It’s still hard for me to grasp that I’ve been in a different continent for nearly 20 days now. It has been a true blessing to travel across the ocean to study Race, Class and Gender in the Mass Media this January Term.

My European adventure began Dec. 26, as I left the United States on my own to meet a friend in Paris. After staying there for four days, we traveled to Bruges, Belgium over the New Year and came to London on Jan. 1 to meet our classmates the next day.

While this all sounds glamorous and exciting, I can assure you, it’s not always. There’s a lot more that happens when you’re abroad for a month than what you’re excited enough about to post on social media.

As attractive as I probably looked dragging a suitcase, lugging a large backpack and trying to keep on hand all essential traveling items like tickets, money and a map, I have yet to Instagram a photo of that.

Before going on this trip everyone told me how wonderful it’d be. To be honest, at first, I would nod and agree with them just to be polite. Then as the day grew closer I agreed because I was too afraid to even think about another possibility. It’s not that I didn’t think it’d be great, it’s just that I didn’t know how I’d act in an entirely new environment around different people for one month.

Turns out, this journey is more magical than I’d ever dreamed. First night in Paris, stumbling on the Eiffel Tower on accident was straight out of a movie. Then later in Belgium, I got to hold a great-horned owl. In elementary school and to this day, I’ve been obsessed with owls, especially this type.

In London, not only is my group and our professors excellent, but what we’re studying actually applies to the real world. We can see how different groups of people are represented in the media each day and what that says about the mediums that are portraying them.

England has provided some great scheduled sightseeing opportunities but also some unplanned opportunities like ice skating where the mote used to be at the Tower of London, taking a double-decker bus to the next stop we recognized, trusting our guts with directions and meeting actor Rupert Grint.

My family and friends also told me that I’d probably get lost a lot. At home, I’m horrible with street names. You tell me to point to Cretin Avenue and my gut tells me it’s where everyone else finds Summit Avenue. However, in London it’s like my sense of direction just one-upped itself. The Underground, or “Tube” metro system, and figuring out how our group should get to each location is fun for me.

The final thing they told me is that I wouldn’t have a support system of friends or my family when traveling. Instead it’s just whatever’s on my back and whoever is by my side.

While it’s not all been fun, I wouldn’t change a bit. All the experiences this month are teaching me something. Some days it’s how to get from point A to B without relying on maps and other people while other days it’s comprehension and understanding of vocabulary words. Finally, sometimes it’s patience. When traveling with a group of 25 other students and two professors, I spend a lot of time learning the importance of it.

With less than two weeks left, I hope to absorb as much information as possible for the class while still being present in each moment, seeing the beauty and importance in each lesson learned, no matter how tough the travels get. Cheers from London.

Caroline Rode can be reached at rode8318@stthomas.edu.