Student Bloggers

When I was on the flight to London, I took out my blue and pink Barbie-themed journal and wrote down my thoughts and feelings about starting my study abroad experience. I wrote, "I know that there are so many adventures ahead of me" in my messy cursive script. No one knows the adventures I have gotten up to more than my journal. It has been my constant companion in London. Deciding to journal every day during my semester abroad was one of the best decisions I made. I believe that my study abroad experience would be very different if I did not keep up with my journal. Today, I want to share with you some of the reasons why I believe that everyone should keep a journal while abroad in hopes that it inspires you to start a journal during your semester abroad. 

Carries Your “Study Abroad List”

My best advice for anyone getting ready to start their study abroad adventure is to create your "study abroad list". This is what my parents have nicknamed the list of places I wanted to visit during my study abroad. I started this list the day that I got my acceptance letter from Queen Mary's University of London. I wrote it down in the first pages of my journal, and it is a nice way to keep me accountable for the things I said I wanted to see and do. This list is what helped me make the most of my study abroad experience because anytime I was bored, I just reached for my journal. For example, one day, I knew that I wanted to go out and do something, but I was not sure what. So, I turned to my list in my journal. It was there that I remembered I wrote down the Guildhall Art Gallery because I saw a TikTok about it from a local Londoner. I reserved a ticket slot, grabbed my purse, and jumped on the tube. It was a gorgeous gallery, and I had made it just in time for the free tour. I even got to see some Roman ruins that were buried underneath the city of London! If I had not written the Guildhall Art Gallery in my journal, I would not have explored this phenomenal spot. Now, how do you find places to add to your list? If any loved ones have visited your study abroad city, I recommend chatting with them about their favorite spots. Social media is a fantastic resource for you because you can search for anything you are interested in. I liked looking up "unique spots in London" or "London recommendations from locals" because it helped me find places that I had never heard of. I recommend leaving some space at the bottom open because you will get so many fantastic recommendations from new friends as they experience London, too!

Keeps Tracks of Your Adventures

Whenever I would call home and chat with my parents about what I was doing in the coming week, they would always comment that I kept myself very busy. I was always trying a new restaurant or seeing the latest West End show or participating in a tour of some important landmark. This was something that I strove for because I wanted to make the most of my time in London. As a psychology minor, I knew going into my study abroad experience that it would be impossible for me to remember every single thing that I accomplished while in London. What about that restaurant with the amazing pesto pasta? What about that fun fact I learned during my tour of Parliament? What about the funny conversation I had with a new friend? What about that amazing feedback on the essay I spent all week workshopping? These small things can get lost in our memories. Thankfully, every day before I went to bed, I would write about everything that I did that day. No matter how big or small, I compiled a list of details that will help me remember how special my time in London was. Now, I have a document that completely encapsulates all of my adventures while abroad. It will be something that I cherish when I go back to St. Louis, and those feelings of nostalgia for my life in London begin to pop up. I also know that friends and family are going to ask me for London travel recommendations. Now, I can be an expert on London because my journal holds the names of my favorite places in London that I can share with others. I think that journaling is the best way to keep track of everything you do while abroad. Your journal is the best way to create a personalized souvenir. 

Helps You Process Homesickness

I got into journaling about two years ago because I wanted to write about starting university and moving away from home. It was a wonderful space for me to process my emotions around this new chapter of my life. Studying abroad is a lot like your first semester at college, which is why I started a new journal for my study abroad semester. One similarity is the feeling of homesickness. Homesickness is a strange thing because it can be both loud and quiet. It was the loudest during Thanksgiving when my entire family gathered back in St. Louis, and I was still in London. My journal entry for that day is long and rambling. It felt so good to put my emotions down on paper about missing my family during this major holiday. At the same time, homesickness can be quiet and hard to pick up on if you are not looking out for it. At the end of November, I realized that so many of my journal entries referenced St. Louis. I wrote about how I was craving arepas from my favorite Colombian spot. I wrote about how seeing Cabaret on the West End reminded me of watching my friend play Sally Bowles when my home university performed it last year. I wrote about how much I missed attending weekly chapter meetings with my sorority sisters every Sunday. Writing all these things down helped me feel better because I was not just keeping them to myself. I could let that emotion out in a healthy way that still allowed me to enjoy my study abroad experience. Journaling has brought me so much peace, even during the times when homesickness threatened to drown me. My little journal kept me afloat like a life vest. Everyone will feel homesickness one time or another while studying abroad, so that means that everyone should have a journal.

Reminds You to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

When I talk to people about my love of journaling, the most common statement is, "How can you journal every night? It must be so boring to write the same thing over and over again!". I argue that if you are repeatedly writing about the same things, it is a sign that you are too comfortable. People who study abroad have to adapt to a sense of discomfort pretty quickly. You are in a foreign country with a different culture and away from your support system, and you just have to figure it out. However, I argue that once we build that routine, it can be hard to break away from it. While journaling one day, I realized that a lot of recent entries looked exactly the same. So, I took some action. I signed up to go on Arcadia Abroad's Wales Adventure Weekend Trip! It was truly the adventure of a lifetime because it was totally out of my comfort zone. I went coasteering and cliff-diving in the freezing water of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. My journal entries talk about how I overcame my fear of heights by jumping from cliffs and meeting some amazing friends around a campfire late at night. Now, a trip to Wales might seem drastic, and it was. You do not need to travel hundreds of miles away to get out of your comfort zone. For example, I participated in Westminster Abbey's Evensong service one night. It was such a unique experience to see Westminster Abbey without crowds of people. The choir music was so beautiful, and it highlighted the beauty of the space. Getting out of your comfort zone will look different for everyone. Your journal can help you realize when it is time to step out of your comfort zone and even give you some ideas on how to do that!

Catalogs Your Growth

In my personal blog, I write a lot about my personal growth because it is important to look back and see how much you have grown. I can confidently say that I have grown so much since the beginning of my study abroad experience. On my flight to London, I wrote down all of my fears and anxieties about spending a semester away from WashU in my journal. I was afraid that I would not make any meaningful friendships in four months. I was nervous about scheduling my own travel itineraries since most of my trips were planned for me. I was anxious about the new professors, new grading scale, and new expectations that surrounded going to an unfamiliar school. As I reflect back with a full semester in London under my belt, I realize that I have conquered so many of my fears. I have created beautiful and uplifting relationships inside and outside the classroom. I have designed fun travel plans to exciting places and explored new cities with close friends. I have utilized the academic pressure I felt to push my work to new creative heights. Journaling has helped me celebrate these accomplishments. I get to see how far I have come from that scared, apprehensive girl at the beginning of the semester. I know that the lessons I have learned while abroad will stick with me for the rest of my life. I learned how to be more independent, confident, and outgoing. I learned how to accept challenges with gusto and passion. I learned how to build a lovely life for myself 4,000 miles away from my hometown. I learned how to process negative emotions (like homesickness) productively. My journal will hold these lessons for me to return to when I need a reminder of my power. Journaling helped me realize that I have grown into a better version of myself during my semester abroad.