Time of Reflection

Since being home, I am always asked "how was it?" This is impossible to answer except by saying great or good. It is too difficult in my opinion to answer that in just a few words. Looking back, I do not believe there was anything about my trip that negatively affected my trip in any way. Sure there were times where homework, tests, travel, stress etc... made life a little more difficult, but my experience was very positive.

Part of my reason for choosing Scotland was for Medieval History. At school I have gone through phases where I wanted to study Greek and Roman Civilization, then Early American, then freshman year I took a course on Chaucer and Arthurian Quests. That class got me interested in Medieval History. I could say its been an interest, but I have never had any classes in it before going to Scotland. Scotland was an experiment for me to see whether or not I want to study Medieval history in depth at all. After my experience, I am considering schools in Scotland for my Masters Program. Of course I would look at St. Andrew's again, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I have already started looking at what the programs offer and the cities themselves. People have asked me after hearing this whether I want to try England. I say no. It's nothing against England, I just like the Scottish Culture and society better. It fits me.

I can say that the classes that I took abroad went better than I thought before I left. I got the grade that I would expect in my Medieval Castles class. Latin is what surprised me. The class was really hard for me although it was an intro class. Having no classical language training before hand, Latin is tough.  I was sure that I bombed my final. The format threw me off and the difficulty was really hard, yet somehow the final I got my best test score grade on. So that was a sup rising thing to find out in Feb when I saw my grades. At home I am now in Latin II and still having some issues. However, these issues stem from the different textbooks. In Scotland, I used Wheelock, had to memorize all the vocabulary and the words principle parts, many charts, and I learned all of one declension at the same time. At Bethel, they use Latin for Reading, which takes a theoretical approach. At Bethel, I can use internet and dictionary to find words, I don't have to memorize (more on translating). What is hard for me is how different the books are. The Latin for Reading book teaches students really odd. When I arrived at Bethel, the students knew all of the declensions of nouns, but only in the nominative, accusative, and vocative cases. So I know more about declensions, and I know verbs. It's March, and students at Bethel are just getting into verbs because the book never introduced the basic concept. I find myself going back and fourth between books to get understanding. It does not help that each book uses different terms to describe the same thing.

When I arrived back at home it felt like it was time. Everyone wants to be home for Christmas. I do not believe that I had any major culture shock. I kind of just stepped right back into life at home. It did not even feel that i was abroad for several months and that I was already at home and not traveling anymore. That was strange. At the beginning of Jan, I began my J-term with Covenant Fulfillment and Promise (J-course). Being that classes started so early again, I did not have much time to get used to doing school differently again. It all went smoothly. The only difference is that I spent more time in the library than I normally did. Now I am in my spring semester, getting close to midterms and choir tour. I did feel slightly out of the loop on current happenings at my school. So some stuff changed, but now things seem normal to me.

My study abroad experience has open to job opportunities. I now work in the Bethel Study Abroad Office as a Global Ambassador, where I help students try to find programs, and talk about my own to inspire students. It's really not that hard for me at all. So far it has not been too busy, but I am sure that it will. The second job is with IFSA-Butler as a Global Ambassador. Both jobs are called Global Ambassadors because we are students who promote study abroad programs. For IFSA-Butler, I am supposed to have two events or activities that will promote IFSA-Butler. Recently, I received an email from a potential St. Andrew's study abroad student for next spring. It gives me the opportunity to reach out and share the wealth.

The thing about my study abroad experience that has been and will be the most difficult are the friends that I made in Scotland, and the other IFSA-Butler students.  Most of the students I was with either go to school in the south or the east coast. There was not one other student that was in Minnesota or the midwest for that matter. I try to stay in contact with my friends via Facebook and Skype.  For me, it's sad that there is a high chance that I will never see some of these people again. But that is just the truth about study abroad programs. It will be a challenge to maintain relations, but it can be done, I have no doubts.

Since being back at school, I have done my best to have people experience the Red Hot Chili Pipers and the Baseballs. I have gotten some people to start listening to them, including my Bethel Global Ambassador Supervisor. To me that is really exciting. Part of that excitement came from trying to experience Scottish culture fully by embracing the history, society, music, and food. I tried to find things that were unique and try those things. If you want to know what other things, then just look through my blog and you can find stuff. It is from this experience and fascination with Scotland that makes me want to go back. It will be really interesting to see what I will do with my future education, and find out if I go back. As I said in my last post before coming home, leaving was only the end of the beginning. Coming home and starting again is just another journey. I was given a new perspective and I learned a lot about who I am abroad. I have no doubts that these experiences and perspectives that I have gained will guide me in my ever changing journey through life.

Bethel University Photo Contest

In my last post, I uploaded the pictures that I sent in. Well I replaced two of those other pictures with some of these. For Bethel, I can submit 5 of my best photos, and the office and other judges pick the top 10 best. So hopefully one of my pictures will be able to do that.

 Craigsmillar Castle

 Castle and Cattle

 Leuchars Train Station

 St. Andrew's Cathedral 

St. Andrew's Pier