My abroad friends are leaving in a week or two, so we started to plan our farewell parties. I knew this was never forever. Nothing is forever. But recently, especially this past weekend, it has hit me that this abroad experience and being in Prague and traveling to different cities every weekend has an end. Ever since I have been trapped in this feeling of nostalgia and I tend to mourn the present moments. A few weeks ago I was talking to my friend Zoe and she told me ‘be where your feet are. All you have is the present moment so when that comes worry about it then, it does you no good to think about it now.’ It has been replaying in my mind. Every time I feel some sort of mourn I try to push it down with those words. It is so easy to take advice, but not to apply it. There have been times in my life where I have not been strong enough to take advice. Sometimes you just have to suffer through the consequences of staying in the same loop until you’ve been bruised so badly by it that you can’t try again, and you have to stop. I am in a loop of mourning the present moment.

I am getting into all this because this past weekend my abroad friends and I went to Switzerland. We flew into Zurich and took a train to Interlaken. Saturday and Sunday we hiked in Lauderbaum and Grindelwald. During out trip most of our conversations were taken over by what we are going to do when we have to say goodbye. We talked about the boat we are going to go on our last night, we reminisced about out night outs and laughed about our antics in Budapest. We were not living in the present moment. Despite the beauty Switzerland gave to me, it has been rotten by nostalgia. Fun fact, there is a sickness where you become entrapped by your own happy memories and playing them back and back that makes you go into a depressive state: Anemoia. Everyone faces Anemoia at some point in their life: graduating college or high school, breaking up with your boyfriend, or moving out of your childhood home. Anemoia maybe my fate after this abroad experience.

You may think I am really depressed or a sad person or something now, so I am going to switch the topic. I am just a Sylvia Plath wannabe– in a writer’s way.

Hard and soft skills I have learned during my internship abroad. Soft skills that I have been either to improve or gain during my internship are time management, critical thinking, and adaptability. I have learned to improve my time management skills as I had to be able to balance wanting to discover a new city and wanting to travel on the weekends with my 8-5 internship. I do this by creating a routine and to-do lists that help me stay organized throughout the day. My routine consists of waking up at the same time every day, no matter what time I went to sleep the night before. This sets me up to able to have time to get ready for the day and have breakfast. I feel like if I slept in this would ruin the rest of the day because I would not feel good within myself. I also like to set time for myself the night before to make a to-do list of what I need to get done inside and outside of work. Sometimes I will add times of when I will accomplish my tasks. For critical thinking, instead of leaning on TAs or professor emails to answer my questions, I lean on my own wits and experiences to solve problems that arise. There is a power in being able to ask questions, but sometimes when your supervisor has told you how to reconnect to the internet once you may not want to ask again. My last soft skill I gained is adaptability may be an obvious one since I am working in a different continent, different country with different cultural norms. In my work place I just try to blend in with everybody else by recognizing their routines and watch what their every day may look like. Hard skills that I have developed or that I have advanced throughout my time abroad is my research skills. I have been researching the articles of the model tax convention of the Czech Republic and discussing it with my boss. I have also learned how to apply my accounting and taxes skills that I have learned in class to real life. Lastly, I have been able to advance my skills in Excel as I work on travel orders and sheets throughout my whole entire day.