In a piece originally written for her fellow students in Boston University’s Spring 2026 issue of “The Buzz”, Layan Boulon (’25) makes the case that Europe isn’t enough, and that real growth starts where familiarity ends. A pre-med freshman and Take Action Lab: Environment & Sustainability alum reflects on what discomfort taught her that familiarity never could.
Layan Boulon (Take Action Lab ’25) and Chloe Work (Take Action Lab ’25) with young learners at their apprenticeship “Prospect Rainbow Centre” in Penang, Malaysia
Familiarity breeds change — said no one ever.
Written by Layan Boulon
New places. New friendships. New perspectives. Layan’s journey in Penang is a reminder that some of the most meaningful learning happens beyond the classroom.
Travel, if you’re ever privileged enough to experience it, has a way of renewing your life force. Something about the sun warming different streets than yours or the wind telling stories you haven’t heard down lanes you’ve never been. But, as I was reminded time and time again by my gap-semester program with Tilting Futures, discomfort is the true seed of growth.
There were 45 of us from over 20 countries. Landing in Penang, a small island in Malaysia, we found ourselves equally disoriented. No one knew how to book a Grab (Southeast Asia’s Uber), add Ringgits (the Malaysian currency) to Touch ‘n Go (the e-wallet you need for basically anything), or order food from a hawker center without accidentally double-paying.
Here’s the thing: nearly two-thirds of all study abroad takes place in Western Europe. And I get it. Europe feels safe, prestigious, Instagram-ready. But for students from the U.S., we’ve already spent years learning about everything from the French Revolution to Roman architecture, but we’re never taught about the Batu Caves of Malaysia or the Reformasi movement that altered the social fabric of the country.
So when you go to Europe to study abroad, are you challenging what you already know? Or are you just reinforcing your worldview?
Take Action Lab in Penang did the opposite.
Leading discussions, exploring new ecosystems, and learning alongside each other. Just another day in Take Action Lab.
When you’re learning from a community that doesn’t operate anything like your home country, all the things that usually give you status, like your school, your clothes, your car, the neighborhood you grew up in — suddenly none of it matters. Gordon Allport, author of The Nature of Prejudice, describes this effect: “global settings neutralize domestic status hierarchies.”
In our apartment building in Penang, we hosted dinner parties and talked for hours. Chloe, my roommate-turned-soul-sister, hailed from Bozeman, Montana. I didn’t agree with her perceptions of the Middle East at all. But we could interrogate each other’s perspectives with curiosity and without fear. With my girl, Nosheen from Pakistan, I learned that to make real chai, you have to rip open the tea bag and add a pinch of salt while simmering the milk. That sounded crazy at first.
But these small moments became proof that discomfort teaches you more than familiarity ever could. It forces us to confront the beliefs, no matter how small, that divide us, making some groups “normal” and others…”other.”
After Penang, people who were complete strangers four months ago had become family. I could fly tomorrow to Pakistan, Kenya, Cambodia, Montana, North Carolina, Brazil, India, and I have a home, a place to crash, and be fed and loved.
While back home in Boston, I might know what street leads me where, but I don’t know all the different ways I can make tea, or all the ways I can change my life.
Global Friendships: Layan with her Take Action Lab ’25 peers, building connections that span cultures, countries, and continents.
