No Place Like Home: What I Miss About Grand Forks as a UND Study Abroad Student

In January, after living in North Dakota my whole life, I up and moved to Spain to complete an internship in Barcelona. It has truly been the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had and something that I would not change for the world. However, there is nothing like a little distance to make the heart grow fonder and the 4,500-mile distance definitely has me missing some things from home. As a UND study abroad student, I’ve compiled a list of the little things I took for granted while living in Grand Forks and the things I find myself missing often. My hope for this article is to encourage you to take time and appreciate the little Grand Forks luxuries I so easily overlooked.

Starting off strong, the infamous North Dakota Nice. Don’t get me wrong, I have met some incredibly nice people in Spain, but I notice the distance from home the most when I am walking down the street and I make eye contact with someone, and they don’t smile back. I also noticed it when I was in the grocery store, and I got bumped into and I wasn’t immediately met with an “Ope! Sorry!” It’s not that the people here are inherently rude, but they aren’t overly nice to strangers who they make eye contact with on the street. Crazy!

The average time for me as a UND study abroad student to get anywhere in the city from my residence is around twenty minutes via the metro (and this is a better average compared to some of my other study abroad friends). In Grand Forks, the average commute time for me to get anywhere was ten minutes. Ten minutes doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but for me, it’s an extra ten minutes of sleep, an extra ten minutes to get ready, or an extra ten minutes to spend with loved ones.

I also miss having a car and the freedom to drive up to an entrance with a parking lot. In Barcelona, walking is a given, having a car is a luxury, and being able to parallel park it in the tight busy streets is an Olympic sport.

As a UND student on a study abroad program, I didn’t fully realize how much I’d miss the simple things from home until I was so far away. The air quality was one of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Barcelona. Barcelona is a big city and it’s relatively warm, so I can’t say I was expecting a fresh breeze, but it is definitely something I miss from home. The air here feels a bit thicker and a bit smellier than the crisp autumn air or the spring breeze of Grand Forks.

I definitely would not consider myself a critic when it comes to the quality of a good burger or cut of steak, but there is a noticeable difference here. Despite that, being a UND study abroad student and a Grand Forks local, I have found it challenging to find any surplus of beef products here. In comparison to Grand Forks, there are grocery stores on each block with a wide selection of dairy and beef products and there are places like L&M Meats, Szymanski Farms and the Town Square Farmer’s Market in the summer with fresh products straight from local farmers.

Sunsets on the beaches of Spain are pretty awesome, but I have yet to see one that beats North Dakota. I’m not sure what it is, but the sunsets in Grand Forks will always have my heart. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll also get to see the northern lights light up the sky. The best months to see them are March and September so take advantage of that car and drive a few miles out of town to get the perfect view.

I’m not one to typically dwell on comparison, but in this case, it helps define some of the amazing qualities of Grand Forks. While my time in Barcelona has been incredible, it has given me a newfound appreciation for the simple, comforting aspects of daily life in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Let this serve as your friendly North-Dakota-nice reminder to not only cherish the people, but also the place around you.