By Maggie Hunter, USAC Bengaluru
Before I went abroad to India, my grandmother gave me a large crate of artifacts and souvenirs that she had collected on her travels to India a few decades ago — stuffed dolls, paintings, skirts, and more. She made copies of her journals and showed me the beautiful maroon sari she had made. I was honored, but also intimidated. How could I live up to that? I had created a mental slideshow of the country before I had even stepped off the plane.
Many of my peers who had studied abroad said that they were the first in their families to ever leave the country. Several faced pushback from their parents for wanting to go abroad and had a hard time readjusting to life in the U.S. with a family who just “didn’t get it.”
I didn’t have that problem. But having your family ‘get it’ comes with its own challenges. I had a lot of family support — and maybe some pressure — to go abroad. It had always been a goal of mine to study abroad, and my parents were very encouraging of me, though I’m sure they were a bit nervous when I said that I wanted to go to India.
My grandmother has traveled extensively and lived all over the world. She was teaching English in Libya when she was my age. I grew up mesmerized by her stories and always hoped to travel like she had. And if I’m honest, I also felt some pressure to do something “big,” and that I had to really push my comfort zone in order for study abroad to be worth it.
Both my aunt and my grandmother did a Fulbright program in India. They both stayed in nice hotels, ate at fancy restaurants, and spent a lot of their time with other Americans. I stayed in the university dorms and usually ate at smaller local places. I took rickshaws everywhere, got food poisoning and I got lost once or twice. I was humbled more times than I can count in ways I couldn’t have imagined. It was hard — and also deeply, quietly mine.
I sometimes wondered whether I chose India because I really wanted to, or because I was following in my family’s footsteps. But in the end, I realized it didn’t have to be an either/or. What mattered was that I had the chance to chart my own experience while also building on this family tradition. The discomfort that I felt is what made the experience so transformative.
If you’re feeling pressure — whether from your family to go abroad or from them to stay — it’s okay to step back and ask yourself what you want. Studying abroad is not just a box to check or a legacy to live up to. It’s a chance to learn in a way that’s uniquely yours.
Maggie is a student at the University of Idaho, pursuing a degree in International Studies with minors in Journalism and Asian Studies. She has studied abroad in Bangalore, India, and Prague, Czech Republic. When she’s not in the classroom, you can find Maggie hiking, traveling, skiing, and writing.
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