Home and ready to go again

Liam Grigg, University of Victoria, winner of the BC Study Abroad: Stories from Abroad Scholarship

Study Abroad Destination: Sophia Antipolis, France

Having travelled alone for over a year, there are so many things that I have experienced that none of my friends were there to experience. When coming home, it is easy for anyone to immediately want to go into a lengthy, expansive storytelling; however, I have discovered that many people don’t actually want to sit and listen to all of the adventures. Although friends and family are interested, it can be difficult to relate to these stories, causing people to only being able to listen to so much. Life for everyone continues without me. Which sounds like a very normal and obvious idea, but yet there’s a part of me that wants to be the center of attention when I arrive home; that everyone wants to hear about what I have done, but that is not the case.

Coming home to friends and family is extremely easy. I never found that there was a stilted conversation or a need to avoid one on one interactions. Being away for over a year allowed the opportunity to share and listen to each person for several hours.

Returning home from my semester abroad in Europe, I returned to school just days later. Over the past three months, I have been working hard to finish my final semester of my undergrad at the University of Victoria. This created another surreal experience that surprisingly did not require me to board a plane first. The idea of finishing school and leaving academia is a daunting and exciting experience. Having entered my undergrad directly out of high school, like many others, I have never done anything other than school. Rather than gearing up to return to classes in the Fall, I will now be seeking full-time work and starting my career.

My degree in international business has laid the foundation for me to be able to combine my travelling experiences and my learned practical skills. I would like to work in a management role where I work with a rich, diverse cultural team, ideally in the social change sector. I believe that commerce can play a vital role in creating positive, sustainable, and impactful differences in our global community. I would like to be part of the movement that changes the world!