The Record

Challenge, thrill greets study abroad returnees

By: Jackie Tulloch

Overwhelmed. I don’t think there is a better word in the English language to describe what it feels like to come home to CSB/ SJU after studying abroad for a semester.

So many new first-years, those wonderful friends you’ve been away from and with whom you can’t wait to catch up, the snaking line for the Link, the crazy multitude of ravenous students in the cafeterias and the homework.

Wait, homework? Serious studying? Classes for which you actually have to prepare? The workload is possibly the greatest culture shock of all.

Going from having (maybe) a paper due every other week and a few articles to peruse to 90 pages of reading, a 500 word essay and searching the Web for an academic article all on Wednesday night is a little daunting.

However, the homework load isn’t the only change we study-abroaders are experiencing; the Ref. got a makeover, Gorecki was ex- tended and the bus stops hopped from one street to another.

Then there are our social circles. I went into my study abroad experience with one really good friend in the group and came out intimately knowing 27 beautiful people whom I feel lucky and honored enough to call my friends.

Coming back to school, I was desperate to see those I was separated from, yet I was also ready to be reunited with those I shared such lasting memories with while abroad. I love being back here at home, but I also greatly miss that once-in- a-lifetime experience of studying abroad.

I’m so excited to sit in class with my knowledgeable and enthusiastic professors here at CSB/SJU, but I miss the lilting accent and easy nature of my Irish professors. It feels like my loyalties and desires are being pulled in two.

But, as I lament this reaction, I realize how wrong I am.

Yes, the Ref. may be strange and new, but the Quad stairs are just as steep as they were before. Yes, I now have two groups of friends who I want to be with, but the connections between new and old friends is astounding, and am I really complaining about having more friends than I did before?

There is no doubt that the class workload tripled, but it’s fun to be challenged again, to get an assignment that I am excited to complete and to know professors think highly enough of us that they have expectations for the amount and quality of work they assign.

I may miss the laziness of talking and playing cards for hours on end with friends on the weekdays in front of our cozy fireplace, but now I have Jared Sherlock, Johnnie Blend, concerts at BWP and O’Connell’s, sporting and artistic events, informational speakers and panels to keep me occupied.

Overwhelmed? You bet. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

This is the opinion of Jackie Tulloch, a CSB junior

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