With studying abroad, excitement is a necessary component in the pre-trip process. Though you may be reading this prior to departure, understand that the anticipation and enthusiasm may not subside as you inch closer towards departure. I have broken the following post into subsections of specific emotions and experiences that you may encounter as you inch closer to going abroad, or even land in your host country.
Excitement: Like I said before, excitement is typically the feeling that people who are studying abroad express the most. Many of us anticipate this moment so early on that it’s essentially impossible to even hold back on the excitement. As I have mentioned in my first post (Before the Adventure: What to Know Before Studying Abroad), I had been eager to study abroad forever; I knew at such a young age that I wanted to live and study in a foreign country, that it was no surprise for me that I surpassed nearly a decade of excitement. I will add that for building study abroad up in my head for nearly ten years, it was everything I could have ever imagined. Your emotions may fluctuate as this process gets more intense, but the excitement that entrails studying abroad will not subside. If it does…I suggest you go through all your photos from the trip and reflect on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! There will always be one big excitement from your experience abroad. Mine was fulfilling my childhood dream of living in London…oh, also seeing Prince William drive past us by Kensington Palace…that was exciting too!
Anxiety: Before I begin discussing anxiety, know you are not alone in feeling this way before and/or during your trip. There is bound to be a moment throughout your journey in which you will feel anxious, or you’ll at least find some stress at some point. This is not meant to scare you, but rather to prepare you. Many find that the majority of their anxieties fall into the pre-trip category; that is, they find themselves stressing during the packing process and maybe even reconsidering their journey. I will say I had my fair share of doubts the summer prior to departure, yet it’s important to focus on the end goal: living it up in a foreign country! I have provided some advice for packing and preparing for studying abroad, but there are also numerous other blogs and resources revolving around studying abroad. I remember I found myself extremely anxious as I was trying to determine what all I needed and how I needed to pack. I would spend countless hours researching other blogs and Pinterest, only to constantly feel unprepared. I feel myself entering a tangent, so if you’d like more reference into the realm of packing, my last blog — Essentials for Study Abroad: How and What to Pack — can provide you with some insight as to all you need for your trip. Although, reverting back to the topic of anxiety, it’s completely normal, maybe even expected, to feel anxious throughout the process. In the case of feeling anxious, know that everyone else on your trip (and even those of us who’ve studied abroad before) have experienced these moments at some point in their study abroad experience. If you haven’t found yourself stressed during the beginning stages of packing, that’s great! There’s no specific track that every person studying abroad follows, so don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong or are going to be hit with terrible anxiety later in the trip. Anxieties and even reconsideration are bound to happen with any big decision, but I wouldn’t advise giving in. As cheesy as it may sound, this upcoming adventure is going to be something that you’ll remember forever. No matter how your adventure goes, know that you will come back much more mature and aware of the world around you, which is tremendously important in society today. There’s a great quote by John Mayer that ties in perfect with what I want to leave you with regarding anxiety: “Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.”
Pre-Trip Interaction: Welcome back to the usual, light-hearted advice for your journey abroad! As your time in the States (or wherever home is for you!) draws to a short close, you’ll want to start interacting with the people you’ll be living and traveling with for the next several months. It’s important to start getting to know your travel peers before departure, this way you can narrow in on some of the important aspects of planning. If you know you’re studying abroad with friends, talk with them and see where they want to travel while abroad. Are they planning on traveling every weekend? Do they already have certain destinations in mind? Since I’m a travel-junkie and have been planning my study abroad forever, I already had some places I wanted to suggest to friends. In this situation, though, understand that your friends probably have places in mind as well, so be prepared to compromise on trips since you do still have a limited time overseas with them. That said, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get to travel to all the places on your list this time. I was dying to go to Greece while we were in Europe, but it was just too expensive and wasn’t going to fit into our schedule. BUT, since I didn’t make it to Greece this time, I used this as an excuse to tell myself I need to go back to Europe in the near future!
Along with focusing on travel plans, you have to prepare for if their family (or yours) is coming to visit at some point. All of my flatmates were having their family or friends from home come and visit at some point during our time in London, so we all had to be mindful of our actual travel time together. We ended up compiling a list of all the dates we were unavailable to travel (for family or friend visits) and referred to that whenever we would plan a weekend trip. This tactic helped us tremendously because we were able to then map out what destinations were absolute musts to visit and which we could come back for later in life (sadly Greece…).
Although I lucked out having some of my closest friends studying abroad with me, that typically isn’t the case. So if you don’t know anyone on your study abroad trip, don’t fret, that’s totally normal. I actually have a friend studying abroad right now and she didn’t know anyone else going on her trip, but she’s currently living it up and having the time of her life in Sweden!
Use this time before departure as an opportunity to put yourself out there. Introduce yourself! I know many schools have group chats or Facebook groups, so start getting to know some of your peers through those platforms. If you’re nervous it’d be weird or awkward, just remember that most of them are in the same boat as you and are just as nervous, yet eager to meet their travel buddies.
Whichever your case may be, use this experience to be outgoing and make new friends. Some of the people I studied abroad with I probably would have never interacted with on campus, yet they are now some of my best friends. Like I’ve said, study abroad will change your life (in a good way)!
During-the-Trip Interaction: So you’ve made it to your host country (or you’re reading ahead, which is good too)! Congratulations! You’ve already taken your biggest plunge. Use the first few days to get acclimated and interact with some of the locals. Immerse yourself into the culture instantly. You’ve been preparing for this moment for a while now (maybe not ten years, but long enough), so you should be relatively prepared to take in the new culture around you. You may find that your host country’s culture is completely different than your’s, but that’ll only make you more aware of cultures later. So talk with the local people of this new nation. Visit local shops: coffee shops, boutiques, cafes, and so forth. If you find yourself hedging towards the tourist aspects of the country, try those out as well, but see if anyone can recommend some other places that most tourists miss, or ones that only locals really go to. I know when my friends and I were in Dublin, we spoke with some of the locals and realized that some of the places we had on our list to visit were major tourist traps (meaning the chances of you seeing any locals there were quite slim). For instance, the Guinness factory…wouldn’t necessarily recommend (unless you LOVE Guinness, then go forth and enjoy!), but it is typically considered a tourist trap to the locals. Instead, we were recommended places like visiting Trinity College (the Book of Kells is there for any history buffs!), the Cliffs of Moher (slightly touristy, but absolutely breathtaking views…literally to someone who’s afraid of heights, like myself), and even Blarney Castle if your looking for the gift of gab*! However you wish to approach your first few days abroad, don’t hesitate to take some backroads and explore some unusual sites. Some of my absolute favorite places in London were found by taking adventurous walks and talking with locals.
Stay tuned for more posts about my experiences and recommendations for exploring cities such as London, Paris, Prague, Oslo, Berlin, Rome, and so many more!
*If you kiss the Blarney stone, legend says you’ll have the gift of gab going forth…some say I do, but I still have my quiet, introverted ways.
Navigating Nomad 