If you were to explore my experience of spending five months abroad in the Netherlands through social media you would find it nothing short of idyllic. I visited dozens of places, from massive cities like Paris and London to small towns like Valkenburg and Aachen. In most of these places I was accompanied by amazing friends who doubled as photographers when the need arose, because traveling with friends is easier and selfies can really only go so far. Oftentimes after visiting somewhere new, I posted pictures with small captions explaining my adventures to my social media, as most abroad students do.
However, the pictures on the screen only tell a portion of the story. While abroad, I, like so many of my peers, found myself to be challenged in ways I was unprepared for. I was essentially alone in a foreign country hundreds of miles and several time zones away from home. I spoke absolutely no Dutch (still don’t) and found it difficult to navigate this new city (literally, as in I got lost all the time). But that’s not what I showed the world. That’s not what I posted to my Facebook or Twitter. I did not send snapchats of missing my train, or post Instagrams of myself being literally overwhelmed in a foreign grocery store because I couldn’t find sour cream (seriously, they just don’t have it! What’s a taco night without sour cream?).
My point is this: abroad was wonderful, but it was also challenging, and scary. Some moments were exciting and awe-inspiring, but just like the students who went abroad before me, I never publicly shared the hardest parts. My advice to all those who are planning on going abroad is to expect to have moments that suck. Expect, maybe, to call your mom in a panic at 2:00 AM her time because you can’t figure out where you’re supposed to buy your textbooks. Expect to cry sometimes. The environment you’re opting to spend a semester in is, literally, foreign. It’s overwhelming. Going abroad is meant to be challenging, embrace it and do not compare your experience to other peoples’ social media. They’re experiencing their own challenges and are probably not sharing them all either.