This post is written for the students of Marla Morris in Columbus, Ohio, but maybe a few others will find it interesting too.
I first saw this image on FaceBook before we left for Costa Rica, and at the time it seemed very relevant. We were about to take a big step outside of our comfort zone! Now, two years later, this simple concept has been proven in my mind.
Here are my personal top 5 benefits of living abroad (and outside of my comfort zone):
1) The "unfamiliar" of this new country becomes familiar, and it is a pretty great process. When we first visited Costa Rica, I was impressed by the beauty, but also by the more primitive looking houses and roads. I knew nothing about the people I saw walking along the road somewhere between San Jose and Nuevo Arenal; their lives seemed so different from mine. There was a bit of suspicion, perhaps anxiety, about what crime we might become victims of (thanks to reading various dire warnings on the internet). After living in our small town for almost two years and making some really special friends, driving along that same road as we were about to leave the country, the houses, roads, people were familiar and beloved. I think that is a pretty satisfying transition.
2) Learning the language. I have loved learning Spanish, even though it has been a slow process. I am envious of my kids who were immersed in it at school in Costa Rica; their young brains soaked it up. A study abroad in which you stay with a family would be the ideal situation in which to learn the language, not to mention get to know people and the culture first hand.
3) Being able to laugh at yourself and not take things too seriously. In the beginning, having just arrived in Costa Rica, we had very little idea of what was going on. Our Spanish was not great, we didn't know how things worked. We fumbled through and had a lot of little surprises and frustrations. We did start to figure things out, but we also got used to not being in control of every detail of our lives, not having all the information, winging it. Being okay with that is pretty empowering.
4) An opened mind. Living somewhere new, learning a new language, meeting people who are different (yet the same in many unexpected ways), seeing beautiful/ inspiring/ sad/ thought-provoking sights: it all feels like exercise for the brain. The change of scenery and lifestyle and the challenges to face are excellent eye openers and mind expanders.
5) Confidence. This goes hand in hand with an open mind. I look back sometimes and can't quite believe we pulled this adventure off. We did something unconventional, stepped out of our "track," and magic happened. If we can do this, we can do just about anything that we set our minds to. I hope that our kids have absorbed this confidence and can access it later when they need it. They went to school in a foreign country in a new language, then not only gracefully found their way, but flourished.
This is a great book that I highly recommend to students interested in studying abroad and their parents. I found it especially powerful at pointing out ways in which you can make your own way. There is no rule that says everyone has to follow the typical route of 4 years of high school followed immediately by 4 years of college. This book tells you that it is ok to do things differently, to work in a stint of living abroad, and how this can benefit you, for getting into college, for getting a job, for figuring out what is important and what you want to do with your life. The New Global Student by Maya Frost:
“The world is a zesty place, but it’s easy to forget that when you’re surrounded by clusters of nondescript cul-de-sacs and uninspired strip malls… (Our daughters) needed to become flexible and innovative in order to be prepared for an exciting future full of all kinds of impossible-to-predict opportunities… Instead of sheltering our kids from the world, we believed we ought to hang a loving life preserver around their necks and toss them into it… We wanted our daughters to develop empathy and responsibility in order to become upstanding global citizens.” - Maya Frost
A nice summary of The New Global Student
Young and Global Magazine
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