• I studied abroad in London with the goal of meeting new people and making friends. • I achieved that goal, but also found myself spending more time alone than I ever have before. • The most meaningful lesson I took from my time in London was that I value spending time by myself.

The summer before my junior year, I signed up to study abroad for four months in London. I'd heard the cliché that people study abroad to "find themselves," but I had a different goal in mind.

As a lifelong proponent of close friends and tight circles, I saw this as my opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and meet new people, whether that was in my Shakespeare class or at random cafés around the city.

I'd lived in the Midwestern suburbs my whole life before moving to Syracuse (a place that didn't fe

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