Future Nostalgia

Quarantine has given me plenty of time to reflect. I already considered myself a nostalgic person, and self-isolation has only heightened this trait.

I haven’t only reflected about my time in Brussels - I often think about the small events or decisions in my life that led me to the program itself. Reflection makes the experience, even if it was cut short, that much more special.

I have wanted to study abroad since I saw Lizzie McGuire visit Italy with her school and meet the international superstars Paolo and Isabella… and that was when I was at the ripe age of 4. Just like Lizzie, I was finally able to travel to Europe with some of my best friends from school.

Having such close friends with me on the trip allowed for me to constantly learn more about the other fields of studies through our diverse group of internships. Kendall always kept me updated on European Parliament drama and German politics since she was interning with a German MEP - and not to mention that she was once feet away from Greta Thunberg. Jack would share his experiences from his office's business-professional culture, to even realizing his boss was gay after being invited to a large LGBT-friendly office party. There was always something interesting going on at someone’s internship and I truly enjoyed learning about a plethora of subjects via my peers.

When reflecting on myself and personal growth and values, the language aspect I wrote about in my previous blog comes to mind. I have never felt so inspired to learn a second language in my life. It is easy to feel burnt out from learning languages after the required high school and college courses, but seeing people from other cultures speak 3+ language was beyond inspiring to me. As a Communication Studies major, it wasn’t easy to have any form of communication barrier with the few individuals who didn’t speak English as well as the rest of my office. I hated the feeling of not being able to communicate effectively with everyone around me - can you tell I am extremely extroverted?

I believe the overall European experience helped me grow in a social global-self awareness aspect. After the time in my office and several European countries outside of Belgium, I feel like I better understand how I connect to the global social world via politics, language, lifestyle, etc. I learned how non-Americans view American culture and how those assumptions challenged or went along with my personal traits and lifestyle. I value politics a little more now after seeing how pertinent politics are to the Brussels bubble - and being outsmarted by the Dutch executive in my office who knew way more about American politics than me. I believe I have found a new level of maturity and self-understanding after experiencing a new culture for a long period of time - and I cherish my time in Brussels for this.