As a child, the world seemed large. Unimaginably so. I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other. We spent our summers down at the neighborhood lake, celebrated holidays together, went to school together. As far as I was aware, the world didn’t really go too far beyond my city. Sure, there were soccer games in other cities and travel for vacations growing up, but my perspective was completely one-dimensional. In my mind, the places I traveled only existed when I was there.
One by one, my classmates started getting their driver’s licenses. This newfound freedom gave us the chance to do what we wanted and go wherever we pleased. Suddenly, Columbus wasn’t so far away, and Cedar Point was a quick drive north. These locations became a part of my world as I explored them with my friends and made memories across the state. But high school only lasts a little while (thankfully). We had bigger fish to fry.
Fall of 2015 was the first time I ever lived away from home. My freshman year of college had started at Ohio University, and suddenly my new home was three and a half hours from Akron. Classmates came from across the state and across the country to learn at OU. My friends’ lives were just as complex as any, and I gained relationships that cross state borders. And so, my world became even smaller as I experienced life, constantly expanding my knowledge of our place on Earth.
In two weeks, I leave the United States for Denmark to study abroad. For 5 months, I get to make an entirely different country my new home. All of Europe will be reachable within a train ride, no ocean separating me from the continent I only ever dreamed of visiting. Although I haven’t even gone yet, I know my world is about to change. The friends I’ll make, the places I’ll see, and the emotions I’ll feel will be some of my most cherished by the end. Although I’ll be thousands of miles from home, I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, because I know just how much smaller it’s about to get.
By Schuyler Morris, Global Opportunities Fair 2017 scholarship winner
Ohio University Office of Global Opportunites 