You probably had someone come to one of your classes to talk about studying abroad opportunities. Well, I was inspired and studied abroad in Budapest in the fall of 2021. It was a life-changing experience: I tried new foods, visited niche museums, and met amazing people. My favorite foods I tried in Hungary were Chimney Cake, Lángos, and Goulash. Chimney cake, Kürtőskalács, is a dessert wrapped around a cone and cooked over an open fire. The dough is covered in cinnamon sugar and can be topped with toppings such as ice cream. Lángos is a deep-fried flatbread topped with garlic, sour cream, and cheese. Goulash is a Hungarian stew made from meat, vegetables, and broth seasoned with tons of paprika and topped with sour cream. I also visited the surrounding countries including Austria and Czech Republic. In Austria, I went to Vienna. In the Czech Republic, I visited Prague. I recommend studying abroad in Central and Eastern Europe. Central and Eastern Europe is underappreciated. However, it does not matter where you choose; please study abroad. Now here are four tips for studying abroad.
- Learn how to be alone
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When you study abroad, you often have a group of people that you go with during the program. My group was a group of 10 other people. In a large group, people will sometimes disagree with planning activities. This means sometimes you will suggest an activity that no one else wants to participate in. Does this mean you should not partake in that activity? No. You should still do the activity, alone. I know for many people doing certain activities alone, such as eating at a restaurant or café, sightseeing, and traveling, can be intimidating. However, if you’re self-conscious about doing activities alone start small. Go to a café for 20 minutes, bring a book and people watch. As you feel more comfortable you can do bigger activities alone such as sightseeing, or traveling to a different city in the country you’re visiting.
- Ditch vegetarianism and veganism and Try new foods
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This is an unpopular opinion, but ditch the vegetarianism and the veganism while abroad. (Unless it is for religious, cultural, or medical purposes). Vegetarianism and veganism will hold you back from fully immersing in culture because food is a huge part of the culture. Also, sometimes it is difficult to stick to vegetarianism and veganism depending upon the country. Trying new foods will enrich your palette and make you a better cook.
- upgrade your style
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In Europe, they dress differently than in the United States. People generally will not wear athletic wear and sweats for purposes outside the intended original use, compared to in the States where athletic wear and sweats are worn everywhere. Because I wear leggings and sweats everywhere, I had to change my style. I changed my style because while abroad, it is important to blend in with the locals and not stick out for safety reasons. Also, changing your style is a major confidence booster and it’s fun. I did it via thrifting and got a few quality staple pieces to mix and match.
- DOWNLOAD GOOGLE MAPS AND GOOGLE TRANSLATE
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I know this seems obvious, but hear me out. In general, you should download Google Maps to help you go places. However, wherever you are traveling or living abroad, make sure to have that map downloaded offline. For example, when I studied abroad in Budapest, I made sure to have a map of Budapest downloaded to my phone from Google Maps. The benefits of having a map downloaded offline are you can move around without phone data or the internet. However, when the map is downloaded, it will only pull up driving directions offline. To put in non-driving directions on the downloaded map, you put in your directions in a spot where you have internet. Then in an area with no internet, you can access the non-driving directions.
As for Google Translate, download the app, then you want to make sure you download the language of whatever country you are living in or visiting. For example, when I studied abroad in Hungary, I made sure to have Hungarian downloaded from Google Translate. Downloading the language makes it so you can access translating the language offline.
