Home Sweet Home; Atlanta, Ga

I apologize for the delayed post but I wanted to take some time to reflect on my abroad experience.

Before my departure I wanted my experience to as fun and memorable as possible. I wanted to do the unknown, meet amazing people and try new foods.

Over the past four months my interactions with people, the classes that I have taken, and encountering social norms outside of my own has reshaped much of my thinking. Living in America, I feel I have been spoon fed majority of my life. I didn’t have to go after much because many things are at our fingertips. My ideal future was to be successful and live comfortably. I wanted my success to speak. When my friends come to visit I wanted them to see I was doing well. I wanted a nice home, cars and expensive material items. After a week at home many of peers are dreaming the same dream.

My individualistic mind-set was tested with my encounters and experiences abroad. Morocco, a “third-world” country, has some of the brightest and goal-driven people I have ever met. They do not complain when their work exceeds them nor do they walk with their head held high because they feel the right to do so. I have met kids who spend more time reading outside of their curriculum, questioning opinions and inquiring about the world around them more than adults my age. Through them I have learned that love is not boastful. Many of them dream of big careers and it is not to show their success. They want to help out at home and make sure their families are living comfortably.

Since I have been home many of the people around me live in opposition of Moroccans. From the outside looking in, we buy to show social media, we live to tweet about it and capture the moment to place on Facebook. Different tools to help us reassure people that we are “living”. With this, I decided to question the “norms” that we have construed and to be the change I want to see. Many people are quick to assassinate what they don’t understand, yet many of us continue to live by other’s opinions.

It’s time to start living for us and not for others. My trip abroad has shown me what living truly means. It’s time we wake up and start living for ourselves. These past four months was the happiest I have ever been. I lived each day without a worry or care and while I have been home I still feel the same excitement over my trip as when it first happened. I am more open in trying new things, seeing new places and being a better me.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?