{"id":10647,"date":"2017-01-18T09:52:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T14:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10647"},"modified":"2017-01-18T09:52:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T14:52:48","slug":"learning-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/?p=10647","title":{"rendered":"Learning Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ll be leaving the country in January.\u201d \u201cOh, where to\/what for?\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll be studying abroad in Vietnam for four months\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A nice thought, this more or less summarizes more than half of the conversations I\u2019ve been having over the past month or two in preparing to leave for my first semester abroad. It never fully felt real, although I heard myself saying the words and the excitement in my voice. I had traveled before, and had in fact led a trip abroad for high school students to Costa Rica, so of course I was ready for my time abroad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hell no.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I boarded the plane just over a week ago, said goodbye to friends and family I wouldn\u2019t see until May, and set off for what I thought would just start to push me outside of my comfort zone. After making great friends with the people next to me, handling the first 15 hour leg of the flight like an old pro (even giving advice to people who hadn\u2019t done it before \u2013 I am a straight fraud, everything I know I learned from Pinterest), and enjoying a free hotel because of a missed connecting flight, I believed I had it all figured out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To give you context, I\u2019m a biology major turned international studies circa sophomore year with another major in sociology, and if I\u2019m passionate about two things, it\u2019s about pushing outside of my comfort zone and building authentic, raw relationships with people. I chose the Vietnam center for a combination of reasons, ranging from the fact that my scholarship applies to this program to not having any prior context for Vietnam to wanting the most intense adventure I could find. I\u2019m a lead facilitator for Loyola\u2019s experiential education office, Ramble Outdoors, and am pursuing a career in adventure education. More or less, the combination of outdoor adventure and working with people is kind of my thing. Even in the first week I have absolutely seen how lucky I am to have the opportunity to study abroad in a country like Vietnam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Meeting
Meeting some of our partners for the first time and exploring district 10 together!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was the first to arrive for our program, which has a total of 16 people. No emotion had hit me yet of the fact that I was leaving for a few months and it won\u2019t fully hit me for a few weeks more. That night I walked around by myself trying to do my best to look like I knew what I was doing. The air tasted sweet although the fumes of the motorbikes often overpower it. Vietnam has already flipped my world upside down in some ways and I love it. With having a smaller program, there are so many perks, especially having Vietnamese partner students. Their kindness has been overwhelming and I\u2019ll talk a little bit more about them later on. Vietnam is a lot to take in at once, and in 7 days I\u2019ve already been drenched in a rainstorm while riding on the back of a motorbike, struggled through language barriers to the point of frustration, made travel plans for the upcoming holiday, maneuvered through a few of the districts of the city, and tasted more food than I could have imagined. While I still have an incredible amount of cultural and linguistic wisdom to catch up on, I couldn\u2019t be happier to be studying at the Loyola Vietnam Center.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_0807<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As someone passionate about adventure and having been challenged and pushed to my limits in several other aspects of my life, I\u2019m so excited to start my journey through Vietnam and discover what this semester is going to mean for me. I firmly believe that travel holds such powerful meaning for one\u2019s life and keeps one from limiting their own life to a narrow worldview.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is not meant to be lived in one place, and while traveling this melcouth world takes courage, life is meant to be lived creatively and the benefits of studying abroad have already proved to be ineffable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Maslow once revered, \u201cIn any given moment we have two options: To step forward into growth or step back into safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, and for the rest of the semester, I\u2019m choosing to step forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ll be leaving the country in January.\u201d \u201cOh, where to\/what for?\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll be studying abroad in Vietnam for four months\u201d.   A nice thought, this more or less summarizes more than half of the conversations I\u2019ve been having over the past month or two in preparing to leave for my first semester abroad. It never … <\/p>\n

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