As the winter goes into full force and the holiday season is over, many Drexel students have gotten an extra, long-awaited present: study abroad program acceptance. While it's incredibly easy (and totally natural) to get completely carried away in the fantasy of what dreams can come true in a foreign landscape (like that time Lizzie McGuire totally became an international superstar), it's important to remember a few things and plan ahead a little before your dream experience turns into your worst nightmare.

1. Start (at least try) to make a sensible budget.

If I can impart one piece of wisdom from my experience abroad, the most important one would be to have some sort of a budget in mind. I totally get it, it's really really difficult to possibly know what food and travel costs are going to be before you even get there, and don't get me started on the exchange rates, but having a baseline idea going into the experience of what you are prepared (and can afford) to spend will make the experience so much less stressful from the get go. No one wants to constantly have to worry about how much money they have and have spent, and even if you have to tweak it a little bit to reflect cost of living differences, you'll be better off then if you went into the experience blind.

2. Try to plan for any traveling outside of your destination.

The best and worst part of study abroad can be the spontaneity that comes with being in a foreign place and being able to go wherever you please and do whatever you want with no one to answer to (for the most part). However, I learned through my experience that a lot of unnecessary headaches can arise from being ill prepared. Now, in my defense, our international schools didn't give us our schedules until the last minute (thanks FIE & ESCE), but you still want to try and plan for the weekends. So, unless you want to be like me and my friends and end up almost homeless in Nice, or paying top dollar to book that trip to Dublin the day before you leave, plan ahead.

3. Seriously, don't overpack.

Everyone tells you this, so it's not really anything new, but it's so true. I like to have options, so naturally I packed everything and anything that I thought that I'd possibly want to wear or use once. Fast forward to me trying to maneuver three suitcases through the airport and on cobblestone Parisian sidewalks while also trying to look at a hand map. Yeah, it was about as fun and graceful as you can imagine. If looking like a tourist isn't enough of a reason to not overpack, the things that you'll pick up over the course of your trip will add up and when that adds up, the space you need increases (I had to buy another suitcase), and the baggage fees at the airport will skyrocket, too. So even though being separated from your things for an extended period of time can be stressful, your life will end up being so much less stressful when you don't have to worry about hauling as many things around on your trip.

4. Always, always carry some cash.

OK, I'm going to be honest, even after my experiences and the headaches I've experienced from only carrying credit cards on vacation, I still never carry cash. That being said, I beg you to be smarter than me, and always keep some currency on you at all times while you're abroad. What I found out in Europe is that a lot of places don't take credit cards, and, yeah, that taxi that you need to take home from the club at 4 a.m. -- it doesn't take credit cards, either. So before you leave at night, put those 50 euros in your wallet because you'll hate yourself come 4 a.m. when you're walking all the way home, or when you're searching for an ATM when your flight is in an hour and you still need to get to the airport.

5. Be careful of strangers.

Now, please forgive me if I sound like your grandparents, but when you're on a trip abroad with only a small group of people from your school (some that you may not even really know), you definitely want to be weary of the randoms that may walk into your life. While that stranger could totally be the love of your life, they could also be the one that ruins your trip. During my stay with a few friends in Nice, we made the mistake of letting randoms we met in a hostel lobby during our brief stint of homelessness (who were also homeless, too) stay with us for the night when we found a hotel. Let's just say, we had quite the scare, and I'm pretty sure that the four of us will still be telling the story (and weary of Irish and Danish travelers) when we're 90.

6. Try to learn the language.

Now, coming from someone who definitely did not try and learn the language, this might seem a bit hypocritical, but I'm telling you that learning a bit of the language can go a long way. It was so bizarre being on the metro in Paris and not knowing a single word of what all the people talking around me were saying. Most programs that go to foreign speaking countries require you take a survivor course while you're there. If you take any course somewhat seriously, make it that one. Everyone you encounter will appreciate you a little more for putting in the effort to learn and try to use the language.

7. Don't take your classes too seriously.

Now, this may seem like a no brainer, but it's study abroad. None of the courses that you're going to take (hopefully) will have much of an impact on your intellectual journey to your degree. Now, you definitely want to attend your classes, especially since most programs make attendance mandatory, but that's about all I'd recommend. Staying in to study and spending hours on a pointless project will take away from the experiences you could have exploring your chosen city. I put in the minimum effort required, still ended up with 4 As and a B, and had an incredible experience being abroad every single night. Trust me, you won't remember what you did in class or what your project was on, but you'll remember that night exploring the Marais or going to that dive bar in Shoreditch.

8. Don't be afraid to open yourself up.

This can go for so many things, but allowing yourself to be open to everyone and every experience is so important for getting the most out of the experience. For the amount of money that goes into a study abroad experience, you want the most bang for your buck. Sure, I was scared as hell when I saw that I only tangentially knew one of the people on my trip of nine, but I told myself that I was going to try my best to leave the trip with nine new friends. Even if you are from different majors or social circles, chances are that being in a new place away from everyone else will bring you close. I still see most of the people that I went abroad with, and the shared experience that you have of that three months abroad is incredibly binding. Even though I didn't know them before, no one will ever be able to understand the highs and lows of Paris and London like Abby, Christina and Jesse will. If you don't open yourself up, you'll miss out on the biggest part of the adventure.

9. Take advantage of your personal network.

This may seem like a weird one from the title, but trust me, it's one of the most important. Before and during your trip, take notice to people that you know that are abroad around where you are. Even if you wouldn't normally call them on a Friday night at home, taking advantage of the fact that you know someone around where you are is totally worth it. Whether you want to see some fresh faces outside of your travel group or you want to try and skip out on paying for a hotel in that other city you want to see, shoot all of those people you may know a Facebook message and try to meet up. Now, I got lucky and my little lives outside of London, so I had a local right in my close friends group, but it isn't going to hurt you to reach out to that girl you haven't seen since 11th grade. Everyone in my group did it, and as a result, we had so much more fun, a much bigger group of people to hang out with, and more people to laugh with and recall all the shenanigans with when we got home.

10. Document your adventures and take a moment to soak it all in.

Once your in the thick of it, the whole experience of being abroad flies by. It may be tempting to try and visit 15 countries in 12 weeks, but I'd caution you to take it a little slower. During my trip, we went out of town and explored new places on most weekends, and by the end of our 11 weeks, I was pretty exhausted. It wasn't the best feeling in the world, and I was certainly ready to come home. To make the most of the experience, I would recommend finding a balance between exploring the world and taking a moment to sit down and soak the experience in. When you get home, you're going to be glad that you didn't exhaust yourself, and you'll still have plenty of memories to tell people for the first three months that you're back home. Also, while it may be tempting to take a picture of every cool looking building (I know, you're only here once), but prioritizing the important things will make your photo album so much more meaningful, less tedious to go through when you inevitably upload to social media, and you won't have to keep deleting things on your phone to have enough storage space for the 3,000 photos of buildings and beaches.

This is by no means a complete guide, but I guarantee that if you keep these things in mind before and during your experience abroad, you will have the most incredible time. Most importantly (and it doesn't need a number on a list), is to enjoy yourself and make memories that you'll never forget. Cliche, yes, but chances are you'll only have the time to be abroad for three months during college (or after you're retired), so you definitely want to get it right.

Bon voyage and carpe diem!