Lauren Miller: A Blessing in Disguise

After spending almost 6 months studying and travelling abroad in Europe many of my friends, family and colleagues have asked me what they think was one of the most valuable lessons or pieces of advise I took away from my trip.  This was not an easy question for me to answer, so I took some time to think long and hard about one piece of advice or lesson I could share with someone about to embark on a similar journey to my own.  But then it dawned on me one day while I was busy checking out a facebook chat with one of my girlfriends while I was at lunch with my mom, who was sitting directly across from me.  She was clearly trying to have a real conversation with me while I was rudely being distracted by a conversation with a friend of mine on my phone.  At that moment I embarrassingly knew I had allowed myself to fall back into my old routine of being overly consumed by smartphone and I realized that for my entire time abroad I did not have an my “precious beloved can’t live without” smartphone and could not constantly check if I had a text message, facebook, twitter or instagram notification or update.  So now I’d like to share with you a story and piece of advice for all others going abroad that for me ended up being a blessing in disguise.

Cafe Central, Vienna, Austria

 

I travelled to Vienna, Austria for the Spring 2013 semester abroad all on my own.  This was my first time travelling alone to a foreign country and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  But one thing I did know was that as long as I had my safety blanket and connections to home- my Iphone everything would alright.  After being there for a total of 3 days I still didn’t know anyone besides a couple Austrian girls (my designated buddies) that had help me settle in for the first couple days. That night I met a couple of other exchange students in the elevator of my building who kindly invited me to come out with them that night.  They were going to a club somewhere downtown Vienna with some locals they had met that day. 

 

I was a little hesitant at first but thought what the hell I came here to go on adventure and this would be just that on my first night out in Vienna.  We started the night out at a predrink where a group of locals welcomed us with excitement and quickly began German drinking games.  Before we knew it we were all nicely buzzed and off to the club.  When we first arrived in the club we walked right in pass the bouncers without being Ided. This was strange for me because that would never happen in Vancouver but went along with it anyway.  We then headed downstairs to a packed room full of smoke and loud music.  I was having a great time dancing all night with IPhone in hand snapping photos here and there documenting my first night out. 

 

A couple hours into the night I headed to the front stage where all the action was, no longer worrying about taking pictures and put my cellphone in my purse.  This purse wasn’t the one I normally use and was not overly safe but I thought since it had a zipper it would be okay anyways but boy was I wrong.   Just a few seconds later I went to grab my phone from purse and instantly felt that my zipper had been opened and my phone was gone.  I started to panic and had some of my friends I had met that night to leave with me and report it to the bouncers.  They said there was nothing they could do but that I should be more careful. 

 

Duh I thought feeling like a complete idiot but nothing I could do now but try and figure out who stole my phone.  Although theft is not very common in Vienna I later discovered that this was one of the sketchier clubs and someone had stolen over 17 phones that evening including mine. For the first few days I was devastated feeling so stupid and lost without my iphone.  I had luckily (or possibly jixed myself) brought an old phone from home and managed to get a plan with 1000 free minutes and 1000 free texts. 

 

The problem was I no longer had access to facebook, instagram or twitter through my phone and like a drug I was addicted to it and felt withdrawal from my iphone and apps for a few days.  But then sooner than I expected I began to realize how much more I was taking notice of the things around me and acknowledging the amazing people I was meeting and surrounded with. I was no longer worrying about checking my phone to see if I had any updates from home or what my best friend were eating for lunch on instagram. 

 

It was wonderful to enjoy everything in the moment and was almost a sense of relief that I wasn’t worrying about what others where doing back home and could truly enjoy this incredible journey that many never get the chance to experience.  So like I said before what happened to me was I think a blessing in disguise and left me with my greatest piece of advice for future study abroad students, make the most of the time you have abroad and live in the moment, these are the memories that will last you a lifetime.