The due date for next year’s study abroad applications has recently come and gone, with many students scrambling to meet the deadline while staying on top of the quarter’s already intense workload. One student, however, didn’t deign to decipher a drop of the flood of opportunities for international education, even appearing confused when other people made it a topic of conversation.
“It’s just another trip, like, what’s the big deal?” said this student, who asked to remain anonymous. “I’ve already been to Paris, Granada, and Barcelona, and I don’t really feel like going to Hong Kong or Morocco, and besides, the application is so much work!” When asked where they’d be spending the summer, the student replied that they’d be going to their “ancestral home” in Tuscany, Italy.
“When I tell people, they’re all like, ‘oh, you have a summer house in Italy?’ And I’m like no, this house has been my family’s for generations. It’s kind of rude to call it a summer house, especially because we don’t always go during the summer.” They paused to take a sip of her Hallowed Grounds caramel latte. “We do have a summer place in the Hamptons, though.”
I sipped on my iced coffee as they continued to tell me about why study abroad was dumb, even though I wasn’t on reporting duty and hadn’t asked. They expressed hope that soon people would stop discussing study abroad so they “can finally have something else to talk about.” For my own sake, I hope so too.
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