This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Poly chapter.
One of the great things about going abroad is that you get the chance to meet fellow students from all over the world, not just the country you are studying in. Americans are the most likely to study abroad, but there are also various other countries that encourage going abroad. In Europe, there is a program called ERASMUS that encourages students to go abroad and even provides them with a fairly generous allowance.
While abroad, everyone goes through bouts of homesickness no matter how amazing the place is or how much fun you’re having. Not suprisingly, traditional holidays seem to trigger homesickness. My friends and i have come to the conclusion that the best way to combat these possible onsets of homesickness is to host parties and force everyone to celebrate tradition together. These have been some of my most memorable days abroad.
For example, last weekend we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. One of the Americans is 100% Irish, and he takes great pride in his heritage. He decided we would celebrate how he always has: with giant amounts of pancakes, eggs and, of course, beer. We all celebrated together and it was the best St. Patrick’s Day I’ve ever had. It didn’t hurt that we had found some of the most bizarre green outfits (and a kilt for our prize Irishman) at a thrift shop the day before.
It goes the same way towards showing the French our customs as well. They are very curious about American culture, food and way of life. One of my friends here has a fun young host family. Some of my friends and I have been making them typical American lunches. One day we did tacos, which are obviously not American but definitely a staple! They were curious and looked a little wary of all the components. It was also a little difficult for them to master how to roll a taco and keep all the fillings from falling out. In the end it was a success and their curiosity to try other mexican dishes (namely burritos and enchiladas) was piqued. This past weekend, we decided to make them an American brunch, because it doesn’t really exist in most other cultures. We made banana chocolate pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and mimosas. The French are intrigued by our thicker, heavier form of crepes but it seemed like these ones were a hit, especially with the two-year-old, who had to be chased down to wipe the chocolate from his face. Mimosas were also a very strange concept to them. Champagne is very celebrated in France since it is a regional specialty of the prosperous region, Champagne, so they don’t consider mixing it with anything, especially at breakfast. They were pleased by it and invited us to come cook for them again, so I take that as a good sign. During these lunches, we try to speak primarily in French, and we exchange little sayings– they explain things to us and we explain things to them.
When I have these kind of cultural exchanges, I realize the true benefits of studying abroad. It’s not just taking intensive language courses or getting to see a different part of the world, it’s about embracing a truly internationally enriching experience. A lot of my most interesting and fun experiences have been when I was sharing a part of my culture or someone was sharing a part of their culture with me. This is a benefit of study abroad that I wasn’t expecting and I know it will leave some of the most lasting impressions.