For every person that attended the Junior Term Abroad (JTA) program, going back to the real world was always going to be the hardest part. The flight home was exactly as I expected: An understated affair that was inexplicably shorter than the journey that brought us to our destinations in the first place.
Everyone was sad. Some even looked like they were about to cry. Many just shouldered their bags and listlessly went through the motions. The only thing that took us out of our stupor was the Philippine heat.
It was clear that many had wanted to stay. And why shouldn’t they want to? Each and every day spent abroad was an adventure, a journey that forced students to enter as boys and girls and to exit as men and women. For many of us, JTA was and will be the highlight of our college years.
JTA, for better or for worse, takes you out of your comfort zone. For many, including me, it was the first time that we ever had to do anything for ourselves (cooking and laundry included). The level of freedom was intoxicating, especially as many of the limits and boundaries one has disappear.
This, coupled with the fact that you are in a foreign, exotic environment means that there is a very strong potential for personal growth and development. There were around 200 or so students that attended the fall semester’s JTA and I can definitely say that the majority of them have become better because of it.
The thing is, it is hard to describe how it felt to be on JTA. It is an experience that only other JTA-ers will know. My attempts at explaining it to friends often left me searching for words, an exercise that often ended in futility.
What we can do, however, is to share what we’ve learned. As important as it is to remember what has happened, it is also critical and imperative that we end our “JTA hangover,” roll up our sleeves and get to work. The beauty of JTA is that it leaves you with not only what you’ve learned in the university you attended, but also the life lessons and experiences that you can apply to everyday life in the Philippines.
It has often been said that the main point of the JTA program is to showcase the Filipino, to demonstrate that the Filipino is here, eager to learn and driven to succeed in the international realm. However, I’d like to think that JTA is more than that. JTA is also about showing the Filipino the life that can be acquired. In attending prestigious colleges in well-developed countries such as France, Spain and Singapore, students begin to understand that there is much that the Philippines can emulate.
Students have to understand that the life lessons they learned provides a different perspective that not many Filipinos are able to experience. Students have to understand that it is up to them to share these experiences in order for the Philippines to catch up.
Students have to understand that they can help. With that said, I’d like to thank our university for providing the opportunity to study abroad. I’m sure that many of the students that came with me share the same opinion. JTA was an educational and humbling experience and we are more than ready to share what we’ve learned.
