(By Georgia McPoland ’26, Staff Writer)
Moving to a new place can be daunting, but sometimes the biggest risks have the greatest rewards.
If I told you that I wasn’t terrified before moving across the Atlantic by myself, I would be lying. Leaving Ireland meant leaving everything and everyone I know behind, swapping my life in the city to one in central Pennsylvania. I promised myself that I would come here with an open mind, and if it turned out to be a disaster I would at the very least have a great dinner party story out of it.
However, as soon as I stepped onto campus, LVC was an immediate “home away from home.” I was welcomed with open arms into the school community felt like a Dutchman right away. I think LVC does a great job of looking after its international students and making sure they are settled in, with events like the flag raising ceremony (pictured above) allowing us to connect with the wider school community.
Of course, there were some things that I needed to get used to. I often get asked what the biggest culture shock I’ve experienced since I’ve arrived here, and it has been the switch from urban to small town life. I will preface by saying that I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of the US before I moved to Annville, as I have family that live on both the East and West coasts. I had already experienced some typical elements of daily life in the US, like seeing the size of an average Target, and having access to plastic straws (yes, these things are actually shocking to those of us not from here.)
The lack of public transport definitely took some adjusting to, as I went from being able to be in the centre of Dublin city in 20 minutes by train to being a 25-minute drive from the nearest train station. But once I took a tour of Annville, I realised that everything I needed was in walking distance, and I came to appreciate the small-town life. If I need to get further afield, I was very lucky to make fast friends with someone who has a car and would kindly drive me where I needed to go (thank you Norah).
My favourite thing about LVC is definitely the people. Everyone that I’ve met here wants to make you feel welcome and is genuinely curious to learn about my experience here as an international student. From the first day that I met my roommate Lacy, she took me under her wing and introduced me to people that are now some of my best friends. Although it is very difficult to think that they won’t be two minutes away from me anymore, it’s all the more exciting knowing that I have friends across America and Canada that I can visit in the coming years.
If I would give one piece of advice to anybody who is thinking about studying abroad, it would be to take the risk and move. Anthony Bourdain once said that “travel is not a reward for working, it’s education for living.” If somebody told me two years ago that I was going to have one of the best years of my life studying at a small school in Amish country, I probably would have laughed in their face. I didn’t think that I would be cut out for an experience so different to the one that I had known all my life. If you take away one thing from this story, it’s to move somewhere new. Whether it’s a new house, town, city or country, the experience will benefit you in ways that these words cannot begin to describe.