Explanation

So, let's be honest. The concept of this blog began a few weeks ago when I was feeling particularly jealous of all of my peers studying abroad for the semester or the year. Yes, I am overjoyed to be headed back to Bates, but there's always "the grass is always greener on the other side" thought that sometimes attacked. Bates has one of the highest percentages of students who study abroad, and last winter I struggled to decide if I would contribute to that percentage via a semester abroad. If you're reading this, you probably know my woe-is-me saga, but, basically, I decided that I wasn't emotionally stable yet (soon, hopefully!) to go. I'm also a Bates-aholic, so that made the realization that I should wait just as pleasing an outcome as any.

Anyway, in these moments of jealousy, I thought about how I would soon be reading blogs/mass emails/etc. from peers abroad recounting adventurous tales that I had essentially said "no thanks" to. I thought of making my own private blog parodying abroad blogs, using Lewiston as my comically-unexotic background. In this vision, no one would know that I was mocking them out of jealousy. Win-win.

When the jealousy cleared (perhaps in part due to hormones), I revisted the blog idea. "It might actually be nice for friends abroad to be able to see what I'm up to, not that it will be anything exciting," I thought. "Plus, I'll have a written, not-so-emotion-filled written record of one semester at Bates to look back on and laugh at."

So yes, this idea was hatched in a time of extreme selfishness. But I hope it will be useful for both myself and friends abroad. So here it goes: a semester inbroad.