I felt lonely. Everyone warns you about the difficulties of study abroad, specifically how different life is in other countries. I lost count of the number of times people warned me about culture shock. What people don't warn you about is how hard it is to adjust to knowing no one. Sure, it’s strange going from being able to get a burrito in under five minutes to having every meal last at least over an hour, but what’s harder is that at first you may not have people to do it with. It's a strange feeling to go from your university, where the majority of your friends live within a couple-of-mile radius of you, to not even having anyone's phone number. It's like you are an awkward freshman all over again just trying to make friends, but just like freshman year, that part will pass and you will find your friends.
A lot of things went wrong. Whether it’s lost luggage, a missed flight, or losing your passport, there are bound to be bumps in the road while studying abroad. For me, it happened to be getting pickpocketed and having an ear infection from the Mediterranean Sea all in one weekend. Nice, France? More like MEAN, France. I was lucky enough to have friends who offered to loan me money for the weekend and brought me chocolate to help me feel better.
My classes were one of the most impactful parts. The experience I had inside my classroom while abroad surely surpassed my expectations. Being in a class with professors and students from different countries than my own proved to make my learning experience all the more riveting and informative. I met and became friends with people from Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Italy, and Poland. My classes were unique, and I learned about things that were distinctive to the region. My professors taught me about things I hadn’t been exposed to before by an American school system, and it broadened my understanding of global politics and issues. In hindsight, I probably would have gotten a better grade in my media class if I didn't start my 10-page final paper on the plane ride home, but I still learned a lot. Don't listen to those people who say they never even went to class when abroad, because they missed out on what would have been a great learning experience.
I made some really amazing friendships. Traveling with people you just met a week or two ago proved to be an amazing bonding experience for me and my friends. The friendships I made while abroad had to be made quick and they had to be strong. To be thrown together in a foreign country, and experience so many new things every day with the same people, made the journey all the more memorable. Being sleep deprived and in stressful situations meant everyone's true colors showed very quickly. We skipped the pleasantries and went straight into the, "I have a One Direction Twitter fan page, too!," part of the friendship. Being in different time zones than our friends and families back home meant you only had each other to rely on most of the time. We saw each other cry, we got lost together, and lent each other a lot of money. Even though most of the friends I made don't live in the same state as me, and some not even the same country, it is amazing knowing if I ever find myself in San Diego, Cairo, or Houston, I'll have a friend I can call.
It went by slower than I thought it would. There were some extremely long days for me. From the 12-hour bus ride I took back from France or the eight hours I spent sitting in the library writing a paper and studying for a midterm, there were undoubtedly days I wished would end. A group of friends and I had an 18-hour-delay for a two-hour flight trying to come back from Vienna, Austria. We may have eaten McDonald's three times within those 18 hours, but that is beside the point. With a flight that was supposed to leave Sunday night, I definitely didn't expect to have to email my professor saying I wouldn't make it to my class on Monday, but when abroad you have to expect the unexpected. It wasn’t so terrible though, because if I had to be stuck somewhere, then one of Mozart's favorite city wasn't such a bad place to be.
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It was over before I knew it. You think a semester of college goes by fast? Study abroad will go by even faster. While my study abroad experience was only five weeks long, I know people who went for full semesters would also agree with me. When I look back on my study abroad experience, I desperately wish I could zap myself back to that time and place. If you're like me at the end of your study abroad, you will wonder how it was possible for time to pass that quickly. I remember when I hit the halfway point thinking I still had so much more time left, but then it was over before I knew it. It’s crazy how you can look back over a period of time and put it in terms of how many different countries you went to, how few hours of sleep you got, and how many times you cried from laughing so hard.
