Studying abroad will be the longest, most incredible and scariest roller coaster of your life. You'll meet people who will change your life, go to places you've only ever dreamt about, and discover new things about yourself along the way.
You will, without a doubt, be so uncomfortable when you reach the city that you'll call home for the next four months. The realization that you have zero friends and zero ideas as to what the people around you are saying will hit you like a ton of bricks. And that is exactly where you are supposed to be: in the abyss of wanderlust and confusion. Relish in that feeling, because as badly as you’ll want it to dissipate, it will go away all too quickly.
When you wake up each morning things will start to feel more normal, and you’ll eventually fall into a routine. Don’t fall into a routine. Spontaneity is the best part about your next four months, and it’s something you may be unable to do at your home university. It’s not every day of your life that you get to wake up and hop on a train to the next city over or bike around freely with nothing else to do and nowhere else to be. Do at least one thing every single day that you can’t do at home.
You will miss a lot back home. You will miss football and basketball games, drama, birthdays, and everything in-between. You will miss your friends back home terribly, but being confident in those friendships and the fact that they will remain strong despite the distance is key to your sanity while studying abroad. Confide in those friends, be there for them, but put your phone down and be where you are.
Instead of paying attention in class, you’ll be inspired to plan a trip to a cool city that you’ve never been to. Do it. Get on Skyscanner, book the cheapest flight and ask a couple of the strangers sitting beside you who are also not paying attention in class to go with you—they will say yes. Don’t worry about that one Friday class you can’t go to, because I can promise you that you will never regret the memories you make while traveling the world.
Your eyes will be opened and you will gain a global perspective about everything in life. The things that seem so awful at home don’t seem so terrible when you see the rest of the world. The things that once mattered don’t matter at all, because you’ll realize that there are bigger things in the world. You won’t take for granted the same things that you did four months ago. You will be forced to grow up and mature into the person you’re supposed to be.
Most importantly, you will meet people who make you wonder how you ever lived life without them. These people will awkwardly invite you to do things in your first couple of weeks and you’ll be hesitant to go. Don’t be. Staying in your room watching Netflix in your sweatpants is going to sound tempting, but you will never regret the nights you got a little less sleep and hung out with these perfect strangers who may just end up being your perfect friends.
And then one morning you will wake up and realize that it’s your last day in this city you have fallen in love with and that the four months flew by way too fast. You will cry, you will say goodbye to the people who changed your life, and you’ll board an airplane back home. You’ll take off and hear the flight attendants speak in the language you still don’t know, and your heart will break at the uncertainty of knowing when you may hear those words again.
You’ll land at the airport and see your friends and family who love you and have missed you, and your heart will be filled with joy. But things will be different. You have changed immensely and so have people and things back home. People may not be the same, friend groups may not be the same, and it will be weird. And that is perfectly okay. Part of growing up is changing and growing into the best version of you, and studying abroad plays a large role in that process.
Adjusting to life back home will take time. Memories will flood back to you when you see, smell, or hear certain things, and you will be overcome with emotion. It’s okay to be overwhelmed and it’s okay to be sad. Just remember that that city was yours to call home for a few months, not forever. Hang on to all of the happy memories and new friendships you made, and be forever thankful for the best four months of your life.
