Hannah Homovich: The experience that made it worth it

            Trying to plan a getaway from my breakaway was insane. Trying to find the best deals, but at cheaper prices was the challenge. It took weeks of watching the prices fluctuate to find that one deal. I was debating on whether to go to Paris or Venice because I wanted to do both, but I only had the funds to do one. I ended up deciding to do Venice because it was farther away, and it was the same price as Paris. My reasoning was that I could just go to Paris at another point in time. 

I started out by looking at hostels and airfares because those are the most important things when traveling. I found a good deal that included three nights in a hostel at Venice Mestre and a roundtrip flight with British Airlines. I found some train tickets that were on the cheaper side, but they were early train tickets so I would have plenty of time to make it to my flight. I also booked a bus from the airport to the hostel. I had everything in order, and I was ready to go to Venice.

Doge's Palace Venice, Italy

When it came to the day of, I walked to the train station and ended up being early. I waited in the train station lobby for a little while until it was close to the time for my train. I then went through the gates and went to my train stop. After waiting a couple minutes, I noticed that they had started canceling trains. At first, I was not too worried about it, because they had not canceled my train, but then after another few minutes the intercom came on and they canceled pretty much all of the trains. We were told that the tracks were frozen over and there were some electrical problems. 

I ended up asking the train station staff which train I would need to get on instead and I waited on it for a short period of time. It was extremely cold and there was no heat anywhere in the station except for areas that were too far away from the where I needed to be, and I did not need to miss another train. I was starting to get worried because I only had a couple hours until they started boarding the plane. I thought about calling a taxi and just lose the money I spent on the train because I could not lose all the money I had spent on the trip. 

Thankfully, I only ended up waiting for another half an hour and got on the train. After standing in the cold for a good two hours I was extremely happy to see the train pull up. We only had one problem along the way and it only took a few minutes, so it was not too bad. I got off at my stop and waited on the next train and made it to the airport with a little time to spare. It was so stressful trying to plan the trip and I was extremely tired by the time I got onto the plane. When the plane landed, and it was time to get on the bus to the hostel, it was nighttime. I checked into the hostel which was a few minutes from the bus stop, and I went to my room and got some much-needed sleep.

The next day I walked to the train station outside the hostel and bought tickets to go to Venice. I got on the train and it was a short five-minute ride. I then stepped off the train and headed towards the exit. It was like stepping into a movie. Everything was absolutely stunning, and I could not believe that I was in a place that I had always dreamed of going to. I had even painted numerous paintings of this place and I could not believe my eyes because everything that I had painted in my room back in little old Greenwood, South Carolina was real. As soon as I came out the door of the train station, I slowly walked down the steps and just stood there and admired the beauty of it for a few minutes. Everything was just as I had imagined it, perfect.

Painting of Venice, Italy

Paintings of Venice, Italy

It was just another day in Venice for those that lived there, but it was magical for someone like me. I did not even know where to begin, because there was so much to look at and there were so many different people from different places speaking all sorts of languages. The sky was a perfect blue with a few white fluffy clouds, and people were talking everywhere and walking in every direction. The ACTV boats, which were the everyday transportation used by the locals, were going back and forth on the Grand Canal. 

At one point, an ambulance went by with sirens blaring and it was going very fast, but somehow everyone just knew to move out the way. Everything resumed like normal and everyone went about their business. There were some boats going by that had packages on them that went to the businesses and others had equipment on them. Everything in Venice was transported on a boat, whether it was people, merchandise, or equipment. It was just an interesting scene to watch.

Boats carrying packages in Venice, Italy

Studying abroad was supposed to be the best experience that a college student could have, but it did not quite turn out like that for me. For the longest period of time, I was homesick. The first couple of weeks were the worst because I was away from home for the first time in my life, and I was in a completely unfamiliar place. It did not help that I was extremely sleep deprived and hungry. 

We were given our room keys and were shown where we would be staying, and we were just abandoned. Personally, I just wanted to sleep and go back home, but one of those things was not even a possibility. I was in a frenzy because I wanted to call home, but I did not have a SIM card or internet connection yet. Eventually, after getting a temporary password, I got a connection and called home. It was such a relief to hear my family member’s voices on the phone, but it also made me miss home ten times more.

I continued to be homesick most of the time while studying at the University of Winchester, and I was always trying to find something that made me feel closer to home. I ended up becoming friends with some of the people from my home university and this helped because they were going through the same thing. Other things helped, too, like finding a type of soap that I used at home, or a restaurant that we had in my town that they also had in England. 

After a month or so, I realized that I was not in England just to experience things that I had at home, but things that I did not have at home. I started making a couple of friends and I started stepping outside of my comfort zone a little by going to places and trying new things. I have never in my life liked Chinese food, but with some persuasion from some new friends, I tried it in London and absolutely loved it. It was a little bit more authentic than what we had back at home. I felt like I was becoming more independent and I figured out how to do things on my own. After trying new things, like going to Venice, I thought the remainder of my trip would be easier, but in fact, it was not. I was still stuck in a country that I did not want to be in.

Probably the best experience that I had while studying abroad was the one that made the trip feel like it was worth every little cent and second that I spent away from home. This was the trip I took around Thanksgiving to Venice. I struggled to go outside of my comfort zone for a majority of the time that I spent studying abroad, but I ended up stepping out of my comfort zone and I explored the world. Sometimes we have to take that one risky trip and that may be the one that changes your perception of the world forever.

 

Hannah on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

Hannah Homovich is a Sociology major with a minor in Pre-Law and Political Science. For her Honors College Breakaway experience, she studied abroad at the University of Winchester in the Fall of 2018. She plans to graduate from Lander in May of 2021 and pursue a law degree.