Studying abroad is the most amazing experience of your life, but that doesn’t mean it comes without challenges. As life constantly reminds us, we must take the good with the bad and the bad with the good, so while study abroad sits on its pedestal of fame and glory, let’s talk about how it’s not all rainbows and sunshine all the time.
Homesickness. I never thought I’d get it, but it happened as soon as I arrived. It comes at different times for others – one month in, halfway through the semester, or in waves. Technology is a beautiful thing, allowing you to see your pets, parents, and significant others, but sometimes you crave their touch, or maybe even the touch of a cold iced coffee from Dunkin’s that doesn’t exist in a foreign country…
Speaking of which, culture shock is real, people! Most likely, your favorite restaurants won’t be around, you won’t know where you’re going, and a language barrier can make you feel really stupid. It takes time to accept things like a lack of take-out food or coins being a significant form of currency. You’ll adjust eventually, but learn to appreciate the beauty around you in the meantime. Or, occupy yourself with something more familiar, like homework.
Yes, homework still exists. You are here to study, remember? Teachers might go easy at first, and then suddenly, you have five papers due on Monday but you’re travelling to the French Riviera over the weekend, and you have to do a good job because your grades are transferring back. You can’t afford for your GPA to drop if you still want that scholarship so you have to pull an all-nighter and then reward yourself with gelato for breakfast in the morning.
And that reminds you of all the other things you need to get done, like do laundry and go grocery shopping, because oh yeah, you’re an adult now. It’s not as easy anymore as going to the dining hall to steal bananas or the health office to get cough drops. Living in an apartment means you need to find time between sight-seeing to clean your bathroom and do the dishes. You have to buy salt and pepper, toilet paper and trash bags, and you should probably start a budget because…
You will be broke. Studying abroad takes broke college student to the next level because no job means no income. We spend months saving for it and it’s all gone in one semester. On the bright side, everyone you come home to will be gifted with foreign goodies and you’ll have traveled more than most people ever do.
The most painful thing you’ll spend your money on is a whole new wardrobe since your closet is at home. Packing a semester’s worth of clothes into a suitcase is impossible, so even after you think you chose the perfect mix of basics and statement pieces to get you through every day with a different outfit, you’re wrong. Two weeks in, you’re sick of your clothes and have to go shopping even though you have everything you need thousands of miles away.
You might need to buy new clothes anyways because your body will change. Chances are you’ll gain weight and this is an emotional journey you’ll have to learn to be okay with. You might even develop some acne from all the pastries you’ve been trying or experience stomach problems from all those sweets.
All that eating will make you really tired. So will walking ten miles a day, traveling all weekend, and cramming for midterms during the week. Studying abroad is exhausting. It’s really hard to complain about this one, since people back home would kill to take a quick trip to Venice for the day, but it does wear you out.
Is anybody else noticing this is starting to sound like one of those “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” books? Studying abroad is a roller coaster of many things, but the most important thing is this: It is all worth it. Even the difficulties are benefits, since they are what make you grow as a person and become independent. And think about how satisfying that Dunkin Donuts iced coffee will be when you get back home.