I remember when I got on a plane two months ago, listening to ‘I Have Confidence’ from the soundtrack to The Sound of Music and wondering if I would make any friends during my five months abroad with eighty strangers. Today it seems silly to me that I ever even worried, as I pack to go to Ireland for a week with two girls who were complete strangers to me before I landed in Germany. To make things stranger, these two girls go to Penn State! Studying abroad is without a doubt the coolest and best experience of my life, and I’m only halfway through! Meeting people who go to the same school as you, yet you have no mutual friends with and have never even seen before is special, and it’s something that you can’t get everywhere. As frustrating as it is that the three of us didn’t meet two years ago at freshman orientation, being part of Penn State in Europe has given us a shared bond and allowed us to become very close friends, with a very important common denominator that is blue and white!

It really struck me tonight, in the midst of the chaos occurring in Brussels and my packing for spring break, how truly fortunate I am to be where I am, and have the friends that I do. Receiving so many texts from friends and family asking for my safety and wellbeing was comforting, considering that we were only in Brussels 3 weeks ago, and were mainly based in the area where the bombs took place. The Malbeek metro stop was one of our staple stops.

What was just as reassuring as receiving texts of good will was the aura of camaraderie around my fellow classmates and myself. We all felt the removed shakiness of the attack, especially since many of us had been in/near Brussels the past weekend, or were planning on going there tomorrow for a layover or a stopover for spring break. The feeling we all shared was one of sadness, but not of fear. It is evident that being abroad has already been shaping our perspectives on travel and relationships. With spring break starting tomorrow, we all realize that danger exists everywhere, both in places where we have come from and in places where we have yet to go. What is important is that we stay together and stay smart, a fact that we have all taken to heart many a time. These occurrences only strengthen relationships with your friends while abroad, and experiencing history in the making (at least for a history nerd like me) is jointly terrifying and exhilarating. I feel safe with my friends here, and vice versa. In my opinion,  attacks like these shouldn’t deter you from studying abroad or trying new experiences. Life is scary. People are scary. Bad things happen. But great things also happen too. I cannot even describe how truly happy and blessed I feel, and how close I am to this group of fellow students I met two months ago. And no act of violence can take that away.

Location: Freiburg, Germany