With each start of a new semester, your news feeds and timelines are clogged by students studying abroad all over the world posting about their new adventures. Behind every picture and post is a student learning to adjust to living in a new country. Although social media makes it seem like everyone is living the dream and having the best time of their lives, the truth is there are some difficulties with adjusting to living in a new country.
Whether I want to face it or not, homesickness is extremely real. No matter how excited people may have been to study abroad, the truth is you're going to miss home. You're thousands of miles away and in a completely different time zone. Learning to adjust to living in a different time zone and figuring out when you can and can't talk to people is frustrating but does get easier in time.
Living in a country with a different culture and lifestyle is also a difficult adjustment. You no longer are living a life of ease in the United States where you know your way around and where to buy everything you may ever need; instead you have to either use a map or a GPS to get everywhere to search for the necessities of life.
Countries definitely live differently, even when it comes to simple things like living situations. Here in Italy, it's common to not have a drier or air conditioning, simple luxuries I once took for granted. With time, it does get easier to adjust to the new lifestyle, while still missing the things that make life at home so easy.
The first few weeks also consist of living and being around new people. Chances are you're living with completely new people and have to make new friends. The good thing is everyone is in the same boat, but it still can be tough when you are missing the people back home. You're exploring a new country with new people, so it's inevitable not to make new friends.
Another huge adjustment is a language barrier. Although here in Italy most people are willing to speak English, it's still an adjustment and can be frustrating at times. It's frustrating not being able to speak the language of the country. Over the first few weeks, you are able to pick up some key phrases.
Although traveling seems so exciting and like so much fun, it's extremely stressful and overwhelming to plan. You never realize how many different details and options there are until you need to plan a trip from transportation to location to hotel/hostel etc. Once all the details come together and you take the first trip, it's so worth it in the end. Planning trips gets easier as you learn what's worth spending the money on and what you're willing to sacrifice on.
Another huge adjustment is the difference in currency. New money can feel like Monopoly money at first, but you quickly learn that it is in fact real money and U.S. dollars aren't equal to your new currency. When you have to pay for everything from books to linens to food, expenses add up quickly which leads to stress about budgeting. Budgeting does get easier over time though. You'll learn where you want to spend your money and where you can save money too.
Studying abroad is definitely one of the biggest adjustments in college. While it may be some of the best months of your life, it definitely takes getting used to. It may look like everyone is having so much fun, but behind every photo and happy caption, is a person adjusting to a brand new lifestyle and culture.
Recommended for you
The Truth Behind The First Weeks Of Studying Abroad
It's not all fun and games.
Subscribe to our
Newsletter
Everyone loves a snow day! Whether you decide to call out sick from work or your classes get canceled, it is a great way to spend time with family and friends.
1. Build a snowman
People brave enough to face the weather can go outside to build an adorable man made of snow. Relive those childhood glory days, but remember to bundle up!
2. Start a snowball fight
No one can forget the days of throwing snowballs and shade in the school yard. Can we just take a minute to appreciate how epic this scene from "Elf" is? Totally epic.
3. Build a fort
All snowball fights need a good base. Not in the mood for battling to the death in an ultimate snowball fight? Just grab your friends and chill inside your new hangout spot, at least until it melts.
4. Binge-watch Netflix
Some people can't stand the cold and would much rather catch up on their favorite shows. On snow days this is considered perfectly acceptable. On other days? Maybe not so much...but that doesn't mean I don't occasionally do it, anyway.
4. Look out the window
Admire the beauty of mother-nature from safely inside your own home. Hope your windows are insulated!
5. Grab coffee with a friend
Warm yourself up by grabbing a hot cup of joe with a dear friend. Enjoy mindless chatter about winter fashion trends or complain about the homework you've been procrastinating.
6. Complete school or office work
Snow days are the perfect time to compose that essay for school or to do some leisurely shredding at the office. Brent Rambo approves this message.
7. Sleep
This time of year sleep deprivation is common. Do yourself a favor and catch some well-deserved Z's!
8. Read a book
Feel like laying low but don't actually want to sleep? Curl up with a good book for a few hours. If you're lucky, you might even be able to forget that it's snowing outside.
9. Bake cookies
Nothing better than filling your home with the aroma of freshly baked cookies. Try to space out your cookies better than the above image, though...
10. Drink hot cocoa
Grab a packet of Swiss Miss or dare to make it from scratch! Cookies and hot cocoa pair nicely together on colder days when milk seems insufficient.
11. Go ice skating
Or ice falling, for those of us who have balance and coordination issues. Maybe bring a friend along with you and use them to cushion your fall.
12. Take a Walk
Wear winter boots or make sure the sidewalks are salted so you don't end up taking a tumble. Feeling audacious? Bring your own salt!
Anticipating The End Of Your First Semester, As Told By April Ludgate
"I don't want to do things. I want to not do things."
Everyone who is in college right now, or has ever been, knows the struggle of pulling in the strings at the last second. It seems impossible, and you have to do a LOT of things in order to assure your future for the next semester.
April Ludgate, historically, is a very annoyed person, and she doesn't hide it. Of all the times that I binged and re-binged "Parks and Rec," her attitude relates more and more to me.
