"How was your trip?"

Last Saturday, I attended a family reunion on my dad’s side of the family.  Most of them live at least an hour away from me, so I don’t get to see them very often.  Of the family members that knew I was in England last semester, the first question out of every one of their mouths was of course, “How was your trip?”

            I don’t think people realize how difficult that question is to answer.  I was living in another country for three whole months, how can possibly sum up three months in a couple of sentences?  So I answered with my usual, “It was amazing!” and just leave it at that. 

You see, I never know if people are generally interested in what I have to say about my experiences, or if they are just asking to be polite.  If they are the latter, I don’t want to bother them telling them things that I found exciting, when they probably will have no idea what I am talking about.  Even if they are genuinely interested and ask specific questions that I can actually answer, they still aren’t as interested as I expect them to be.  Jill Russell, the study abroad adviser, warned us about this.  She told us to expect that people would not be as interested in our stories as we expect them to be.  It’s not that they are apathetic or think I am boring, it’s just that they don’t understand.  Jill also warned us that we would have a hard time putting our experiences into words.  Even though I knew to expect it, it still frustrated me.

How can I explain in words what it felt like to stand before the vast Loch Ness? Or walking on the street where one of my favorite TV shows was filmed, or eating in the restaurant where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books?  How could I describe how enraptured I was with the British culture?  Or how impossibly happy I was the first time I saw Big Ben, or walked beside the Thames, and realized that I was actually in London, the place I had been dreaming about all of my life.  It’s impossible.

I think part of the reason that I have such a hard time with this is that I find it very difficult to talk about myself and my feelings.  Now this trip is part of me, part of what defines me, so for me it is naturally difficult to express it.  One thing that I find helps get your stories moving is pictures.  I know I keep stressing taking tons of pictures but it’s the best way to preserve your memories and bring you straight back to that time in your life.  So whether you are back in the US for five months, five years, or fifty years, you will still be able to tell people everything about that experience. 

So take your pictures to family reunions.  Show them to your roommate.  Show them to everyone who will listen.  You were on an amazing journey that a small percentage of college students embark on.  Show it off and be proud.