The track coach always said to run through the tape, which was fine for track because you knew where you were going on the track and what the race was for. When you're trying to drag yourself through the end of a semester there's considerably more malaise about the whole process and rumination over where exactly all that work (or lack thereof) has gotten you.
The desire to be done with this particular semester comes into conflict with the vague threat of change that comes with a new semester, and it can paralyze a student. In this damned liminal state you tend to reconsider what you've been doing, and you can either stand there considering the ocean of possibilities or keep running. Think of the beach scene in Chariots of Fire and how interminable that dreamlike running is.
Some of you juniors, and a few sophomores, are slogging through in anticipation of a much larger change than new classes. Some of you are heading off to the supposedly classier nations on the other side of the pond. You're probably going somewhere in Spain or Britain or Germany, as that's where students seem to go. Some of you are going down to the nations of South America to live with a family and study. Wherever you go, you will still be an American college student.
Some normal expectations for those going to Europe are that you'll probably get a rail pass and check out some of the other nations over there. You will see cramped hostels and dark old bars and perhaps a museum. You will get drunk on the train going and you will get drunk on the train coming, and you will be robbed while trying to purchase hash. It will be fun.
I know a couple of people who have spent time in South America, and they seem to have actually learned a lot about the culture and values of where they were. They developed strong relationships with people who live there. It seems like they really learned some stuff.
The people I know that went to Europe, however, seem to have had a more stereotypical college experience. Remember that Onion article about the college students in Spain getting drunk with other American college students? It happens. This isn't to say that the people I know necessarily did that, but they could have. All foreigners tend to be put in certain dorms. It's inevitable. Sometimes it's nice. My friend who spent a year in Edinburgh ended up meeting his current girlfriend there. He was driven to hanging out with her by the fact that his British roommates were all ponces.
The danger of you going abroad is that when you come back you will relate everything to how it is wherever you were. My friend who was in Edinburgh still compares beer here and there like he's the freakin' pope of ale town. I spent the summer in Tennessee and when I came back all things were relative to the great state of Andrew Jackson. When you come back from Spain or South America are you going to watch a lot of MTV Spanish? Yes you are. It's a small price for others to pay for your cultural improvement.
The hardest part is leaving your friends here. You've gotten your college friends squared away, and now you're going to leave them for quite a while. There's e-mail and postcards, but it's not the same. Expect some of them to visit you. If my experience is correct, you will get no schoolwork done whatsoever while they're there. Shoot, I wish I would have done it, so you kids have a good time, but promise America you'll shut up about it every once in a while when you get back.
