Goodbye Europe

By Gracie Strasser

I am writing this in the Portland airport after my 11 hour flight from Frankfurt and am sitting in the airport café still trying to process the last six weeks. I am starting to realize that everything that I have done in these last two months won’t truly settle in for a long time…

Being the youngest student on this study abroad trip, I was worried that I may not have had the capacity to be able to perform on this trip adequately, but this research has allowed me to feel more confident in myself and my abilities. I feel already that I have grown so much on this trip in my academia, compassion and in my world views. All of the experiences that I have had and the initiatives that I have made have enabled me to mature in these areas.

This trip not only challenged me academically by throwing me into data collection, situation analysis and writing research papers but also in the subject matter that we researched. Urban agriculture and food security is something I have never studied before. While learning more about urban ag and how it affects human wellbeing and resilience, I couldn’t help but think how I could apply industrial design in this field of study. It is this kind of innovative thinking where I think I have gained invaluable knowledge.

Before meeting up with my research team in Copenhagen, I was in Switzerland visiting with my father’s friend that he met during a study abroad trip when he was the exact same age as me. I had no idea at the time that it was the same kind of friendship that my father had made that I would be making with so many others just days later. These people that I have met on this trip are people that I plan to keep in my life forever. Not only did I make so many friends on this trip, but I began to better understand myself. It seems like such a basic principle, to be able to understand how you work and function as a student, as a friend, as a person, but this trip was very eye opening in that I have a lot more seeking I have to do within myself. This trip helped me begin this journey.

My world views changed a lot on this trip as well. Personally, I can say for certain that the media has played a large role in how I view the world. How can it not? Everywhere I turn I feel that I am bombarded with negative news from around the world. Is it helping? Is it making things worse? I think that I was able to participate in activities on this trip that expanded my world views, making me slightly more knowledgeable of this crazy world we live in, and how I might be able to help solve some really tough issues that we are facing.

I want to say that I would do this trip again, but I don’t think I could because it was so amazing the first time and I would have too high of expectations for the second time around! I strongly believe that going abroad while in school is so incredibly important and beneficial to a student’s life, and would encourage everyone, not just students, to participate. As Hans Christian said, “To travel is to live.” It is easy to make excuses for why you can’t travel but I guarantee that what you take away from it will enrich you in so many ways, it is beyond worth it.