Today is my birthday! This post is not a way for me to receive birthday wishes but an opportunity for me to reflect upon the two times I celebrated the 4th of July abroad as an American. I celebrated the 4th of July on my 16th and 18th birthdays (to say I had some fun on those dates is an understatement!) while an exchange student in
Rosenheim, West Germany. These dates were very unique and valuable experiences for me to be a young American in a country that simply treated the 4th of July as just another Friday (1986) and Monday (1988) without all the celebration that comes with Independence Day here in the United States. It is experiences like these that are just one of the many valuable takeaways I had from my exchanges in Germany.
Photo credit: shino 誌野
I haven't studied abroad, or really even thought about it. Travel costs, airline restrictions, passport fees are a little too much for me to think about. My mom did spend a month with family members in England back in the 80s though, and she always said it was the experience of a lifetime. The sad part is that bustling seaside community has become a hot bed for crime, so that stopped any talks of my grandmother realizing her dreams of retiring in her hometown.
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