Sam with friends in Italy

This past week I spent my fall break traveling throughout Italy; from Rome to Florence and finally to Venice. And although this trip did entail a lot of planning, money, and stress, the most rewarding aspect was not only seeing more things in this one week than most people do in their lives, but getting to know the other students on my program and sharing this experience with them. I found it interesting that while traveling throughout Europe and living in London we get consumed with taking all these pictures of the things we come across. And having taken over five hundred pictures of this past week, I realize that while these pictures are a great means of documentation, which can stay on my hard drive for years to come, what doesn’t make it there is the essence of the experience with the people I have met.

How ironic that after seeing the landscapes from the top of the Duomo in Florence, or watching the world float by from a gondola in the canals in Venice, that what was most important from my trip was actually all the ‘real time’; shooting the breeze with my friends at a piazza wine bar, or tasting all the flavors at one of the many (many) gelaterias.

I found that what is everlasting while studying abroad is not the trip you took to Windsor Castle or the millions of pictures you post on your Facebook page, but rather the type of bond you make with the people you travel with. I feel I have gained such character while living in a foreign country, and only these friends understand what it was like. No one else can understand the growth from a semester abroad than the people who are there alongside of you.

And while I tend to experience things (clearly) through photographs, there is no picture for the new life-long relationships I have made this semester, making it all the more valuable that I take a second to realize that I can never take them for granted.

How do we encourage study abroad students to put down their cameras and fully engage their senses?  Can we model good behavior to help them appreciate the value of engaging with all the people around of them…by putting the camera down?

Samantha Blye
University of Rochester