It wasn't until I was halfway through my first year at IWU that I discovered what a big freakin' deal the study abroad program is there. I eventually heard from several students that the study abroad program was a major enticement--even a deciding factor--in their choice to attend the university. Small though it is, IWU partners with dozens of study-abroad organizations, meaning that a student can practically throw a dart at a map and find a viable destination for international study. Plus, unlike many schools, IWU allows financial aid to carry over and apply to your overseas schooling. Heck, sometimes it was even cheaper than staying at IWU. I discovered that a surprising number of frustrated, suburbanated students saw this tiny, landlocked, corn-studded college as their unlikely gateway to Abroad.
I went to the study abroad fair as a freshman, after dozens of professors and organization representatives talked up the magic of Abroad in my classes. There, I found myself surrounded by students bitten with the international bug, eager to whip off their Ameri-centered glasses and experience the world. I felt a little like an impostor wandering around the fair, actually. My reason for attending the fair was that, after so much impassioned imploring, I frankly felt guilty for being so ignorant and/or ambivalent to this apparently incomparable opportunity at my fingertips. I went to the fair by way of apology for remaining unswayed.
Obviously, I left the fair still more or less unswayed, too, given that my passport remained unmolested throughout my tenure at IWU.
Don't get me wrong; I believe that it's vitally important to be informed about other cultures and countries. There are thousands of places in the world that would dazzle me, and I believe that there is probably no better way to become educated about the larger world around you and to appreciate the multiplicity of viewpoints in the world than to see it firsthand.
Still, I've never been able to get myself to feel impassioned about being in other countries for very extended periods of time. My generally positive attitude about travel is always overshadowed by the expense, the separation from loved ones, and the anticipation of my embarrassment over being an ugly American inherent in the prospect of travel.
I'm going to go ahead and use this personality quirk as my excuse for why, when people ask me whether I'm excited to be moving to Boston, my answer is usually to the tune of "...I guess." The inquirers always seem surprised and a little disappointed that my answer isn't delivered with more enthusiasm (despite the fact that I'm not exactly known for my giddy excitability).
I view my forthcoming move as an interesting sort of challenge. It will be challenging to try my hand at living in an entirely new environment, to learn the culture of an unfamiliar city, to find out whether I can actually develop a taste for seafood or become invested in college sports. And as a chronic overachiever, I like challenges, but it's not the sort of thing that has me doing cartwheels.
If this "climb every mountain" attitude seems worrisome for its lack of OMGBOSTONICAN'TWAIT-ness, know that my inborn lukewarm reaction to traveling does not reflect my feelings about Going to BC as a whole. I'm very excited to actually Be In Grad School, to leave my office job behind and re-immerse myself in the scholastic environment which I've always felt to be my emotional home.
In other words, the journey from cubicle to classroom is the "travel" that really has me psyched.
Glad we got that cleared up. I'll be in the nerdery if you need me.
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