Why Your Study Abroad Friends Are Your Best Friends

As I reminisce on my time in Spain and Portugal I can’t help but miss the forty students that joined me in exploring the Iberian Peninsula. The wonderful thing about studying abroad with students in your university, and in Mays specifically, is that I don’t have to always reminisce on my time with them. The wonderful thing is that I get to go back to College Station and make more memories with them, and I have longer than two weeks to do so!

It is said that the friends you make abroad will be the best friends you make in college… Here are a couple of reasons why I believe that is so very true:

1. You are all so different! Bridesmaids said it best, “This is such a stone-cold pack of weirdoes and I’m so proud!” When you go abroad with forty people that you don’t know, you are bound to connect with a quarter, if not all, of them. What is so remarkable about any number of those people is that you are bound to find some that run with different circles at home, have entirely different hobbies, and are altogether completely different from you and your personality in every way. But, when you are abroad and with those people everyday for two weeks straight bonds happen, boundaries drop, and the differences don’t seem so different, or you just stop noticing. Its sad that it takes a twenty-hour plane ride across the world to find out how similar you are to that weirdo that was in your finance class last semester. But, thank goodness we stepped on that plane because that weirdo is now your best friend and you share an unbreakable bond that could only have happened 5,000 miles away from Wehner.

2. You’re particularly curious! “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.” Walt Disney said it and he was so right, but I doubt he was talking about my study abroad group. Regardless, studying abroad with people all interested in exploring new countries is a wonderful way to open your mind to new opportunities and possibilities. You’ve already made it to a new country, so if that’s as open as your mind gets, that’s fine and you’ve made it! If you choose to go further, curiosity is your best friend. One free day in Portugal we were able to wrangle up enough of our group to venture into the sea-kayaking world of the Portuguese grottos. Sea kayaking is a world half of these students had never experienced and never wanted to, but they went anyway. Discovering the history and streets of each town we went to allowed us to ask questions of each other, challenge one another in exploration, and venture to new and exciting places. It was in these moments of discovery that we opened our minds further to a new place and new friendships.

Everyone says studying abroad is a must. Everyone says you will make best friends forever. Everyone says you will experience a trip you will never forget. Thank goodness I listened to everyone, because they weren’t wrong.