Traveling While Abroad

Let’s say your life is a TV series, and each half year is a season of said series.

Being abroad is like having a little spinoff season within that series. New location, new side characters, more bizarre plots.

So traveling while being abroad is like a weird crossover episode within the season that’s already a spinoff of the original plot. It all gets very jumbled, does it not?!

________

Here’s my screenplay for this crossover episode of my spinoff season:

-AVA GOES TO ITALY, AKA, A CRASH COURSE IN SOCIAL SKILLS-

1. INT. HOSTEL BEDROOM – MORNING

AVA unwillingly opens her eyes to the darkness that is her curtain-shrouded bed in the YellowSquare Florence Hostel. Loud snores fill the atmosphere around her. She scrunches her nose in disdain.

AVA (VoiceOver)

I simply cannot believe I’m in Florence. Alone. In a room full of strange people. I simply cannot believe that I have to get up right now. Oh God, I hope no one gets out of bed at the same time as me; I desperately do not want to talk to another person I don’t know.

AVA has been in Italy for 10 days now, and while she enjoys the coffee and pasta, traveling this long in a foreign country is frazzling (this is made obvious by her eye bags and grimaces). She rolls over to open the bed curtain.

AVA (VoiceOver)

I need to file a formal complaint for being put on the top bunk. My feet are simply not meant for ladders.

ANOTHER HOSTEL GUEST, a 20-something year old girl with a British accent can be heard making commotion from the bathroom.

BRITISH HOSTEL GUEST

Oh my GOD, I think that’s a beetle! What do we do? Can we kill it? Should we leave it? Ohmygodohmygod oh no oh no oh no…

AVA walks in, still with pajamas on and a full bedhead, to inspect the bug. Laying on it’s back, a half-dead stink bug barely twitches in the middle of the tiles.

AVA

Oh… that’s just a stink bug!

BRITISH HOSTEL GUEST

A what?

AVA’S FACE now indicates realization and concern for her fellow hostel guest. She wonders if stink bugs exist in the UK, but in a split second decision decides she does not want to make that conversation.

AVA

Don’t worry about it, I’ll get it.

AVA PROCEEDS to the toilet to rip off a wad of paper. She collects the stink bug off the floor and plops him into the toilet. After flushing, she makes the sign of the cross with her hand.

AVA

RIP, little guy.

BRITISH HOSTEL GUEST

Thank you so much, I had no idea what to do. By the way, are you from Australia?

2. INT. AUTHENTIC ITALIAN RESTAURANT – NIGHT

THE TABLE is set for one, and Ava sits down in the corner of the booth. She feels relief at being put towards the back of the restaurant, as noted by her gentle smile. She places her new book down beside her, so as to look occupied rather than completing a meal full of wistful stares. 

WAITER

You eat alone, yes?

AVA (VoiceOver)

Was that not made obvious when I came in here and asked for a table for one person? Are they all judging me? Does this guy wish that I wasn’t filling up one of his tables with only myself? Should I overcompensate and order like 3 dishes to make up for that?

AVA

Yes, just me.

WAITER

You know what you would like to eat, yes?

AVA

Actually not quite yet.

WAITER

Okay, what you want? Pasta? Meat? What are you looking for?

AVA

Ahh, I guess pasta?

WAITER

You like tomato and spicy and pecorino, yes?

AVA

Well sure, that sounds pretty good.

WAITER

I get that for you.

AVA

Uh okay thank you!

AVA STARES for a moment in silence, stunned. It’s the second night in a row the waiter has ordered for her. She’s not mad, though… more so zapped of the ability to understand how other people interact with her anymore. After a moment, she picks up her new book and begins the next sentence.

THE END.

________

Here’s the thing. You only study abroad once. And DIS offers this extraordinary built-in week for students to go explore without having to miss class. And that is so freaking cool. Doing your first major travel experience without your parents/other adults for the first time will genuinely FILL you with life lessons. For me, I had been to Italy before, a long time ago with my family. Going by myself gave me a completely different perspective. Cultural differences become so much clearer when you have to do all of the interacting, navigating, and conversing on your own. I’ve been in Denmark for a while where people  keep (very generally speaking) a little more to themselves. Showing up in Italy, the culture is a lot more vocal and emotive. As a person who finds some social situations a bit stressful, I really had to adjust to this new way of communicating. 

It was a bit scary and nerve-racking to go sit by myself at a restaurant in a foreign country. Sometimes, though, the only way you can actually learn to overcome some of those social boundaries you’ve set for yourself is to walk into a situation where there’s no way to get around those barriers but to push directly through. 

To travel while studying abroad is to throw yourself in the middle of a new environment after already throwing yourself into a new environment. It’s overwhelming, but it’s also once-in-a-lifetime. I encourage people who are traveling anywhere to try to push the boundaries of what you find comfortable and reach for a side of the place you visit that might not just come to you through regular touristy situations. 

Oh, and also, I’ve got to say, traveling during my abroad experience has made me really appreciate Copenhagen as my home. I can now clearly differentiate the way I feel in other countries to the way I feel in Denmark: the familiarity of my life here and the things I missed while I was away remind me that I have really had the chance to create a true homey environment here. 

So here’s to exploring the world, pushing comfort zones, and creating homes along the way!

All the best,

All-over-the-place Ava