Enhancing Your Experience
Being abroad for a semester or a year can be tough. You may find yourself feeling homesick quite often and
not knowing what to do to avoid it. Making friends is a great way to do this and going out and having fun with them will help. However, nothing compares to meeting someone who makes you feel completely at home while studying abroad.
Having a relationship abroad can truly shape your experience into something you would have never imagined. Finding someone from a different culture that you can connect with can help bridge cultural differences that you may encounter.
You are also able to gain more friends through your significant other. The relationship can open a whole new view of the country and its people. The support and love of your significant other can make you feel at home and make your experience so much more exciting and rewarding.
I met someone while being abroad in England who is so incredible and has made my life here so much better than I could have ever imagined. Meeting him is probably the best thing that could have happened to me here. Because of him, I have so many friends that I would not have had the chance to meet, and I have learned so much more about people here and the culture. He made me feel comfortable. I was never homesick with him and he wasn’t just my boyfriend, but my best friend. He made being abroad truly the most wonderful experience I could ever have had.
While it can be the most rewarding part of your experience abroad, sometimes establishing a relationship with someone from another country can be difficult. The cultural differences may cause a lot of misunderstandings and communicating can be hard and confusing at times, especially if there is a language barrier.
Saying Goodbye
Another difficult aspect of being in a relationship abroad is saying goodbye. Long distance is possible, but hard and not doable for everyone. At some point, you and your significant other will need to discuss if you want to continue your relationship and if so, how you will maintain it. You can always use Skype and Facebook, e-mail and phone calls to keep your relationship together. You could even have a movie date over Skype and watch the same thing at the same time. If possible, your significant other could even hopefully come and visit you.
If you have decided to end your relationship, going through a break-up while being abroad can be one of the toughest things you’ll ever go through. Without your usual support system from back home, it can be a lot harder to cope. However, just knowing your friends at home are a short phone call away can help. You can call them, Skype them, or Facebook them and they will be there for you in the best way that they can. And when you finally return home, they will be there for you the way they have always been.
Despite all of the possible difficulties that come with being in a relationship abroad, I truly believe it can make your experience so much better by giving you a chance to get to know someone from another culture so deeply. It can be one of the best experiences you’ll ever have because it allows you to see the culture in a way you may not have seen it before.