My Digital Journal

            In the fall of 2012, I studied abroad in London for three months. It was an absolutely life-changing experience and I love talking and writing about it. In fact, I have a whole other blog dedicated to studying abroad and traveling. You can check it out here: http://studyabroadkailahbuckwalter.blogspot.com/

            On the very long list of advice I received from advisors, friends, and family members was, “Keep a journal! Write down your experiences! You think you’ll remember, but you won’t!

I kept a journal when I traveled to India for two weeks when I was sixteen, at least for half of the time. I gave up even sooner when I arrived in London: I didn’t even finish my first journal entry. I just didn’t have the time or the motivation to keep a journal. I was too busy soaking in my amazing surroundings.

My two best friends and roommates studied in Greece the same time I was in London. They did keep a journal; in fact, they wrote in it every single day. Then this past semester, they read the journal day by day, lining up the days of both semesters. It was as if they were experiencing their time abroad all over again.

As a result, I began to regret not keeping a journal. Then I realized I could go back through my Facebook history and read the statuses I had made while I was in London. It wasn’t like reading out of a journal, but it was something. It was amazing how I was able to sift through the memories of the best semester of my life, living vicariously through my year-younger self.

I relived seeing Big Ben for the first time, shopping on Oxford Street, traversing the Highlands of Scotland, perusing the glittering city of Paris, sobbing as I watched Les Miserables on the West End, and finally flying home, leaving half of my heart in the UK.

I was indebted to Facebook and social media for helping me accomplish the feeling of journaling without ever putting a pen to paper.