By: Grace Cleland
Choosing where one is going to spend four difficult years of their life is not a simple, mindless task. Choosing Belmont was undoubtedly the right choice for me because it transformed me into being an engaged, well-rounded and very flexible citizen of the world. Belmont provided me with many opportunities to engage in myself and the community –- on campus, city wide, and throughout the world. Throughout these last four years, I traveled to multiple countries while also earning course credit. Study abroad/study away is a formative experience that Belmont provides for all students. This experience tailors an individual’s way of creatively thinking outside of the box and invites them to adopt spiritual daily rituals that enforce their positive footprints on themselves and the world.
First off, study abroad is a formative experience in that it creates well-rounded and open-minded individuals. Students get to authentically experience other ways of living outside the United States in multiple ways primitively unknown to them. I was able to experience new people, new languages, new cultures and their deep, passionate, individual histories. In my time at Belmont, I traveled both through Belmont programs and on my own. Each experience provided different, complex opportunities that demanded me to think and pivot into new directions. I was approached with situations unknown to me that eventually positively affected my automated reactions. For example, I realized the complexities of education outside of the United States.
My host family in France was originally from Cameroon. My host mother moved when she was around my age to France, and my host father moved to Italy to study medicine before arriving in France to practice. They had experienced language differences much earlier than most children in the United States. Fortunately, I was raised around other languages besides English, but the majority of the United States population lives and learns only one – English. My host family would tell me about their lives in Cameroon versus France and Italy. The stories were sad at times, but with them came great gratitude and happiness. I began to notice how complex educational systems can be compared and contrasted to the culture I find quite simple and easy to navigate in the United States.
Furthermore, the complex nature of the world was yet again ignited when I simply sat in my room in France and brought myself to live in the present. I noticed the grass was a brighter green and the rain made the terra cotta color of the pavement outside my window even richer. I began to zone in and pinpoint my exact location in the world at that moment. It was at the precise moment I realized how complex, how expansive, and how beautiful the nature of the world was. I then noticed the phone next to me made that complex, expansive, beautiful space exponentially smaller. Instantly I could connect with my mother seven hours behind in the day, but I could also contact a friend who was in the same time zone as me. Space became a relative term to me when I reflected on how complex yet simplistic of a world we live in.
As I experienced the daily life of the French man or woman, I realized how deeply imbedded their centuries-long history was. France has a long history of wars, trials and tribulations. They have a rich daily experience of enjoying the sweetness life has to offer, but also the love they have for their nation. Rarely do French people emigrate to another country. They are very satisfied and happy. I was amazed by this because I hear so often that people want to leave where they currently reside. I am one of those people, and France is one of the places I want to move to. Their worldview and operations of daily life make the life and daily culture so appealing.
After returning to the U.S. during a difficult time, I realized how grateful I was to have had the opportunity to study abroad and have the experiences that I had. It did not take long for me to truly make the decision that I would move after graduation. Every year of college I have traveled to Europe either once or twice. Each time I returned to the United States, I implemented more of a European mindset and way of life than I had before. This is not so much a newfound knowledge, but a newfound experience and spiritual way of existing. It is a daily action plan of peace, appreciation and beauty.
To the many points made in this reflection, one will hold through and true throughout time: study abroad is essential in tailoring individuals to think outside of the box, to get creative with life and to adopt spiritual daily rituals that will enact positive change in their lives and ultimately the lives of others. Study abroad was not only my peace and grace throughout my undergraduate career, but it was my goal and my balance. It stabilized me and motivated me to push to that extra mile, to travel outside the known realms of man and to witness life as never witnessed before. All so that one day I can enlighten others to travel that rocky road towards some sort of self-discovery and personal growth and development similar to what I had during my time abroad at Belmont.
Grace Cleland will graduate in May, 2022 with a double major in Corporate Communication and French and a double minor in Sociology and Spanish. To learn more about Study Abroad opportunities, go here.