“Americans are so talkative and friendly—people here don’t just chat with everyone they meet”.
This was a comment I got on the train to London at 4 a.m., after spending the past hour talking to someone from the area about everything from economics to music. It was a great conversation—he was from London, living in Oxford, and worked both in the music industry and as a professor–but I learned then that this kind of interaction is uncommon between two people from England. I came to learn that one of the American stereotypes is that we talk to everyone, and that this isn’t the norm amongst locals many places that I traveled.
However, this attitude makes traveling so much more fun. It is a great way to meet people to explore with, or to learn more about different places and people.
One of my worries going into my trip was the fact that I didn’t know anyone else in the program. I wanted to travel on weekends and explore the city after classes, and knew it would be fun to know others who would be interested in doing it with me. But I was worried that the short time frame of the program (a four week summer program) wasn’t long enough to get to know people in time to plan weekend trips.
I didn’t need to worry. Though everyone in the program was very different, with unique hobbies and interests and backgrounds, we all had something in common; something had led all of us to study abroad, specifically at Oxford.
I started talking to people early—we had a GroupMe of all of the students in our program the semester before we left, and before I met a single person from our group, I had already booked a hostel in London with four of my future classmates and bought train tickets to Paris with another (and both trips ended up being so much fun!).
Once we arrived at Oxford, I continued to reach out to new people in our group. Everyone wanted to explore and try new things—if there was something I wanted to check out, I would ask around and see who else was interested in the same thing. I also found myself trying new things because others were interested in it and were looking for people to join. We all wanted to make the most of the trip and see everything we could, and being open to doing everything with anyone was a great way of both getting to know my classmates and trying new experiences.
Being willing to talk to others outside of just the other students in my program also had a role in enhancing my study abroad experience. It was fun to meet people just to hear what they had to say; many weren’t from the United States, whether they were local to the area or fellow travellers. An older lady from Oxford recommended different places and activities to add to our itinerary while we were in town, a conversation with couple from Australia taught me more about how people from other countries perceive the US, and hearing from a woman not much older than myself about the challenges of moving from Canada to England gave me a new perspective on the area.
Most of all, talking to everyone adds interest. Exploring with new people leads to fun conversations and a more varied travel experience, and talking to others along the way makes everything from bus rides to long lines more enjoyable. Chat with everyone—you never know who you’ll meet and what you’ll learn.
