You Only Study Abroad Once

 

You’ve been accepted to study abroad! Congratulations! Angers, Scotland, Seoul, Koblenz?  It doesn’t matter where you’re going–what matters is making the most of your time away from home. Chances are, if you let it, it will be the time of your life. So, if you want to make those memories that will last a lifetime, read on! 

 

Let yourself off the hook. Chances are, your GPA is pretty important to you. While you should be learning at least a little bit abroad, cut yourself some slack on your semester abroad. Consider taking less than a full course load. The things you’ll remember most are the adventures you took and the experiences you had abroad, not what you learned from ripping your hair out over getting the conclusion paragraph of your Introduction to Media Studies essay just right. 

 

Try new things. It goes without saying, but this may be the only time in your life that you’ll get to truly experience things like haggis and black pudding, vegemite, or whatever the local delicacy in your new home may be. You may not like some of the things you taste, but consider this forage into foreign food part of your cultural education. Try things that you can’t pronounce or that sound kind of gross–they won’t kill you! The locals eat them all the time, and they’ve survived thus far; you will too. If anything, you can Instagram your dish, take a bite, and have another thing to mark off of your bucket list.

 

Don’t be afraid to do things by yourself. Safety, should, of course, always be your first priority in any situation, but once you get your bearings in your new city, don’t be afraid to explore by yourself. There’s something to be said for spending a day wandering through a foreign place with no agenda and no expectations. And the best part is, you don’t have to worry about what other people want to see or do–this is all you! Pop your earbuds in and take a walk! If you get lost (and you very well might) don’t be afraid to ask for directions. 

 

Take the time to appreciate your new city. When you study abroad, you might be tempted to travel to new places every weekend and see as much as you possibly can. But chances are, wherever you’re at for the semester is pretty great, too. Do all the touristy things people come to your city to do. You don’t have the luxury of staying forever like a local might, so take a stroll through that museum, check out that monument, or pop into that famous little cafe for a cup of tea. Just make sure you know how to get back to campus.

 

Embrace the change you’ll see in yourself. You may not come home a completely new person (and then again, you might!), but being in a new place, immersed in a different culture for an extended period of time is bound to change you at least a little bit. Don’t be afraid to challenge your world views and your old ways of thinking. Talk to the locals; they’ll provide you will a potentially new perspective you hadn’t yet considered. 

 

This is your one and only study abroad semester. It will be what you make it, so make the most of it!