internethistory asked: who says i'm judging?
I didn’t think you were being judgmental, just cynical. Like you were trying to say, study abroad genuinely does change lives, but in a really predictable way that the person nevertheless believes is extraordinary and particular to themselves. In the same way that we all make fun of epiphanies we had in high school that everyone had in high school.
I was clarifying because cynicism around studying abroad is so pervasive that it’s perceived as judgment by people who go abroad or are considering it, so people keep quiet about how much it actually did change their lives. But there’s no reason why they should, unless it’s excessive to the point where it overtakes their whole identity. Duh, insecurity is unattractive.
But it’s not like I blanket disapprove of cynicism. It’s really hard not to be in this day and age, when everyone self-represents on the Internet. I mean your whole blog is about randoms from the US 2000s unassumingly reproducing cultural tropes and signifiers and I luv it.
