A new college experience – life outside of Rindge.

So here we are one year later after my decision, but five days pending still. I’m talking about my trip to Athens, Greece, of course.

You see one year and one week ago at this time the thought of studying abroad with the Franklin Pierce International Studies Program would have never crossed my mind. It wasn’t even on my radar. I had goals, much like any college student, of what I wanted out of my higher education experience over the next few years but international studies was never in that plan.

In my mind I thought it was out of reach, not affordable and wouldn’t work towards my major – oh, how wrong I was.

Once learning the details behind studying abroad my decision was quick. The affordability, the transfer of credits and courses taken and of course our living and travel experience. And soon, my “plan” and goals for my college life shifted and changed, abruptly at that.

So today I’m sitting in my room, clothes piled on the floor surrounding me with a suitcase hollow centered in the middle of my floor, preparing for this so called life changing experience.

Many people are asking me what I plan to get out of this experience, what my goals will be and I can only say, for lack of a better word choice, I don’t know. I really don’t know what to plan for and expect as this whole pre-study abroad experienced has taught me that my plans and goals can change and shift for better or worse, in a matter of an instance.

So instead of planning and setting goals, ultimately, I can only “hope.” I hope to experience a new college experience – life outside of Rindge. As wonderful of a place as the College at Rindge is, it’ll be nice not to see that mountain every day. Change of scenery is good every once in a while.

I hope to experience a new culture, new food, new lifestyles, new people. For this will be a decisive factor in my international experience. The classes will intrigue me, being Mass Communications related, and my independent study will aid in my learning experience, as that class focuses on finding mediums from overseas comparing, contrasting, relating and analyzing them in terms of media studies. You can find this analysis on my blog at piercearrownews.com, entitled Global Mediation.

I also hope to experience Italy and Sicily at some point during this journey I am about to take part in. The “motherland” of my family, to actually experience the culture of my ancestors will be an experience I will cherish for a lifetime.

But for now, I guess I just have to wait, and anticipate what the future holds. I’m sure whatever it holds, it will be a life changing experience none the less.

Nicholas Vitukevich, Assistant Editor-in-Chief
Pierce Arrow Blogger