It’s now been a handful of days since I left my research abroad program in Valladolid, Mexico, and landed back in the United States. Spending 6 weeks in a region I had very little idea about beforehand brought me a lot of unique surprises, challenges, and experiences. Being able to reflect on my time there now makes me extremely grateful for the opportunity I had, and it helps me see all the good things that came out of it.

The thing that left me the most surprised was how much my daily routine differed from my normal day-to-day back home. Immediately after arriving, I started waking up earlier. Maybe because of the initial jet lag (since we were 2 hours behind the east coast) or maybe because the sun would rise right after 5am local time; nevertheless, I kept that change and throughout the rest of the 6 weeks I found myself waking up consistently at 8am with no trouble and no alarm. Meals were similar to what I was used to, except for lunch which I usually ended up eating around 3-4pm, followed by a more familiar dinner at 8-9. Due to cellular data being unavailable, and wi-fi not being so common, and perhaps even the clean slate of a new environment, I found myself using my phone way less, opting instead to go read or to do something else. These and many other changes seemed to come almost naturally, some of them helped me inspire change to bring into my own life after coming back home. My advice to anyone going to live abroad: be ready for changes like these, big or small, and try to welcome them and see where they take you rather than becoming stuck to your own customs.

Personally, this trip has brought me a lot of change. It helped me get into the habit of waking up early and doing so consistently, even when I don’t have to go to an 8am lecture or have to study for an upcoming exam. It also helped bring more inspiration and devotion into my religious life. As I have discussed before it was a wonderful experience to attend mass in this city. Furthermore, as I replaced my phone usage for other activities, one of those was getting in the habit of reading the bible each day. These changes have helped me bring about some solid change in my life. On the topic of academic and career goals, having 6 weeks to myself where I was able to pursue my own independent endeavor gave me a lot to think about in terms of my professional future. It gave me the courage to truly pursue what was best for me, a major in Psychology and a pre-PA track, instead of my previous plans to go to medical school and become a doctor. For a long time I was afraid to make this change, as it seemed that I would be underachieving and am giving up something great, but this time to myself helped me think about my greater life goals and where I wanna be in the next few years. As much as I do want to be a doctor in the future, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my family goals are more important, and going to medical school and residency would simply make those goals impossible. Overall, this time to pursue what I wanted with no outside influence and the time to think by myself and reflect on my life has helped me tremendously. Again, I am extremely thankful for this opportunity and everything that it has brought me.