Which is more important, the journey or the destination?

Right now we’re all sitting on the plane two hours into our journey to Spain. We all just finished our on flight meals, which tasted like a delectable combination of air and protein. Those of us who are not sleeping only have one thing on our minds, wonder of the unknown. As we sat at terminal C136 we were all nervous about our worries and excited for our futures for the next FIVE MONTHS! “I wonder what our host parents are going to be like”, “What the food will be like”, “how far we are living from school”, “what classes are we taking, are they going to be challenging, are we going to have too much free time/ not enough”, “What days will we have off”, “will we get home sick”, “how are we going to congregate before going out”, “will we go out the first night”, “how are we going to meet up with our host parents”, “HOW FAR WILL WE HAVE TO CARRY OUR LUGGAGE”!? The truth is none of us can answer these questions for our selves and no one could answer them for us. To a far extent we are all capable of making this experience everything we want it to be. I look around at all of the people surrounding me on the airplane, some are new friends, some old, but all are going to be my family for the next five months. The thing that makes me most excited and optimistic about this trip are the beautiful people that I’m going with. While we are all capable of enabling ourselves to have an amazing time we are also capable of affecting other peoples experience as well. During my trip I hope to make this an amazing time for everyone that I am with. I want to be able to look back at the experience and think, it would not have been the same without “so and so”, and I hope that I can be that person for the people that I am going with. I hope to be someone everyone can talk to, I want to make people laugh, I want to help people have fun. While this experience is going to be academically educational, the lessons I hope to take home with me are going to be the lessons that I don’t learn in the classroom. After all, that is what studying abroad is all about. It’s not just about studying from a textbook, its about studying cultures, facial expressions, the evils of the world, natural beauty, bus systems, languages, vibes, and I think most importantly, ourselves. If all of us can look at this experience as a way to find our selves, push ourselves and do things we wouldn't normally have done. I think by the time we all go home we will all feel proud of what we have taken from our trips around the world. There’s no doubt about it, I’m going to miss my family and friends more than anything and I know they’re going to miss me back but that’s what makes everything okay. When I start missing my people all I have to do is think about how badly everyone else wants this for me. When I filled out and handed in my study abroad application on December 1^st of last year I did it for fun. When I received my acceptance letter I figured I would go with the flow until I had to make a down payment then I’de make my ultimate decision. My decision was made in the weirdest way ever. I was sitting in the study abroad office with Lindsay, our group coordinator, initially I went to the meeting for her to talk me out of or into going but she didn’t have to. She immediately started discussing the courses I would be taking abroad and for my first semester senior year, everything felt so natural. So, I went with it. Immediately I started getting PUMPED and now here I am sitting on the plane on my way to Spain wondering. I’m excited for everything, my new family, the people I’m going to meet, new experiences with my Loyola pals, the food, traveling and every other beautiful luxury that comes along with being this lucky.