Preserving the Magic of Study Abroad
Studying abroad is an unforgettable experience that has forever changed my life. Ireland, the people I’ve met, my campus, even the weather are things I hope to never forget. Unfortunately, as time goes on, remembering details can be difficult. This is doubly true for someone like me who forgets about things as soon as I can’t see them anymore. However, there are many ways to preserve moments in time, beyond taking photos and journaling. Here’s how I am sparking memories for when I go home. I hope they serve you as well as you try to bottle up the magic of studying abroad.
The cheapest way, and one of the most fun in my opinion, is collecting and preserving flowers, plants, sticks, anything small from your travels. I have collected flowers from everywhere I have traveled throughout Ireland.
You can preserve them by:
- Hanging to dry. Tye them with a bit of twine and letting them hang against the wall or from a window. This is better with flowers that firm and less likely to wilt completely.
- Adding pressure. Press flowers in a book. I bought a leatherbound journal and used a heavy object to press the flowers flat within it. It takes some arranging for them to look right when pressed, but they hold their shape well if done correctly.
- Using resin. You can also preserve flowers in resin or beads that absorb moisture, but that’s a bit advanced in my opinion.
Preserving the flowers or local plant life can connect you with the flora of the country you’re in. When labelling the flowers after they have set by writing on the page or creating a tag for a hanging bouquet, looking up the flowers and finding out what stories they might have is fun. You could also ask the locals about their experiences with the plants you’ve found, as many of have a memory involving a tree or a flower from our childhood.
Another way of creating a little time capsule is bottling memories. If you’re near water, you can bottle it into small cork-stop bottles, maybe with sand from a beach or pebbles from a riverbank. Make sure the bottle is sealed by gluing the top, so the water doesn’t evaporate. Sometimes water houses bacteria that can cause growth. Adding salt or boiling the water first can abe helpful. It’s also good practice to bake whatever hard matter you put at the bottom on low heat. If you’re artistically inclined, you can decorate the bottles with local legends or general myths about the water in that country. This is also a way to interact with locals and find out more about the history of the places you visit. If you are less inclined, you could create a tag with the date and maybe an excerpt of a story you learned.
You can also fill a scrapbook with tickets or Polaroids. It can also be fun to collect shells or rocks with interesting shapes and paint them with small scenes of where you visited or a myth you learned about that place. I recently painted small jellyfish inside of an oyster shell from Inch Beach. Making an imprint in clay is also a good way to preserve memories, whether from a cool leaf or a print of a textured tree.
Snapping Polaroids is interesting and can be customized in many ways. Disposable cameras are also a play on the general picture-taking process. Collecting small items and finding a way to label them is a fun and cost-effective way to get souvenirs from wherever you go.
There is something magic in realizing you are thousands of miles from home.
To study abroad in a foreign country is to step into something of an alternate reality. There is something magic in realizing you are thousands of miles from home. I hope to keep the memories from my time in Ireland with me for the rest of my life. Now, along with my photos, I remember a trip to the mountains with a small pink flower pressed in a book page. Hopefully, other students will realize they can do the same.
Ella Greene | University of Alabama | IFSA University of Limerick Partnership | Fall 2024