Hello friends! My name is Savanna Simmank and I am super excited to share with you my first CR12 blog post. I can’t wait to use this as a tool to share about my experiences abroad. Applying to CR12 was something I knew I wanted to do before I was even committed to TCU. I had heard Dr. Pitcock speak about it at an event I came to February of 2019. His passion was incredibly evident, and I could tell the students had formed connections that would last a lifetime. This was something different than simply “studying abroad.” This was the Assistant Dean of the Honors College selecting sixteen incredible individuals to spend a month in Europe learning and growing alongside each other, all while building a family. Fast forward to November of 2019 when I told my parents I wanted to apply. Now, I am preparing to go, and I could not be happier.
Now, here’s a little about me! I am from Texas (about 20 minutes from TCU) and use the world “y’all” way too much! I love to go to coffee shops, read good books, dance, play guitar (a skill I’m still in the process of learning), and go on adventures! In my opinion, anything can be an adventure if you make it one. I am passionate, driven, and caring. I try to show people love and am overall full of joy. I feel that since I have been in college, I have done a lot of self-discovery, and I am excited to learn about myself while in Europe. I’ve heard people who go on CR come back a changed person, so I am excited to see what that looks like for me.
When I was writing the application for CR12, my strategy was to treat it as an interview. Not an interview in the sense that I was trying to portray my perfect self, but an interview in the sense that I wanted it to be like I was talking to Dr. Pitcock. I wanted my application to be vulnerable and authentically me. I did not sit and ponder too much on my answers trying to craft exactly what I thought Dr. Pitcock wanted me to write. Instead, I wrote about what I was thinking and how I was feeling. If I thought of something funny, I wrote it. If I thought of a good example, I wrote it. I hoped Dr. Pitcock would get a true sense of who I was by the end of it. That is exactly how I plan to treat these blog posts. I hope that through them, you can see the real me: the hot mess, the dreamer, the adventurer. I also hope you can see my growth as I write more blog posts and that I can look back and see my growth, too.
When I learned I was chosen for CR12, I was inside of a Starbucks surrounded by people quietly working on their laptops. That did not stop me from screaming. My heart was pounding, and my body was shaking. It felt surreal. I remember opening the email and having to do a double-take because I could not believe I was going to be spending a month in Europe, a month I knew would probably become the best month of my life.
In a mere few months, I will be in Europe with people who I know will become some of my best friends, my familia. Yesterday at our second CR12 meeting, I started tearing up. I don’t even completely remember what Dr. Pitcock was talking about, I’m pretty sure it was just about packing. At that moment, I just couldn’t believe it was real. We are going to be living in Europe, going to museums, hopping on trains, having long dinner conversations, going on late night adventures, and so much more. Now, as I am writing this, I am tearing up again. So, before I have a full-on crying fest, here’s to CR12 adventures! I’m ALL IN, 24/7!
I can’t wait to write again soon!
Savanna Simmank
Cultural Routes 12 