Wow– what a weird feeling it is being back from Portugal and living my normal life at home. When I first arrived in Lisbon, I was expecting three weeks to pass by slowly and feel like such a long time. Now, sitting at home at my own desk, it feels like I just departed from the airport yesterday.
My time in Portugal was filled with fun, good food, new friends, and incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. However, when I first arrived in Lisbon, it was immensely overwhelming. I felt like I did not even know where to eat, especially as someone who cannot consume gluten, or how to order food. I quickly learned that any restaurant, even in a mall food court, will serve your food on a ceramic plate with silverware. We learned that the culture in Portugal values mealtimes and is not a “sandwich culture,” like in the United States. I also struggled to learn to operate Portuguese washing machines, order water at restaurants as either still or sparkling, and know how much conversation is perceived as being friendly with servers or others I encountered. There were countless things I had to learn to navigate in new ways.
As I began to get accustomed to Portugal and learned how to navigate my way through daily tasks, I found myself learning to be okay with being uncomfortable. Seemingly simple tasks were always nerve-wracking, but it started to feel normal to be confused. This was difficult to learn to embrace, but once I did, I finally felt like I was getting the most out of my study abroad experience as I could.
At the end of our program, our professors asked us what one thing we would want to bring home from Lisbon with us if we could. Common answers included the food or city green spaces. I responded with my sense of spontaneity that I rediscovered and embraced. I have always been adventurous and up for any sort of experience, but this was different. Studying abroad taught me to go with the flow and not plan everything. The best piece of advice I can offer to other students preparing to study abroad is to embrace the uncomfortable and use it all as learning moments. You may find that things that ‘do not work out’ in the way you expected may provide an even better experience than anything you could have planned.