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The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to criticize anyone’s study abroad experience or to make generalizations about any country. 

You need to get this set of packing cubes from Amazon. Read this article about jet lag. Watch out for pickpockets. Most of the advice I received before leaving for my semester abroad in Italy involved packing tips or where to go on a weekend trip. To be fair, the only questions I figured to ask were about which outlet converter to get or which restaurants to try in Rome. I never thought to ask for advice about anything else. I truly believed my study abroad experience would be what everyone described it as – that when I traveled to a country 5,000 miles away I would escape any struggles from home. Upon arrival was hit with the hard truth that there were unwarranted struggles that I wasn’t prepared for.. If you are planning to spend a semester abroad, here are some of the unglorified things I wish I had known before my time abroad. 

Culture shock is real…and hard.

My first 48 hours in Florence were extremely disorienting not because of the time difference, but because of the immense culture shock. I wasn’t experiencing culture shock because it’s a foreign concept to tip or how water isn’t free (what social media advertises as culture shock) but rather, it was the locals’ general mannerisms that made me feel like an outsider. In Florence, the locals love to stare and in Italy, it isn’t perceived as rude, but is more so a form of curiosity. Customer service also looks a lot different, lacking the anticipated small talk or a friendly smile. All these behaviors made me feel terrified and anxious as to what I had done to be stared at or make everyone I encountered mad at me. 

I couldn’t speak Italian so I felt like a toddler lost in a supermarket, not knowing how to ask for help. I wish someone told me how hard and weird it was going to feel for those first couple of days, even weeks. I experienced culture shock my entire time there and I noticed it in little ways, such as how close people stand to each other in line or how late they eat their meals. After a while, those culture shocks became more normalized. I began to adapt subconsciously, I found myself staring at others and eating dinner at 9 p.m. It is important to remember that just because a country or culture does something unlike yours, it doesn’t make it better or worse, just different.

You’ll be lonely at times.

I traveled to Florence without knowing anyone in my program. I knew one other person who would be there at the same time as me, but other than that, I was all on my own. Without my usual support system, there were many times I felt lonely. It can be difficult to make friends in a study abroad program;I found that it seemed like a lot of people already had a group of friends that they were traveling with and were effortlessly super close with their roommates. I learned that it is normal to be lonely and it is okay if making friends is difficult. Not having my usual support system to fall back on forced me to step out of my comfort zone and find ways to make friends I wouldn’t have had in the U.S. For example, I signed up for Bumble BFF and made a lifelong friend from Germany, who eventually flew out to visit this summer. I met another close friend through a Facebook group, bonding over sharing the same dilemma. You will experience loneliness at times and there is nothing wrong with that; it is okay if it takes you some time to find your people while you are abroad.

Ancient Architecture Arena Buildings
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Everyone Travels Differently

When the only people you have traveled with are your family, you don’t stop to think about your travel habits or what is important to take note of when you go to a new place. I learned quickly that everyone has different priorities when visiting a new country or city. Some people like to do sightseeing and visit tourist hotspots, while others prioritize experiencing the city like locals, such as trying out the nightlife. I wish I knew to have those conversations ahead of time and to be completely upfront about what I wanted. I quickly learned that if no one else took an interest in what I wanted to do, it was okay to go and do things alone. However, when traveling with someone who shares similar interests, I recommend making a list of the most important things for you to see and do while traveling. Keep it short and doable, share it with your friends to see if they are on board, and communicate which things you are willing to compromise on. Traveling with the wrong group of people can ruin a trip, so don’t be afraid to be upfront and to see things alone. 

social media can lie about studying abroad

You might have seen people on TikTok make beautiful slideshows or compilations of their adventures while abroad. With aesthetic videos of them running into the ocean or partying in famous bars in different countries every weekend, it can be deceptive as to what every day abroad will be like. Don’t get me wrong, I did run into the ocean in Sicily and party at a ruin bar in Budapest, but I also had days where I only went to class, ordered takeout and binge-watched Love is Blind with my roommates. What you see on social media is what people want you to see and believe about their study abroad experience. The beautiful thing about studying abroad is that you are given plenty of time to enjoy those slower, more boring days that will make you feel like a local. I wish someone had told me to not hold my own experiences up to the standards of what social media depicts. It’s okay if you don’t get to do what people on social media do in a specific place or country. It is also okay just to have a weekend in your host country where you eat pizza in your bed and watch TV like you would anywhere else. Not every day or weekend has to be spectacular. 

Don’t let others’ opinions affect your travel. 

When you announce to people that you are studying abroad, anyone who has ever been to that country will undoubtedly tell you where to go and where not to go. Some advice will be helpful (such as safety tips or restaurant recommendations) and others will be biased because of their individual experience. Just because somebody hated a certain country or city doesn’t mean you’ll hate it too. I heard from so many people that I should skip visiting Venice and Paris, two of my must-see destinations. Despite their commentary, I decided to go just to find that while I was abroad,  they both ended up being my favorite cities. I wish I knew to keep an open mind and try not to avoid a certain city just because of its reputation.

There is one thing that almost everyone who has been abroad can agree on, it is the best time of your life. Despite difficult moments filled with loneliness and homesickness, I couldn’t help but always be in awe of Italy and feel nothing but gratitude that I was privileged enough to live there for so long. It’s important to discuss all aspects of studying abroad, even if they aren’t so glamorous and tend to be more mundane. Most of all, it’s important to be gracious with yourself as you experience this terrifying yet life-changing adventure.

Julia Stacks

CU Boulder '25

Julia Stacks is the Director of Social Media and a contributing writer at the Her Campus Chapter at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As Director she oversees a team of content creators, creates content for various social media platforms and helps with partnerships. Outside of Her Campus, Julia is a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is majoring in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. Although she doesn't have any previous writing experience, she loves taking English classes and exploring her creative writing skills to strengthen her writing at Her Campus. Now, her writing focuses on topics she's passionate about such as mental health, current events and popular media. In her personal life, Julia can be found listened to true crime podcasts or watching true crime documentaries with her dog Shaye. She loves painting, reading romance books, spending time with friends and family, buying iced coffee and doing tarot readings. Julia hopes to use her writing to raise awareness about important issues which she hopes to do as a career as a victim's advocate.