For the fourth time in as many months, I’m moving.

In May, I went from Syracuse to Los Angeles, then Los Angeles to my summer internship in New York City. Earlier this month, I moved from NYC to a new house in LA. Now, I attempt to cram my life into suitcases once again before my flight to London to study abroad.

This is the most exciting move as it’s to a foreign country where new friends and endless opportunities await. But as I try to avoid the clichés streaming from the mouths of the adults I’ve encountered in the lead up to my departure, I’ve found it’s the things I left out of my luggage that I will need the most.

The goals of my semester in London are just as much of a cliché, to explore new places and expand my views, which I hope to do with people I’ve never met before.Travel alone or with company is bound to be enlightening, but the same people can limit the mind from truly exploring. As much as my high school art history textbook taught me about cathedrals, I’d prefer a tour from someone who can see the arches and gargoyles from her window, someone who can tell me the local stories not through the American media.

One thing I won’t miss is the depressing American news cycle. In England, campaigns for Prime Minister last only six months and guns are nearly nonexistent. My ignorant American mind has many strong opinions on these issues; my interactions with people and places that live under different laws should stretch those opinions to fit a broader world perspective.

And then I can write about the outlooks of the people I meet in England and beyond (four-day weekends every weekend will give me many opportunities to travel and find material goods to bring home). I wouldn’t be a millennial traveling in Europe without a blog, anyway. Abroad is an opportunity to escape the bubble I’ve grown up in living on the two

American coasts. Syracuse was an eye-opener to my private-schooled mind and helped me discover spaces in my conscience I never knew I had the opportunity to fill. Hopefully, I’ll come back from London with more open space than I had when I left.

Jack Rose is a junior broadcast and digital journalism major. You can email himat jlrose@syr.edu or follow him @jrose94 on Twitter.

Published on September 2, 2015 at 10:40 pm