I am finally starting to feel settled back into my apartment after two weeks abroad. Now that I have had a minute to rest, I have been reflecting on my time in Portugal. It wasn’t just a trip, but a chance to see life through a new lens. One of the most special parts of the experience was getting to spend time directly in a local community. I wasn’t just passing through, I was actually able to connect with people, have real conversations and learn about the relationships and routines that make their everyday lives so meaningful. There is something really powerful about how much people in Portugal value community and connection. It made me think about how often we miss that in our fast-paced lives back home.

I also had the opportunity to talk with professors and locals about the political climate in Portugal, both past and present. Learning about the country’s history with a dictatorship and the resistance that followed helped me understand how much of that still shapes the way people think and live today. It gave me a new appreciation for how history lingers in a place.

One thing that really stuck with me was realizing how many of the issues I’ve always thought of as “American problems,” things like housing struggles, economic inequality or feeling disconnected socially, exist in other countries, too. Seeing those challenges in Portugal made me realize how universal some of these struggles are, even if they show up in different ways.

Of course, not every part of the program was easy. There were moments when I ran into people who made inappropriate comments about minorities, things that were uncomfortable to hear and reminded me that discrimination exists everywhere, just in different forms. Still, even those moments taught me something. They reminded me of the importance of speaking up, staying aware and continuing to have conversations that push for growth.

Overall, Portugal taught me a lot, about politics, people and the power of connections. Now that I am back home, I am holding onto those lessons and thinking about how I can carry them forward in my own life.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Multiculturalism and Identity in a Global Context