Adventures Abroad

WASHINGTON — Last Friday, I was on my way to trading in the White House for the Parthenon.

As I finished my last day of work and turned in my identification badge to the security guard, I knew I was moving on to the next of my travels.

I had traded in my government security badge for a passport and a Spanish visa, my black slacks and high heels for summer shorts and walking shoes, political dialogue for foreign dialects.

I said good bye to the cycle of a nine-to-five job and hola to the joys of being an American tourist abroad.

After living the life of a Washington DC intern for the past two months, I am continuing my travels as I hop on a plane to Athens on Tuesday. For the next month or so, I will be traveling westward from Greece eventually finding my way to Granada, Spain, where I will be studying in the fall.

And I am one of many students who go abroad during the school year.

According to the Open Doors report on international educational exchange, more than 200,000 students studied abroad in 2006, with Spain being the third most popular destination.

Take the updates decorated across your Facebook news feed as proof.

Especially as a junior, a year in which most students decide to study abroad, mine has been constantly adorned with how so-and-so is “OMG I’M IN LONDON!!!” or just added new photos to “Europe Album #35.”

As I have said before in my columns, I am writing from abroad not because my experiences will be any more unique or exciting than other students, but because, from what I have seen, there’s a certain quality about traveling that excites people, that connects people in a certain way.

Because I was one of them, one eager to hear about people’s travels, excited to learn about the best islands in Greece or the underrated museums in Florence.

And to say the least, it hasn’t hit me yet that this trip that I’ve been planning since last February is actually materializing.

It didn’t hit me when I got my visa for Spain or when my friends started arriving in the foreign cities that they’re studying in for the fall. It didn’t hit me when I started stuffing my clothes into my travel backpack or when I packed up my work clothes to send them home back to California.

I mean, up until now, to me, Europe just represented a collection of photos and stories. Having never been on the continent, traveling or studying abroad was something I just heard about from peers or read about in books.

It seems like there are so many things I’ve been looking forward to for awhile – canyoneering in Swiss Alps, the white buildings and blue shutters of Santorini, going to Morocco and being able to say I visited the African continent.

Then there’s Oktoberfest – oh Oktoberfest.

So to even think that this is all about to start, that this is all about to begin, is almost inconceivable.

Truth be told I’m a little nervous. As amazing as these plans sound, there are only two weeks of the trip planned concretely as of yet, with the rest of the trip reserved for room to nudge and roam.

For a girl who can at times prefer not to stray from a path, I’m taking a big leap.

And in a way, by traveling and studying as students, I think we all are crossing a bigger pond.

Here we are, putting ourselves in an unknown situation, in a foreign setting for the sake of learning and growing in another culture and coming to understand another part of the world.

So here’s to being one of the 200,000 students going abroad this year. Here’s to new things and to new understandings; to the essence of traveling and the effervescent simplicity of being young.

Cheers.