Sometimes, I can feel myself in that lit-up room when I close my eyes: The one with the music blasting loudly, with Bad Bunny screaming “Titi mé preguntó” as my friends and I danced with one another, holding closely onto the night. It was a different world out there. It was freeing. For six months, I had the opportunity to eat, pray and love in Spain, all while making life-long friends. I went from heading onto my flight at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to going to Ibiza with 1,000 other college students, finding love in Paris and going to raves with my best friend in Amsterdam. Here are my tips for a successful study abroad trip:
Tip #1: Put yourself out there.
I wish I could say I met my people the second I started my study abroad. Unfortunately, it went differently than what I had originally expected. I didn’t feel very comfortable with the cliquey groups in my particular study abroad program and felt that I was lost, walking on a tightrope. With the encouragement of some of my college friends and my own inner grit I started showing up to random events I found on the Erasmus Instagram. Erasmus is a program where students are studying abroad in other schools in the EU. However, anyone can attend some Erasmus events and one could also pay a $15 dollar fee for the Erasmus Student Network which gives access to an even larger pool of events.
I heard about Erasmus from a friend who studied abroad in Amsterdam. I saw them constantly posting about free events on Instagram. As an American, I was skeptical of the premise of a free event. Since when is anything fun free?
I remember walking in and instantly meeting some new girls by the coat check. This one girl and I were attached by the hip the whole night. We walked downstairs together to get to the club, Shoko, where there was food and people from all over the world in one room mingling. In two hours, it would become a full fledged club.
I began going up to random people and talking with them meeting some kind people and exchanging Instagram usernames. While I was nervous at first to be at a club essentially alone, I soon realized everyone was also there to make friends and have a good time, which made me feel less alone. While it was scary to put myself out there, it was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Tip #2: It’s okay if you don’t find your people right away.
When I was in Spain, I didn’t meet my people right away. As mentioned above, it required me to put myself out there. Not all moments in the beginning were live, love and laugh worthy, but I learned to make the best out of every night.
One night, I went to a nightclub with a few Northeastern students and some others in our program. It was the biggest nightclub in Barcelona and one I had previously been to last summer. To make a long story short, I was ditched at the club and never heard from these people again. I was alone there and feeling anxious. That was incredibly scary. But somehow in line before they ditched me, I made friends with four British university students who were very cute and sweet. As I grappled with the fact that I saw the friends look at me and then walk to who knows where in the crowd, I ran into the boys again. “Where are your friends?” they asked. “Oh, they ditched me.” And that was that. The boys took me in, we danced, ran around the club, laughed and I eventually ended up having a little love story adventure with one of them.
My point is, while something objectively negative happened to me, I found other people who weren’t going to ditch me and it turned out to be one of the best nights of my life.
And after that, I continued to attend more events and put myself out there to find the people who would never ditch me.
#3 Go on trips even if you’re alone.
I will preface this by saying this might sound so scary, but I don’t necessarily mean to travel solo, which is also something I personally love to do. What I did was sign up for group trips, traveling around cities with other college students from all over the world through Erasmus. I’m not sure what other countries have, but take any trip you can even if you don’t know anyone going on them. For instance, I heard about a trip Erasmus planned for spring break which was five days around Andalucía, a region in the South of Spain. I wasn’t sure what to do with that much time, so I decided to take the leap of faith and sign up.
With a group of about 80 university students from all over the world, I traveled nine hours from Barcelona to Córdoba to Seville, and then Málaga, Gibraltar and Granada. It was incredible. Beyond the indescribable beauty of the moorish and gothic architecture, Andalucía felt extremely safe and welcoming. More importantly, it was on this trip and a subsequent group trip to Ibiza where I met some of my closest friends from my study abroad, many of whom I still talk to today.
On that same note, I’m not against solo trips that aren’t with an already established tour group as long as they are well-researched and safe. If you are going to be traveling around whatever continent or country you’re in, I highly recommend staying in hostels. It’s a great way to make friends and a lot of hostels offer the choice to stay in female-only rooms. In Paris, I stayed at a hostel and ended up making friends with a really cool American girl who was somehow talking to the same guy I was texting who lives in Amsterdam. My new friend and I ended up going out together. That night, I met this dreamy French man who took me around a gorgeous neighborhood in Paris showing me views from the perspective of a Parisian. So please, if you’re trying to live for the plot, stay in hostels and meet new people.
To conclude, studying abroad is an amazing time to find out more about yourself and could be truly life-changing. As always, it’s important to stay aware of your surroundings and keep yourself safe while embracing the new opportunities that come your way.