Miami University exchange student Andrew Polack examines what he has learned so far in Luxembourg, but not with his studies but with everyday life, public transport and dealing with one of his fears - talking to strangers!

Counting today, I have been in Europe for a total of 78 days. With nearly two and a half months of brand new experiences under my belt, I’ve also learned priceless lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Here are just a couple of those lessons.

There’s no such thing as a perfect trip

While this sounds incredibly depressing, I’ve found this lesson to be the most comforting one I’ve learned yet. What I mean by this is that very rarely does everything go according to plan, and that it’s actually more fun that way! With my reliance on public transportation here in Luxembourg and Europe, I rarely catch all of my planned buses and trains and shuttles. This has caused me to become a lot more relaxed in my approach to travel. Didn’t catch that connecting train? No problem, I’ll catch the next one! And in the meantime I’ll take in all that my surroundings have to offer. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about a culture just through its train stations and bus stops.

For example, last week I was stuck in Italy, with nothing more than my Eurail and passport. Rather than freaking out and wasting energy, I took it one step at a time. Even though I was alone, I had a wonderful time passing through Italy, Switzerland, and Germany to eventually be back in my bed in Luxembourg at the end of the day.

Strangers are actually sometimes okay

Growing up in America, I was bombarded by adults and authority figures repeating the phrase “stranger danger, stranger danger!” That’s led to me being completely paranoid when I’m in public spaces, and I’m incredibly weary of people that I don’t know.

Being in condensed public spaces such as train stations and city centers here in Europe has forced me to face my fears of strangers. On my first week in Luxembourg I had no idea how to get from Luxembourg City back to the château in Differdange. So I walked up to the nearest person who looked like they knew what they were doing, and they helped me with the biggest smile on their face.

Since then, I have no problem asking strangers for help, whether it’s directions or a good place to visit or someone to take a picture of my friends and me. Especially here in Luxembourg, the locals are friendly and go out of their way to help me as much as they possibly can.

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I look forward to applying these lessons to life back in America. I see myself being much more relaxed when it comes to traveling and making plans. And I definitely see myself being much more comfortable in populated spaces when I’m in need of some help, as well as being more than willing to help others now that I know how it feels to be on the poor end of that situation.

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