When students talk about their time spent studying abroad, most usually sugarcoat it and choose to tell you about all the good things rather than about their bad experiences. But yes, those bad experiences do exist, and I figured I’d share with you a couple of them (some of which happened to me personally).
HOMESICKNESS
You will experience some sort of homesickness while abroad, whether it consumes you whole and you miss everything about home, or whether its just you need a hug from your parents and are craving basic foods you can only find in America.
ACTUALLY GETTING SICK
I just recently experienced my first full out can’t move can’t eat sickness while abroad, and let me tell you it was NOT fun. As a college student abroad getting the flu or any kind of sickness is probably not high up on your least of expectations so the odds you have anything you need for when you actually get sick are slim to none (yup).
GETTING “PICK-POCKETTED”
Yes this does actually happen! Thankfully I haven’t personally experienced it but I’ve seen many tourists who are just too busy snapping pictures of everything in site that they are paying no attention to any of their belongings and then you see them frantically looking for their phones or wallets, but by the time they realize something is missing it is usually too late!
GETTING INFORMATION STOLEN
Identity theft is a real thing and apparently it is also very common for debit card information to be stolen in Europe. I sadly have experienced this first hand and am going on week three with no debit card.
HAVING AN ELECTRICAL DEVICE BREAK
To my surprise iPhones and Macbooks are not as prevalent in Italy as they are back home in the states. That means when something breaks, good luck finding someone who can fix it, and also keep in mind that it will be a hefty tab. Also, if you don’t have the right converter and surge protector you can say goodbye to your straighter and hair dryer!