I think studying abroad is the perfect example of “you can never predict the future.” I say this not in a discouraging or negative way, but in a way that emphasizes how much my expectations have changed from before I got here to now.

As I’m in week 6 of being in Melbourne, I reflect on what I planned on doing here prior to my arrival vs. what I’m doing now and I’m thankful for the shift in my expectations. Before I reached, many of my goals and expectations were focused around school and doing well in my classes. I knew I wanted to explore the area some and make friends, but I had definitely prioritized doing well in my classes and joining extracurriculars.

Along the way, I learned more and more about myself and faced challenges that shifted my perspective on my priorities. To get personal, I think growing up I let my grades determine a lot of my feelings toward school. I spent/spend a lot of my time studying to keep up with coursework and do well in school. To me, school and my career has always been my number one priority, and I definitely went into studying abroad with the expectation that it will continue to be.

For my personal growth, I’m glad my mindset has changed. Not that school isn’t important, I still put in a lot of effort to succeed in my subjects, but I think I’ve shifted to a much more personal growth based mentality. My expectations have shifted from “I need to do well in school” to “this is such a good opportunity for me to grow as a person,” and a lot of my actions have reflected that. My goals now are much more catered toward seeing Australia; making and nurturing friendships that I hope will last a lifetime; and having experiences that show me the world is so much bigger than my GPA.

I love the classes I take and I love my major, and being able to study here has made me even more passionate about my future career, but before Melbourne I felt like I was confined to an overall destructive mindset that my classes are always a priority. Being here and really immersing myself in the community, I’ve metaphorically “zoomed out” from that mindset and hope to see the bigger picture of life (as cheesy as that sounds). I’m young and I realized that I’ll only be young once, and that I’m really here for such a short amount of time, so my new thoughts are that I expect to travel, I expect to make lifelong friends from across the world, and I expect to grow and learn more about myself and who I am other than a student.

(Pictured: a picture from my favorite area of University of Melbourne campus!)