Looking Back
Looking back to late fall and early winter of 2024, I will never forget how nervous I was to click purchase on the Student Universe airline website. That one “purchase” button confirmed the plane ticket that would fly me all the way from Boston to Athens, but not just for a week or two, for four entire months. So many thoughts flooded around my head. What if I don’t make friends? What if I hate it? What if I run out of money? What if I get homesick and want to leave? What if I get sick? What if something terrible happens? I can’t lie when I say that some of these things did actually happen, but I can also say that everything turned out to be more than fine.
The Early Stages of Abroad
When I arrived in Athens I was imaging that it would look and feel just like how it did in the movies, but I was unpleasantly surprised to find that it gets cold during the winter in Greece, just like it does back home. It rains a lot too. My first week of classes, I was not prepared for the 20-minute uphill walk to campus and back, and I was so unfamiliar with my new school layout that I went to the wrong class or missed my entire class at least once a day for the first week. During this time, I also came down with a nasty cold. I remember coming back to my apartment after class every day being completely exhausted and wondering to myself how I was ever going to adjust to this. It’s safe to say I was a hot mess during the first month of being abroad and that I took more naps than I ever have in my entire life. In the beginning, it felt like my life was a disaster. My phone data didn’t work, I was sick, I walked to class in the rain because I didn’t have an umbrella, I bought two conditioners at the local store instead of shampoo, and I got lost in Crete without my friends or a working phone. But most of all I missed my family, my friends, my cat, and my access to a car.Â
Friendship Abroad
This all may seem really negative, but the early bumps in the road smoothed out with time and things started to get better, especially in terms of becoming closer with my friends. Getting closer with them is one of the things that really helped me when I was still adjusting to this new life. I was very worried about making friends when I first got there because I am a naturally introverted person, but my friend from school and I were introduced to four of the girls from our program through some of the program’s incredible excursions. We became inseparable with these girls. Leaving them at the end of my time there was so hard because they are such good people and they are friends who I had so much fun with. I will never forget them. We went on trips together, hiked trails around Mount Olympus together, went to our favorite karaoke bar together, did work together, cooked meals together, and everything in between.Â
It’s So Worth It
Although my time in Greece got off to a rocky start and I was a total mess for a few weeks, this place ended up being my favorite place in the world. Eventually, the walk I used to dread, I now miss every day. Everything that I struggled with in the beginning ended up working out and left me with a better version of myself than before. Everything about me changed from when I first arrived in Greece to when I came home, but in the best possible way. Going abroad forced me to grow as a person, and it left me with some of the best memories that I will look back on for the rest of my life. Learning to live in a foreign country is not easy at first, but now I have the Athens bus routes memorized and I haven’t enjoyed adjusting to a life where I cannot see at least two friendly cats wandering the streets every day. I cannot wait to go back to the beautiful city of Athens someday. My advice to anyone worried about going abroad is that, honestly, you are going to experience bumps in the road, but at the end of the day they only make you a better person and teach you important things. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so go into it with an open mind and say “yes” to every opportunity that is offered to you. Your loved ones will be patiently waiting for you when you arrive back home.