One of my dear friends has gone on two study abroads. One of which was a few years ago, when she was just the age that I am now, and that was to London. Most recently however, she returned from Jerusalem. To hear her talk about that land--the land where Jesus walked--is extremely powerful. Even listening to her is life changing. I won't go into detail, because that's her story to tell, not mine... but one of our other roommates has also taken trips to London and such places.
It's one of the things they have in common. While I love hearing Ann talk about London and Jerusalem, the moment our other roommate pipes in, I have to admit, I start to tune out. Because I know that the moment they both start talking about their experiences in foreign lands I will have nothing to say, and I am entirely cut out of the conversation.
In the last five years of my life, my family has become an extremely international family. With relatives in Brazil and India, there are more visits and stories and than you can possibly imagine. Let alone the "famous family trip" of 1985 that I of course didn't go on, because I wasn't alive. I've never been the one to go. I could go on for hours telling you the stories that come from my family going abroad... but they're not my stories.
When Michael started sending letters detailing the love he has for the Australian people... I admit, I was jealous. I've always known that I have a great capacity for love. Whenever I take one of those color tests, I always test blue. No matter what the code is. I always test blue. Blue for empathy, loyalty, intimacy, all that. I know that if I were ever to live in a foreign country, I would gain that love for the people. It's something I've always desperately wanted to have. How can I appreciate America, how can I have the patriotism I am told to cherish, when I have never been anywhere but here? I have always wanted to be able to have experiences that allow for a perspective of that greater picture of the world.
I want to love the people of some land. I've always wanted to go to Ireland, see Stone Henge, walk across the streets of London, look into the eyes of a Hindu woman in India, taste the food of Jamaica... I know I'm an impressionable person, and I want the impression of those lands in my soul. I want to walk the Earth. I want to have experiences.
I want some land to change my heart, my soul.
I would desperately love to go on Study Abroad.
I would desperately love to take a tour of those beautiful foreign lands, and see the mountains of Tibet, of Tuva, see the home of the Dalai Lama... Hear the voices of God's children across the Earth. I know it would change me forever. And I'm so ready for a change.
Whatever that change may be.
3 comments:
I LOVE everything about this post!! You would love traveling, and you would bless so many lives through your love. I remember people always telling me growing up that we could find experiences and people to help within our country, our own state. But I needed to go abroad to better understand myself, my identity, and my nationality. We should travel together! :)
You know I would absolutely love to darling.
Did I ever tell you I almost went to India? I even got Mom and Dad's permission to do study abroad there. I would have been teaching English in orphanages. Getting their permission was HUGE for me in my day. It would have been the first such trip by any member of our family. Why I didn't go is a whole 'nother story. If you can figure out how to do it- I say go!
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