A Guide to Studying Abroad
A lot of my friends have asked me what the best things to keep in mind for studying abroad are. I also have friends who studied abroad this semester or are going to next semester, so in the spirit of being super jealous, I thought I'd give this a whack and share what I think is most important to keep in mind when/if you are studying abroad.
I think everyone can note that I had the adventure of my lifetime studying abroad. I visited not only London, but Bath, Brighton, Dover, Paris, Champagne, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Florence, Sorrento, Capri, Cinqueterre, Sienna, Mykonos, Santorini, and Ibiza. That is a truly incredible list, but even though studying in London has been my number one dream for like ever, it still wasn't the smoothest transition. I like to laugh when I remember that my first day in London was actual hell on Earth. I felt lost both physically and emotionally, I had to haul three suitcases up 6 flights of stairs due to a broken elevator, my only friend got COVID leaving me all alone, and I realized that this was my life for the next six months. Whether I liked it or not, I was only getting on a flight home in five months, and I had zero connections to rely on, save my own american accent and the book in my suitcase labelled "How to Survive as an American in the UK". I sobbed for 3 hours at least, and then I called my friend Serena who told me to "grow a pair of balls and go to buckingham palace, or something". I did what she said. The next day, I hauled my ass to see the changing of the guards (the first of six times I would see it), I went on a walking tour, and I went to see Six the Musical. That day, I only cried for one hour. And after a week, I stopped crying all together (for the most part). The other study abroad girls arrived. I made some incredible, lifelong friendships. I made a bucket list, and started crossing things off my bucket list: try fish and chips, go to a pub, go on a harry potter walking tour. Oh, and I bought pans and pots so I would finally have an excuse to cook in my smelly, awful kitchen. School started. Days turned into weeks, and before I knew it months had flown by. When the time came to kiss london goodbye, I felt like I was leaving the place I had grown up, my home away from home. Point being, studying abroad, no matter where you go, will UNDOUBTEDLY suck your first few days, and even your first few weeks. You've gotta keep going even when it does. I thought I was insane for deeply hating something I had so been looking forward to, until I talked to the people I met in my first week and realized we were all hating it collectively. And my friends studying abroad now also all called within their first week to ask "Is it normal to feel isolated from everyone?" Yes. Yes it is normal. Let me repeat: if you do not hate studying abroad your first few days, you are either lying to yourself or things will get really bad later. Hating your first few days, if you're normal at all, is the best guarantee that things have to get a whole lot better. My advice on how to make it better?
Everyone says this, but you will likely not sleep on the way there, so do your very best to not fall asleep once you get there if you have a morning flight. Jet lag is a son of a bitch and it will be easier to rip the band aid off if you align your schedule asap
Don't read or pay too much attention to manuals on how to survive in a new country, even my blog. For example, don't be weird and start calling umbrellas brolleys and asking people if they were "hunky dory" right off the bat. That's just weird, mate.
Don't put yourself (or others) in a box. This is a BIG one. My manual (also can we talk about how weird it is that I packed a london manual in my suitcase LOL) said to do my best to not come off as the "overeager American girl", so I stereotyped everyone and stayed in my tiny little flat cubicle until I absolutely had to go to my kitchen in an effort to not be weird. When I finally introduced myself, a few days later, the two people I met were like.... oh hey nice to meet you! So screw manuals, do your own thing.
Speaking of doing your own thing, decide what balance works for you when it comes to staying in touch with your home friends and family. For me, routinely talking to my friends was the only way I could feel normal for the first few weeks when I hadn't yet formed those connections in London. For my best friend, who studied in Barcelona this semester, she swears the only way she made it through was forcing herself to be in the moment and not communicate with home friends who would just make her homesick. The best thing to do is find a balance that works for you, but always veer on the side of the new place you are. Your home friends will be there for you once you're back, so if you can go to a pub with some schoolmates or facetime your sister, I'd shoot to opt for the former in most situations.
PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE. You know what I miss most about studying abroad? When I was in London, I truly felt on top of the world, in the sense that I could walk up to anyone and say something stupid, at a bar, in a class, or on the street. Of course, you will feel uncultured and like an alien when you first land in a new country, especially one where the people speak a different language. But if you choose to only speak to other Americans, or choose to isolate yourself in a smelly flat, you will never grow, or make unforgettable memories. So in that first week, that the thing you'd like to do more than anything is lock yourself in your room binge watching Dynasty (trust me I know), don't do that. Use it as a golden ticket to see the sights on your OWN terms. I picked the photo on the cover of this entry on purpose, as it's from the first day I got up the balls to go sightseeing and ask some rando to take a picture of me. And if nothing happened to me, you'll be fine too:)
As far as money, you'll realize pretty darn quick that studying abroad, between the food and setting up your accommodation (if it isn't already furnished) can get really expensive really fast. Those first few days, it can be hard to remember to eat with all the stress and confusion. I walked around Borough Market 5 times on my first day and it wasn't until I walked out two hours later that I realized I hadn't bought anything to eat. My flat also ended up being stocked with NOTHING. Not even freaking toilet paper, or toilet tissue, or whatever. Thank GOD for Primark. Try to plan ahead (see the next point) and have a weekly budget or something to keep yourself in check.
Prepare ahead of time! There are so many things I mean by this but here are a few suggestions
- If your country has amazon and you'll be studying there, make a student account and get a six month free trial (then immediately cancel it once you're home). Doing this ahead of time will make it easier to buy your pots, pans, sheets, etc. so you don't spend a million dollars eating out and don't end up sleeping on the floor.
- Find out who you will be living with so you don't have a heart attack when you walk through the door. I will ALWAYS remember the moment I knocked on the door of the person across from me and found out it was a guy- culture shock!
- Download ALL the apps. My study abroad program told us to download some critical apps (TimeOut, CityHopper, etc for London) and these were so helpful as someone with no directional sense or idea of what to do or what things were going on.
-Master the transportation (or at least be ready for when you get squashed by the tube or get on the wrong train 49849 times)
-Make a list of trips you want to take! This is the perfect thing to do early because there's not much else to do and once you meet other people, you can make new friends by telling them about your plans and inviting them along
-Know what your school looks like/is doing for orientation. Like in the UK, there is a tradition of freshers where people all meet up and get drinks (even the teachers AHH) the first few weeks and that is so helpful when it comes to meeting people.
Be okay with being alone. Those first few days, it may feel weird to go out for dinner by yourself or to a market alone...until you realize that it is SO normal. Only in America is that looked at as weird, and honestly, I ended up enjoying it so much that once I didn't have to be, I made time for myself to explore on my own at least one day a week.
Finally, to make the first few weeks feel normal but also be living in the moment, document it somehow. Trustm me, it'll help you feel less alone and it will act as a hilarious thing to look back on later. For me, I tripled up on this one- I kept a journal, wrote this blog, and even had a vlogging snapchat story (okay this might be a bit much lol). But it was perfect, because it was something I could look forward to on those days I didn't talk to a million people. It was also a way I documented my culture shock, from the huge teapots at afternoon tea, to the first time I paid for water, to the amount of "sorry's" I heard from Brits.
So that's that. Not going to lie, studying abroad-- in any country-- feels completely like a simulation. Within my first hour of moving to London, I went on a walk around my accommodation and when I heard three British girls talking in their accent, I thought it was an unedited blooper from the masterpiece film "Wild Child". But the sooner, you accept it is real, the sooner you should start making all the mistakes and memories you can.
Go meet people. Say stupid things! Shove bread in your face in Italy. Adopt a cat in Greece. Dance on a boat in Ibiza (and get terribly seasick doing it). Pet a highland cow in Scotland. Miss the bus with your best friends on the way to Bath, and Siena, and a hundred other places. Relax in a Bath spa, Try Haggis in Glasgow, and climb to the top of the St. Paul and Santa Maria Cathedrals. Walk the Brighton boardwalk, sweat up the Dover cliffs, and laugh for hours making pasta in the terrible flat kitchen. Sing your heart out at a theatre cafe, snap pictures of the Eiffel Tower, and take 5 Meloncello shots while running through Sorrento. Meet the queen (RIP) at Windsor, eat all the lemon muffins, pull the emergency string, check yourself into an easyhotel.com, dive through a ball pit bar, and above all, never stop taking risks. It goes by way too fast. And while a picture may be worth a thousand words, an experience studying abroad is worth all 20,000 pounds you'll probably spend doing it. I'll be accidentally writing pounds instead of dollars for the rest of my life, and writing the date wrong for the rest of my life too.... and it's all worth it anyways.