For this week’s Normal Talk, the author of Dear Normal sits down to discuss her experience with traveling and the impact that it has made on her outlook on life.
Naive is the word I would use to describe my state of mind prior to traveling to the UK. I was under the assumption that since English was the main language of the UK that the experiences I would have there would be very similar to the ones I have had in America. I stand here today very corrected. I was shocked to learn about the copious amount of differences between the US and the UK alone. The food is different. I really did not expect the food to be different. Yes, the UK has their own staples that the states will try to copy but I struggled to find my usual go-tos. As lame as it sounds, I really missed chicken tenders. And even more than chicken tenders, I missed having a ginormous, 44 ounce sugary beverage that I would somehow hold onto for hours after ordering. I missed having gatorade when I was sick. To be honest, I didn’t expect to miss anything.
I stuck out like a sore thumb. I stood on the left side of the escalator, I had no concept of the volume of my own voice, and I wore bright orange sweatpants. Towards the beginning of this trip I was overly aware of everything about myself. I was constantly worried about whether or not I looked like an American. I was constantly worried about whether or not anyone cared that I was American. To be honest, no one gave a shit. I actually felt more appreciated than I expected to. If anything, I was only judged for saying that jam and jelly are interchangeable (do not make this mistake! Jam is jelly and jelly is Jell-o). This caused me to realize that it is okay to stick out like a sore thumb! I was not being rude, just obvious. I learned the difference between ugly American and simply American. I learned to be both confident and respectful. Simply, I cannot change the fact that I am American, so why should I? Rather than attempt to contort myself into something that I physically cannot be, I decided that I could try to represent myself in a positive light. If there is someone that hates Americans just because they are Americans, they won’t hate me. I think it might be a little cocky to assume the only reason I could be disliked is because of my background. Perhaps whoever coined the phrase “ugly American” was just bitter. This was the start to several epiphanies that I had while I was in London.
As previously described, I learned to embrace myself. I learned to act in an authentic way that was true to me and as cheesy as it sounds, it caused a lot of other realizations to follow. Being in a foreign country makes you realize just how big the world is, and just how small you are. This gives you the freedom to completely step out of your comfort zone and embrace the whole purpose of traveling abroad: to discover new experiences while discovering yourself in this process.
The biggest lesson that was shown to me while on this trip was how to be alone. Previously, if you asked me about my biggest fear I would tell you that it is being alone. In the states, I would probably ask someone to go grocery shopping with me. This trip forced uncomfortableness in the realm of loneliness, so I was forced to enjoy my own presence. This was a hard pill to swallow. I had to turn what felt like a personal attack on my character into an experience that I would remember because I was in London! I wanted to make sure that I had no bad days in London. While this mantra was nearly impossible to uphold, one specific Saturday proved that the outcome of my days were in my control (to some extent). It was the first Saturday in London and I was completely alone. At first, I was incredibly disappointed, but I decided I would rather have a fun memory of being by myself than remembering sulking in my room, which is what I would’ve done in the states. I got out of bed and I decided to explore the surrounding area: Southbank. This was an area by the river that had several restaurants, games, booths, and stores. This would soon become my favorite part of London. The day that I went happened to be the same day as the Southbank street food festival. I was in awe and overwhelmed with so many different food options that have never even crossed paths with Murfreesboro, TN. I got an arepa in a cornbread shell with several toppings and tempura sweet potatoes on the side. I think I will remember that meal forever.
In addition to learning how to be alone, I was given plenty of opportunities to practice my abilities of “rolling with the punches.” In the states, I have a bad habit of letting my environment impact my mood. It was very easy to allow myself to get upset over trivial situations because i was in the same environment I had been in every single day. This lesson follows the notion of “no bad days in London.” There were several opportunities provided that I would have normally taken to complain and feel sorry for myself. I am thankful that I learned very early on: how could I feel sorry for myself? I was in London with a group of amazing people carrying the burden of zero responsibilities for an entire month. I could have no bad days in London! Sure I would end up wet, and cold, and blistered, and at the brink of my patience. But I also ended up grateful, content, enlightened, and hopeful.
The final lesson of my three life lessons would be the sense of home. Sure, I was supposed to have a moment of enlightenment concerning the places where I had gone and I had plenty of those, but home was never a concept that I fully understood. I never enjoyed being at home. In fact, I prided myself in being away from it. I prided myself in wanting to move as far from Tennessee as I possibly could and never looking back. It wasn’t until I was entirely removed from my comfort zone that I realized the importance of people around me. I missed my family and I missed my friends. I had always assumed that this was something that I could look past. My family even frequently joked that I would never marry and run away to Europe to become a painter like my great aunt (my namesake) once did. I always thought of myself to be this way and I wanted nothing more than to be this way until I realized that I am nothing like this. I learned that I enjoy quality time at home. I enjoy simple activities but with the people I love. I enjoy indulging in the things that give me comfort and I don’t always have to try things that are new. It seems funny to me that study abroad trips are meant to expand your worldview and show you what great things are out there. While that was most definitely true, I find it ironic that I learned things of intrinsic value. I learned my own wants and my own needs. While these are things one would assume that I already know about myself, they are things that I did not know at all! For some reason I needed to travel halfway across the world in order to find this out, and I am so glad that I did.
Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next time,
Dear Normal
