Vision Quest- Nathan Harrell

Coming to the abbey I was not real sure what to expect. I signed up for this program literally 2 days before the deadline. I had just transferred from Millsaps and was just now starting to feel like I was getting involved on campus and did not neccasarily want to take any chances in screwing that up. With some convincing from my friend Jessica, I decided to come. As I was preparing to leave and planning out what I wanted to do here I kept telling myself there is no way I am going to miss home. I am going to travel everyweekend, there will be no way I will have time to think about being homesick. I was quite mistaken. Although I was not homesick right away I soon began to realize how much I appreciated where I was from, as well as everything my family does for me back home. Being here in France has taught me a lot about myself, as well as the importance of accepting who you are, and where you come from. Many times meeting new people who were from all over the world I was asked where are you from? At first I felt like I may be judged on the fact that I am from Mississippi, the state with the highest illiteracy rate, or highest teen pregnancies. I thought that saying I was from Mississippi would immidiatly decrease their view of me as a person. Being here has completely transformed my opinion of this. Mississippi is just as cultural and has just as much to be proud of as Paris or any other famous place. I am proud to be from Mississippi. I enjoy having crawfish boils, shrimp boils, lazy days by the creek, southern drawls, country music and miller light. This is who I am! In addition, being here has made me appreciate the relationships I have built throughout my life. I love my family to death! We don't know how long we are going be in contact with the ones that we love, wether friends or family. We need to charish the relationships we make because they may be short ones. We may never see some of the people we have met and grown to love during this program. This is what I have learned from my experience here!