Hey there! I’m so happy you’ve decided to study abroad, or at least are considering it. Studying abroad is an amazing, once in a lifetime experience, and you surely will not regret it. Coming from someone who studied abroad a year ago, I still wake up and can’t believe it truly happened. I studied abroad in a large town, and if I close my eyes, I most definitely can tell you where each and every restaurant was located, or how many minutes it would take to walk from my apartment to the local ALDI. It’s been about 7 months since I returned to the States, and there are most definitely days in which I wish I was back in Heidelberg. UConn is amazing, but man do I miss having a castle practically at my doorstop.
But I’ll admit, going abroad is not full of rainbows and puppies. Homesickness. It’s certainly not a topic I bring up when asked about studying abroad, and I know I’m not the only one. How many blogs have you read about the magic that is traveling? How many have mentioned feeling miserable and alone because you realize for perhaps the first time that you’re not a quick car ride away from home? It happens, and it’s not pretty. But at the same time, there’s a blessing to be found. We all have our families, our friends, people we need to be connected to 24/7. And then you find yourself in a world where you’ve been up for most of the day before the US is even awake. You’ve already explored countless alleys and museums before your best friend has had her morning coffee. It creates a divide, whether we want to admit it or not. It’s not a bad problem, but it will probably alienate you. I won’t lie, this was something I truly struggled with. Living alone certainly didn’t help, but the imperative part is that this passes. 99% of students who study abroad will feel this (and that 1% who don’t are basically perfect), and it will pass. Just don’t give up on your experience. Don’t count it as a failure and try to hightail it home. Get involved, find a club, or just sit in a café by your flat. Experience the culture; meet new people and those feelings will subside. Acknowledge that you might be alone at the moment, but it’s when we feel particularly challenged that we are most able to grow into ourselves. You won’t become your best self by sitting at home. You might be comfortable, but what’s comfort? It’s like that saying, “You don’t remember the nights you got enough sleep.” Otherwise known as college.
So study abroad. Let your heart and your mind guide you in choosing your program and you surely won’t fail. Even if you do, and it turns out you hate big cities, let the experience guide you into the future. How will we ever learn what we do and don’t like if we don’t give ourselves the freedom to make mistakes? Living in a foreign country, by yourself, for an extended period of time is a scary decision, and it’s ok to be scared. I was a bundle of raw energy practically from the moment I was accepted until the second month of my semester. I bounced from thrilled to terrified at a moment’s notice. No one knew what I was feeling, I probably least of all. I wanted to study abroad, I didn’t want to leave home, I felt my heart racing at the thought of traveling, I was petrified of being alone. It’s normal. I would even say it’s healthy.
Remember, it’s those risks we do take and the challenges we say yes to that make us the strong women we are and will be. It’s the victories in meeting a new friend for coffee or taking the tube alone that build us up and tell us, yes, you can do this. Whether you’re hiking (for the first time!) or trying to get your haircut in a foreign language, revel in the new experiences. How many people actually get to live abroad? Try to remember how blessed you are; know that when you look back, you won’t see the moments when you thought your arms were about to fall off from carrying groceries for miles; you’ll see the evenings watching football in the student bar, celebrating another spectacular day.
HCXO,
Jennifer