Last year at precisely this time, I was in school and doing similar routines — in a way.

The one exception was that I was in school in Rome, Italy, learning to speak the native language, or at least attempting to learn, immersing myself in local culture and traveling around Europe to see other great metropolitan and smaller-scale cities, making new friends and experiencing new things each day.

Some say going abroad makes one “more mature” and “independent.” Yet, what most leave out is the great depth in which these characteristics are true, along with the fact that going to a country like a European nation (where I had never been before) and being thrown into the great city of Rome with one friend (keep in mind neither of us spoke a hint of Italian) will also open one’s eyes to culture, all things “worldly” and finally force oneself to understand the great differences between that of Europe and the United States.

You can’t order spaghetti with meatballs in Italy, crepes are harder to find than you think in Paris and Dublin isn’t one large celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Of course, these are all stereotypes, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them proven wrong — that each individual city had its own quirks and character and did not necessarily conform to a specific mold. Each new place was whatever you made it out to be.

It also doesn’t hurt to mention that before you go abroad, everyone rants and raves how amazing it is, how excited they are for you and how they would love to do it again. What most failed to mention was that when you get there your first day, you probably won’t feel at home, you’ll have a bit of a hard time finding your way around and relating to things and you may even be a little bit homesick.

Not to sound like an “Ugly American,” which is what Europeans refer to us when they see tourists talking loudly, traveling in packs and not acting super-chic and sophisticated, but Europe does take a little getting used to. But once you are, it’s incredible.

Some students believe that going abroad is a great experience to eat great food, sightsee and travel. Some also leave out all of the other incredible intangibles such as cultural diversities and the rich cultural history in each city one visits, as well as the artistic wonders spanning the continent. I couldn’t get enough of this invaluable knowledge at my fingertips just steps outside my apartment.

In the United States, when traveling from the North to the South, East Coast to West Coast, sure, one gets a sense of diversity within American culture and those of minorities, but not often enough are we able to travel and experience different languages, appreciation for art, different preparation and culinary works of foods, etc. Sure, East Coast residents tend to have an accent, Southerners’ are famous for their ‘twang and I know I speak with the famous Midwestern “extended ‘a’,” but we can all understand each other, for the most part at least.

Imagine getting on a train and traveling from Italy to France — both are extremely romantic countries, yet are vastly different from one another. A country like Spain has at least five languages that are recognized as national languages. Switzerland has four.

You don’t really know exactly what you’re experiencing until you’ve had the opportunity to reflect on it. Now, a year later, I am able to look at this experience objectively and see what I was able to accomplish and what I would do differently. I feel very lucky that I was able to have this opportunity and thinking about doing it again is exhausting but exciting. The junior class members who are all over the world now relishing in their abroad experience will more likely than not come back to Madison with a fresh outlook and new perspective on most things that will sink in after they return to the States. Right now, however, I’m pretty sure that they’re having the times of their lives.

Lindsay Zuckerman ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.