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From the "Ouachitonian": Sarah Mobley

January 01, 2020
Previously published in the 2018 Ouachitonian yearbook. 

Summer break was a chance for students to relax, find a job or travel. For Sarah Mobley, summer was a chance to travel home.

Mobley, a sophomore elementary education major, was born in Colorado Springs, Colo., but had lived in Brussels, Belgium, since she was 3 years old. Then Mobley came to the U.S. to attend college while the rest of her family stayed in Belgium. Mobley’s dad was a teacher at an American school, and her mom was a teacher at an international school.

However, Mobley was able to go back to Brussels during the summer. She traveled to Italy and other countries on the weekends. She enjoyed bringing friends and showing them around. But she also did some mission work like helping her sister at their church and her parents at their camp.

“My parents do a camp for teenagers – international, American, all around the world,” said Mobley. “So, we go to Italy for a week, and we just travel around Italy and hang out at the beach. And then at night, we give a talk on Jesus. In Brussels, because it’s very international, a lot of kids only live there for three years and then move away. So, we use that week for them to say goodbye to their friends if they’re moving or meet new friends if they just moved to Brussels.”

Moving from Brussels to the U.S. was a significant change for Mobley because of the cultural differences.

“Here, it’s so weird when people talk to me, and they’re strangers; I’ve never met them and they’re very friendly,” said Mobley. “When I’m overseas and I go downtown, no one will talk to me. They’re just going to mind their own business.”

Because Mobley studied elementary education, she wanted to teach kindergarten or first grade after graduation at an international or American military school in Europe.  

“It would be nice to go back overseas just because it feels like home to me,” said Mobley.

Mobley felt that, given the chance, everyone should travel overseas. Traveling to places like Brussels could give people opportunities to experience a different culture.  

“I love it, and it’s really beautiful, too, because it’s so old and everything is ancient and has history to it,” said Mobley. “I loved it a lot. That’s why I call it home.”

By Brooke Woessner


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