Page 20 - THE ORACLE MAGAZINE October'23 EDITION

TRAVEL BEYOND
BOUNDARIES
It was always my dream to go abroad to study. I wanted to meet new cultures,
and new people, and travel a bit more; and that is exactly what I did.
However, I didn
't know yet that the term
“
studying abroad”
encompasses far
more than what meets the eye. There is something that just the ones who lived
through it, and the ones who lived it with them, understand. Usually, people see
just the glitter on its surface but forget the personal journey below the cover.
At first, I didn
’t think that traveling or
studying abroad was about finding who
you are and what you want from
yourself and from others. But it actually
is. I have never considered myself a
person who doesn
’t know enough about
herself, but now looking behind, I can
see how little I actually knew. It’
s not a
matter of altering your core values;
rather, it'
s about delving deeper into
yourself, exploring your limits and
boundaries, and meeting yourself in all
of the unknown versions. To illustrate
this, I’ll share a golden moment that I
experienced when I traveled to school in
St Andrews—a town that exudes history
and picturesque charm.
I found myself all alone in the departure
hall at the Charles De Gaulle Paris
Airport, waiting for my delayed plane to
Edinburgh. That was my first time
traveling without anyone I knew.
The excitement and travel fever that
gripped me showed no signs of waning.
I had already waited for two hours, and
according to the information board, I
had another two in front to go. It was
late evening and I knew very well that I
had still a long way to go before I would
reach St Andrews. I felt a mix of
nervousness and worry about spending
the evening at the airport in Edinburgh
and making my way to St Andrews at at
night. Despite this, I caught myself with
a smile on my lips.
“God, how did I end
up here?!” I asked myself. Me, a young
and inexperienced seventeen-year-old
girl, afraid of many things, traveling
alone from Paris to Scotland at night?
Quite a paradox, isn
’t it?
by Eliška Labutová
A Personal Story
19
THE ORACLE MAGAZINE