“On the outside looking in you can’t understand it, on the inside looking out you can’t explain it.”
Holly Gabry: Junior Accounting Major and Studio Art Minor
After a month abroad for the British Literature trip, I have so many people asking how it was.
Every time I get this question, I freeze up. It was fun, beautiful, and amazing. It was good.
I use adjectives that do not come close to representing the experience I had! How do I in five
minutes explain to someone how my whole life has changed since I went abroad?
This trip was the farthest and longest time I have ever spent away from my family and friends. I
have always had my support system with me and I lost that when I went to another country. I did not
know any of the other students, as well. However, that experience bonded us. I made friends that
turned into family! I made friends that will always be friends, and I rediscovered a friend that became
the love of my life.
In a foreign place where all the important things in my life were far away, it became clear what
the real important things are in my life. It took me going to another country to realize, God is always
there for me and I saw him in so many people abroad.
I saw him in the typical places, like the Hillsong Church in London that I had the pleasure to
attend, but also in unexpected places. On the streets of Edinburgh, I saw a group of Middle Eastern
gentlemen feeding the hungry. They wanted to feed the hungry in their community and look past race
and diversity, which I read on the pamphlet one of the guys handed me. I also was offered food in case I
needed some. That shocked me. I do not see that kindness every day, but it sure inspired me.
I met many people and got to share life stories with each one. I talked to a thirty-two year old
man the first night. His parents passed away when he was young and left him all their money. He used
the money to just travel and to teach kids in different countries to speak English. He was worldly. He
told us stories about how he felt on 9/11/2001. How he was at work when he was told to turn on the TV.
He shared how he mourned with us as a nation. It was inspiring and beautiful. I felt ignorant as he spoke
about bombings in London that I had never heard of, while he cared so much about us.
The world became so small and yet so big to me during my trip. The people made the world
seem smaller, because we are not that different. However, the world is so large because now I have a
long list of all the places I want to travel to in my life, which will not be an easy feat! I grew spiritually,
worldly, and at the end of the day realized what is truly important in life and had fun all along the way!
I never thought it would even be possible for me to travel. It is expensive, but I have realized if it
is something I truly want to do I can make it work. My solution was to graduate early, because then it is
around the same price going all four years compared to going three and a half with traveling to England,
Belgium, and Scotland. It was well worth it. My experience has forever changed who I am and how I
view my life. Saying it was worth it seems like another lousy statement that does not even compare.
While it is hard to explain, it is the most amazing gift to experience something so incredible and
unexplainable! I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to experience something unexplainable.
That is why I became a Study Abroad Ambassador, I want you to struggle explaining to me how your trip
was!