This summer I spent two months interning for a member of parliament in Dublin, Ireland. It was probably the most challenging, breath-taking, and ratchet two months of my life, but I would not trade a minute of it for anything. Although, at the end of my experience, I found myself wishing that someone had told me beforehand what it’s like to live abroad because I feel like I would’ve been more prepared for the madness that is study abroad. Here are 9 things I wish someone had told me before I decided to go abroad.
1. Study abroad is just as amazing as it looks in pictures.
What’s great about Europe is how easy it is to travel. From Dublin, I could get on a plane and be in Amsterdam in an hour and 15 minutes. This means that you can see every amazing place that has ever been on your “places to go to” Pinterest board, if you really wanted to. I was lucking enough to take weekend trips to Northern Ireland, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and Iceland with a few trips around Ireland as well. It was great to see how so many countries, so close together, each had their own individual culture and unique tourist experiences.
2. BUT Study abroad is NOT as glamorous as it seems.
Europe has the reputation of being dirty, and, unfortunately in certain countries, 100% lives up to that. There’s a couple of reasons why. Water is limited in certain areas, so they don’t give out water like its candy like we do in the states. So, you will be very dehydrated, and you will sometimes have to take military-style showers because of a lack of hot water. They also don’t have air conditioning in most places, and it is so much easier to walk everywhere than take public transportation. So, if you choose to study abroad in the summer, no amount of deodorant can cover up how sweaty and smelly you get, and a military style shower is not about to get you totally clean. Another reason, which I experienced, is drinking a lot will make you feel bloated and rundown, which only contributes to your smelly, dehydrated self.
3. You will stay in hostels when you travel, but they are actually WAY more fun than you think.
Because of how expensive accommodations were due to the peak tourist season that is summer, I had to stay in hostels when we went on weekend trips. Staying in a room with up to 11 other random people is not ideal for the average human. Along with the fact that they’re not the cleanest establishments, and the showers have definitely seen better days. That being said, you will meet some really interesting people, and people tend to mind their own business and keep to themselves. So, you don’t really have to worry about them bothering you or going through your stuff.
4. DO NOT try and plan weekend trips the week of. Just like don’t do it.
People book their trips way in advance, so trying to book things the week of will not end well because of the limited availability of accommodations and flights. Try to at least book your trip two weeks in advance to make sure you’re maximizing the availability of everything. Pro tip: book flights on Tuesdays if you can because that is when flights are the cheapest for some reason.
5. You will eat and drink WAY too much.
You are of the legal drinking age when you go abroad. Being college students, of course you’re going to want to drink whenever and wherever it’s possible. Casual drinking is also much more of a thing in Europe because it’s a way of socializing and hanging out with people in a relaxed setting. People will go out for a pint of beer at like 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday. Obviously, you’re going to want to do it too, so you can really feel like you’re fitting into the culture of your home country. The food is also INCREDIBLE. I can very confidently say that I did not have a bad meal while I was abroad, but I did gain a good bit of weight because I wasn’t really working out. It was still soworth it. It’s literally so good I made a food instagram because I wanted to commemorate the joy I felt while consuming mass quantities of food. (Shameless plug, please follow me on Insta @not_just_meat_and_potatoes).
6. Making friends is weird.
(Disclaimer: I’m an extreme extrovert and being alone is not something I’m good at). A lot of the time people go abroad with their best friends or their sorority sisters. I chose to be a lone wolf and brave the world of not knowing a single person in my program. Truth be told, I did struggle. I’ve never had a hard time putting myself out there and making friends, but, when you are put in a foreign country and you have no one to fall back on if you have a hard time making friends right away, it can be really, really scary and very demoralizing. I called my mom in tears everyday for the first 10 days I was there because I felt so incredibly alone. Consequently, I was forced to develop a skill that I did not have before, which was being comfortable alone. I had to be okay with doing things like going out to eat by myself, going shopping by myself, and going to museums by myself. I had never had to do anything like this before. Fortunately, I kind of realized that being alone is a really vital thing to master especially for when you are post-graduate and living on your own. In the end, I’m really glad I was forced to learn this because it will be very important a few years from now. Eventually, I made some great friends, and we were probably the most rag tag squad there ever was in the history of study abroaders, but I learned that being alone is okay.
7. You will get home sick.
Everyone thinks it won’t be them. Especially if you’re not prone to getting homesick at school, you might think it will be a breeze. I hate to say it, but you will get homesick, and it WILL suck. It won’t be the kind of homesick like missing your friends or family. It will be the kind of homesick where you miss two-ply toilet paper in restaurants or walking into a store with American shoe sizes or even missing your favorite snacks. Living in Europe is a pretty big adjustment from the American norm, and it takes a lot of adjusting. That being said, you will eventually adjust and finally figure what European shoe size you are, or maybe learn to love the weird snacks you buy to replace the ones you miss.
8. No weekend should or will go to waste, but you will be perpetually exhausted.
Whether you spend your weekends traveling or you choose to stay in your “home” city, you should and will have some adventure to go on or some experience to make you feel like you’re really understanding the culture. There should always be some hike, some museum, some festival around for you to get a real taste of what it is like to live in that country. If you are not doing something, you’re honestly doing study abroad wrong. DO NOT waste a single minute while you’re there because you will have so much regret if you do. Constantly having things to do will mean that you will be run-down and exhausted, but it will be so worth it when you can go home and gush about all of the amazing adventures you got to experience.
9. It will be the most amazing experience of college so far.
You will have moments where you have frustration, where you will feel like a dumb American, where you will feel alone, but every single minute has a purpose. Every single minute is going towards making you into a more well-rounded individual. Every single minute is making you more open-minded. Every single minute is giving you personal skills that you never knew you needed. You will get to see things that you never dreamed of seeing, and you will meet people who will change your whole perspective on a particular issue or topic. You will depart from your study abroad experience feeling accomplished and empowered. So, why not go?
Photo courtesy of theodysseyonline.com.