Study abroad teaches you many lessons: how to survive on one suitcase full of clothes for months, how to travel on a budget and how to put yourself out there and make friends. Many of the lessons are learned outside of the classroom. Here are some things I have learned after doing four months of study abroad and traveling.
1. Traveling is much easier than it seems, and you don't need a lot of money to do it.
This is a big one. Before studying abroad, I, like many people, always viewed traveling as something that can only be done with a lot of money or free time, which meant the luxury of not having to work or go to school. The free time part may be more true, but travel can be easily done on a budget, especially if you know how to pick the right locations, forms of travel, accommodations and even food. You can easily travel on a student budget, and if traveling is truly important to you, you can make time for it instead of for other things by using your vacations to travel, study abroad or go on a service trip instead of staying home like you normally might. A little bit of savings can go a long way in travel. Just do it!
2. Traveling and living in a new place makes you more in tune with yourself.
Maybe you've heard it a hundred times, but it really is true. When you force yourself to live somewhere new or be in a completely different location, you become more in tune with what makes you, you: what things you miss, your favorite food, what you like to do in your free time, what makes you sad. It is so much easier sometimes to look at yourself in this basic way in a new place.
3. Who my true friends are.
This one is something many people I know who have studied abroad have experienced. Not everyone is going to be happy for you or want to know all about your experiences. Some people are going to be more interested in your photos, your stories and your blogs than others. When you come back home, this may also be true. Those who care about you the most are happy for you instead of being jealous or petty. It is much harder to maintain a relationship with distance.
4. What is actually important.
When you were at home, you may have thought you could never live without your own bathroom, a full-sized bed, your car, a data plan or whatever else. However, traveling makes you often realize that you don't need these things, especially when you no longer have them. I have gone the majority of four months without data, without Wi-Fi many times, without gluten-free food, breakfast, sometimes with a handheld shower instead of a regular one, without the luxury of flushing toilet paper and no phone for two weeks. And, guess what? I am still alive. What is actually important is that I have a bed, a roof over my head, enough food (though it may not be my favorite or most exciting food), heat, running water and electricity. Most of the time, all you need are the basics to live somewhere else.
