spend more when my friends would have come to visit.
During my time abroad, food was always more than just food. It was a chance to be with friends, have conversations with locals, learn culture, and, in the end, say goodbye to the most important people to me in the program.
My most unforgettable meals from my journey were two traditionally Costa Rican dishes, un casado and gallo pinto. A casado has white rice and beans as the staple of the meal and is accompanied by a protein, plantain, and a salad. Gallo pinto is similar, but the beans and rice are mixed. On the side, gallo pinto is often paired with eggs, a specific fried cheese, and ripe plantains.
Most people do not associate excellent food with any of the nations in the United Kingdom, and to be honest, neither did I. Dishes such as haggis, blood sausage, and kidney pie come to mind. Let me just say, do not believe everything you hear.
Before I left for Spain, I made some goals that I wanted to achieve. Although I achieved them, I realize now that the main lessons I learned did not fall into some traditional plan that I crafted beforehand, but instead encouraged me to become uncomfortable with being uncomfortable.
