Studying abroad is one of the single most amazing opportunities that being a college student grants you. You are able to fly to a far-off land you've dreamed of at a decent expense, exploring nooks and crannies of the world outside the hours of required classroom time. What study abroad also does is allow you to appreciate the University of South Carolina that much more since you don't get to see your gamecock family for [in my case] 8 months.
Just last week, our school was devastated as a murder-suicide took place on our campus. For those of us studying abroad, we received text messages and e-mails from Carolina Alert and follow-ups from the IB department and the Study Abroad Office. But for that hour, the hundred or so of us that are abroad were frozen solid, battling time differences and data costs to get in contact with our family and friends. No matter where we were at the moment, exploring the Louvre, wandering through the Sahara, packing our bags; we were all connected. We were far, far away from home, with our Carolina family praying that no one was injured or worse. The aftermath of the event is something we have to burden from afar, without a Horseshoe full of friends.
Being an International Business major means so much more than simply going to another university for a semester. It's about the university we're leaving behind. It's about how we are going to positively contribute what we've learned at Carolina to our new homes, and also what we're going to bring back to USC. The shooting paralyzed us all for a moment, an hour, a day. But the IB students are still going to grow, still going to learn, and still going to succeed in our time abroad. We have to. We don't get to see our home for 8 months, so it's our job to bring our home to someplace new. That's what I plan to do.
Arrivederci America. Italia, here I come!
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