Most of what you’ve heard from me over the past four months has been about how I’ve made memories. I’ve tried to open a virtual door to give you a peek into this once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ve had the joy of living. For this post though—my second to last one—I’m instead going to share with you how I’ve been trying to preserve every memory I’ve made. As I just finished up my exams at Copenhagen Business School I’m tempted to phrase it like this: I’ve put enough time and capital investment into these past four months that I want to make sure not a second or penny is wasted. I want long-term value out of these experiences so there have been multiple ways I’ve tried to keep them.

Blogging
If you are reading this you are clearly aware that I am one of the Foreign Correspondents for UR whose job it is to write about our time abroad. There are many reasons why this position has value: it will help me build a writing portfolio to use when applying to jobs, it’s paid, and it will (hopefully) look good on a resume. The primary reason why I was so eager to apply, however, was because it would force me to reflect and describe what I experience in my time away from Richmond. Many students who go abroad keep blogs for themselves to help them keep track of our hectic lives, and I wanted to do the same but worried that I wouldn’t be as diligent in doing so as I’d like. So many friends told me that your months abroad are the best in your life but that they finish in the blink of an eye. I knew how easy it would be to get caught up in the excitement and fantasy overseas and forget to blog on my own time, and I wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice. I sought this position to gain the added pressure of deadlines and quotas so I could follow though on making the meaningful reflections I knew I’d appreciate later. With this being said, I hope you have appreciated at least something I’ve had to say over the past four months, but also know that I’m writing these posts somewhat selfishly.

Pictures
I have a Facebook account and the sky is blue. Both are probably equally obvious in this day in age, and I’ve used my social media profile to preserve many meaningful memories for myself. Of course, the whole point of social media is to be just that, social, but my albums full of hundreds of pictures are less for giving others a glimpse into my life abroad and more to help me keep track of my countless experiences. I am religious at adding specific locations to where a picture was taken so I can have deeper and more meaningful memories of the amazing places I’ve seen. We found an awesome restaurant in Rome, for example, and I tagged its location as “Roma Sparita,” the name of the quaint restaurant versus just tagging it as “Rome, Italy.” If anyone ever visits Rome I will always remember the name of this little restaurant filled with the best cacio e pepe you’ve ever had and locals who will stare when you walk in because you’re not from Italy. The magic is in the details, and my Facebook account has helped me to remember them.

Another thing I use Facebook for is to remind myself of why I liked things so much. Before I went to Florence I really wasn’t sure why the Statue of David was as famous as it was, to be honest. Upon seeing him in person though, and reading the description of what Michelangelo’s depiction signified for the Florentines, I was amazed. I wanted to remember why I was in such awe and admiration in that one moment, so I captioned the Facebook photo with an excerpt from the description on the plaque beside the statue. I don’t do this for everything, but for certain ones I think it’ll be helpful to know not just where exactly a place was, but also why I thought it was meaningful enough to capture it in a photograph.

Me, with Michelangelo’s David

Journaling
The only time I have kept a journal was when I was really young at a residential summer camp (the same one mentioned in my first post, if I have any loyal followers on this thing). While I never continued the practice, I have looked back on it countless times and been entertained and amused by what eight-year-old Diana had to say about camp dances and making three bull’s-eyes in archery. I love reading about all of my thoughts, fears, excitement, and experiences so many years after the fact. Some parts were a nice reminder of things I did, but others shared stories I had no recollection of. The journal acted like a portal in that sense, taking me through a mind I knew but with memories I’d forgotten. I love revisiting that little window into the past and I knew how much I would appreciate doing the same years from now too.

This, like the others methods I’ve described, I keep for myself. I use my journal so I can be reminded of the ridiculous times I spent gallivanting around Europe or laughing myself to tears with friends in the dorm. I try and write about everything too. One entry spent two whole pages detailing the unbelievably delicious Thanksgiving dinner I had when my parents came to visit and another describes why exactly I was so enthralled by the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche in the Vatican. My blogs help me articulate many feelings and observations I have, but my journal helps me focus more on my day-to-day lifestyle and smaller goings on too.

Galleria delle Carte Geografiche in the Vatican

Since I keep the journal for myself, I also try and be as honest as possible. I mentioned how I use Facebook to remind me of all my memories from abroad, but that’s not the entire truth. Whether it is deliberate or not, our use of social media often tells a distorted story. The pictures I, and most others I would guess, put on social media show us at our best. We take pictures of the Octoberfests, the Amsterdam Music Festivals, and all of the other amazing adventures to help us remember the great times we’ve had. Just because this overall experience has been so amazing doesn’t mean it didn’t have its share of difficulties, though. I was home for less than forty-eight hours between my ten weeks away this summer and eighteen gone this semester, and that wasn’t always easy. Am I taking pictures of myself feeling a little upset in my room and posting them on Facebook to tell a fuller story? Of course not, but I think the tough times are just as valuable to remember as the great ones. I know no one’s going to be reading my journal so I feel comfortable preserving all of my memories in there, good or bad, and think I will appreciate how my time abroad wasn’t always a breeze but that I struggled and grew from parts of it as well.

Keychains
One last way I commemorate my experiences is with keychains. I inherited a big green hiker’s backpack (named Yertle) from my sister that she used abroad, and I stole this idea from her. She added a keychain to the backpack from every city she visited when she travelled, and their accumulation was pretty amazing. My favorite part about studying abroad was traveling the continent, and I loved having the physical proof of that dangle behind me. Yertle got a little louder and a little heavier after every trip, and hearing the clanking of the keychains as I walked toward each next adventure brought a smile to my face. I felt like those pieces of metal weren’t just bought at insanely overpriced souvenir shops, but that they were earned and that each carried its own set of memories along with it. Unfortunately I lost one Amsterdam keychain due to an aggressive baggage-claim process so I took them all off the backpack to avoid further casualties. I also did so though, to find a way to better display them, and my plan is to get a large map and hang all of the keychains from pins in their locations. I realized my love for travel while abroad, so I hope this collection is just the beginning. I want to fill the map, fill the journal, take too many pictures, and keep writing too.

My favorites are the one from Denmark and the one with the Pope giving a thumbs-up

Stay tuned for my final post with more reflections from my time abroad, and happy holidays to everyone!