Final Reflection

Final Reflection

Now that I'm back in the US, the only word I can think of to describe how it feels is "bizarre". This one month I've spent abroad felt like my whole life changed in a short time span. I feel like a different person, like I've experienced more in that one trip than I have in the last 19 years of my life. But now I'm back, and the same life I lived before goes on like nothing happened. Like I didn't have everything change, like I didn't see things for the first time in my life that I may never seen again. I come back here and go back to my house, back to my work, back to the same town I've always known like nothing has happened. It's not bad, it's just strange. The only word I can think of to describe that feeling is strange.

When I did my interview to get accepted into this program, I said I wanted to study abroad because I felt like it was the best and most effective way to get me out of my shell. Before this, I wasn't a traveler, and I've lived in the same place my whole life. I'd barely left Ohio, and I'd never gone anywhere as my own independent adult before. This trip was a chance to change that and it definitely delivered. I learned that confidence and independence. I scheduled events by myself, took care of my space and budget by myself, balanced class excursions with schoolwork and my own adventures by myself. I felt like a real adult for the first time.

The confidence and adaptability were major skills to learn as well. At home, you'd need to give me two weeks in advance before an event so I could feel prepared enough to go. When abroad, I learned how to have a different plan for that evening than I did in the morning, and that was learned with the confidence I'd gained. If I could get on a plane to the UK and navigate through security for the first time, I could take the London Underground. So many trips while abroad showed me that stumbling through something still manages to work out as long as you make it to the end. Even if you barely make it to the end, all that matter is you make it. And now that I've gone across the sea without knowing what to expect out of every interaction, I'm pretty confident I can respond to that email.

Commitment and initiative were two other big skills. This trip was probably a bigger commitment than going to college in the first place was. I felt like I had to prepare so much and routinely keep up with making sure I was actually getting on that plane than with anything else in my life. There were a few times I was tempted to cancel, but I stuck with it all the way even when it felt too overwhelming. I also had to be the only one to keep up with what I needed to qualify for this trip. I had to get my passport by myself, look up what I need to pack by myself. Once again, no one was helping me out for the majority of this trip. It was all me, I was the one who committed and got myself ready and stuck with it. And if I can take initiative, be confident, committed, adaptable, and independent in order to get through a month in another continent, I can do it again for practically anything.

I miss a lot of little things from the UK and Germany, but the main things I miss are the trips, the new experiences, and the excitement. In a different continent, everything is new. The Fanta is a different color, strangers sound different than you do, signs use common slang terms you've never heard of before. Every mundane thing is suddenly not mundane. I was suddenly a kid in a candy store no matter where we went because I'd never had life be different from mine before. I already miss having every day be something different that you may never get the chance to see again, having every day be to go somewhere new and have every sight catch you off guard. It was the most fun I've ever had. Those things are harder to keep in touch with in the US, but this trip was meant to be proof to myself that I can go out there and do things. I can live life without having someone hold my hand every step of the way, because everything can be figured out. So maybe I can't have a McDonald's run be as exciting in my hometown as it is when the menu is in a different language, but maybe I can go to a different McDonald's than the one I have the route memorized for. Maybe the laser tag place is worth spending fifty dollars on because I've never been before. You can make money back. The memories can never be taken from you.

Design thinking can address issues of sustainability because design is how we solve problems. We learn how to make How Might We statements because it turns vague problems into specific issues that can now have an answer, and Europe has shown that product design is a frequent answer to the sustainability problem. From making a recycling bin opening only thin enough to fit paper, or having glass straws and thinner plastic cups to reduce plastic, designing Munich parks to be accessible for everyone to use, or simply having two trash cans for separating food waste for compost, the designing of products and spaces changes our behaviors. Our behaviors makes our lives more sustainable.  The more you answer sustainability problems with designing something to change behaviors, then design thinking becomes an effective way to address those problems.

The main things I noticed that the UK and Germany used to be more sustainable that the US could adapt are hand drying stations, restaurant cups, and public trash cans. Trash cans in Europe had specific instructions on what should go in which bin, and the bins were better organized for more efficient recycling. Restaurants were routinely good about reusable cups, with even Tesco giving you a ceramic cup if you drank it inside the cafe and most places having discounts if you bring your own cup. UK bathrooms had efficient air dryers that could dry your hands well in a few seconds, and the Munich airport bathroom had a reusable towel that would dispense and then roll back up once it stopped recognizing movement. All these things could be utilized in the US to make our waste just a little bit less, which would easily add up with how big of a country we are. Other countries have already found changes to products to make them more sustainable, all we need to do is find how to adapt them to be just as common here as they are across the sea.

I've learned so much inside and outside the classroom. I've felt so intensely alive in a way I never have before. I feel like I now know everything and know I know nothing at the same time. Yet now I'm back, and life goes on, and this month becomes a memory. A core memory that's changed me forever, but still a memory. Times like these I never want to get used to. I want to be amazed by everything around me, on all my trips, all my destinations, all my life. Because living the dream has to feel like you're in a dream.

I was too busy being amazed to have many photos of me. But that's okay, because the few photos I did take will still be enough to remind me it was real. I look at these recent photos and already feel something intense. Maybe as you look at them you can feel a little of that too.