2. You look at your grades and realize they probably aren't as high as they should be, which is a terrifying realization.
3. When you think to yourself at night, "tomorrow, I will wake up early and go to the library ALL day, and, hell, maybe after I'll go to the gym for a little bit, just to push myself that extra mile."
4. Tomorrow actually comes. The inevitable and overpowering sense of procrastination is too strong to overcome.
5. But you DO end up going to the library. Not all day though, but still, a while. But no, you do not go to the gym. Still, you made an effort, so you decide to treat yo' self.
6. When you realize you need to schedule a meeting with your adviser because you need to sign up for classes next semester. But you also realize that since you waited until the last minute, you're going to get stuck with all of the crappy classes.
7. When you low-key try to slip into conversation with your professors that you need extra credit because you're that desperate.
8. When it's already the third time you've seen your adviser in two days because you have no damn clue what you're doing and need all the help you can get.
9. When you apply for a job associated with your major even though you have no experience, but you just want to dive headfirst into the deep end of adulthood and get it over with.
To The Cheerful Person On Their Rainy Days, You Are Valid
The world is not always sunshine and rainbows, and you do not have to be, either.
Ask friends of mine to name a quality about me, and one a lot them will point out the fact that I am almost always smiling. I like to laugh and smile -- not to quote Buddy the Elf in April, but smiling is my favorite! It is probably my favorite go-to expression. However, what a lot of people do not see is that I have my down days. I have days when smiling and laughing is a real struggle, or when I have so much on my plate that going out of my way to behappy takes more effort than I have stored in me. Be it a symptom of college and growing up or a facet of life, I cannot always be content.
For whatever reason, these down days are not spoken about. One does not casually throw how they cried themselves to sleep during dinner with friends to choruses of "same" and similar examples. For the normally cheerful person, this is even more impossible of a feat, unless they wish to hear the dreaded "But you seem so happy!" when they self-disclose. Not being able to talk about your fears, anxieties, or sadness to those around you for fear you break the illusion of happiness can grow really stifling really fast.
To those cheerful souls stifled by their down days, you are valid.
It is not deceitful to one day be happy and the next day be sad. It is okay to confess you have not been doing well too, even though the conventional way to go about it is to say, "I'm fine" and deal with it later in private. I know I have my times where I, knowing people see me as a relatively happy individual, hide my emotions in an effort to not burden them. I keep it all bottled up and let it fester until it hopefully passes and I can move on. This is not healthy, nor is it realistic, but it is what I have grown accustomed to doing because of my fears.
I imagine my form of bottling things up is not an isolated experience, especially for the typical cheerful person. Everyone has their down moments they feel scared to share. It is cooler not to share, because who wants to hear about someone else's sadness? People just want the good stuff. Life is hard enough without having to hear other people's problems. However, these emotions are normal.
I mean really common.
Even the happiest and most successful person you can think of probably has had them. By asking someone you normally guide for help in getting past a particularly tough day, you are not upsetting them. You are not invalidating the happiness they normally turn to you for. You are not giving up some ruse. You are showing you are human and have real feelings, too. You are showing you have just as much a right to feel your emotions as anyone else. A few more smiles and laughs here and there do not invalidate you. It is just as okay as confiding to someone you know that that previous "I'm fine" you threw their way at dinner actually translates to you are experiencing a rough patch and are finding it hard to find your way back to happiness.
To the cheerful people of the world, feeling sad sometimes is a part of life. Your sad days are just as valid your happy ones, and choosing to express that sadness will not discredit any happiness you may share with the world. Keep spreading your joy when it comes.
Just know that, when the dark clouds do roll in, you are allowed to ask someone for an umbrella.
11 Struggles of Packing for College
It would be so much easier to just pay someone to do it for you
1. Figuring out when to start
Timing is key, you don’t want to start too early or too late.
2. Searching through list after list to get everything you need
Every store has their own list of what you need and you’ve reached a point where you can’t decide which one is right anymore.
3. Shopping for deals
Ads after ads, coupons after coupons, you go shopping all the time and hope you get the best deal.
4. Getting bins to put everything in
Buying bins after bins and hoping you have enough for all the essentials
5. Figuring what you can’t live without
You can’t just take your entire room and place in your dorm. You need to figure out what you need.
You can’t just take your entire room and place in your dorm. You need to figure out what you need.
6. Going through clothes to find what you need
You have too many clothes and you don’t want to forget your favorite pair of sweatpants.
7. Finding out your siblings took something from you
You knew that top was somewhere, turns out it was in your sister’s dresser.
8. Fighting with your parents.
You know what you need and despite what your parents say yes you need that poster.
9. Trying to plan things with your roommate
If they don’t live by you, the discussion of who’s bringing what becomes harder.
10. The fear of forgetting something
While overpacking is a thing you’re scared you’ll forget something. You go over what you packed in your head a hundred times.
11. Move in day
You thought packing made you nervous but here comes move in day, this makes packing look like nothing
15 Times 'Parks and Recreation' Has Summed Up Your Life
Relatable moments from one of the best shows I have ever watched.
Amidst my hectic college career, I always find time for one thing, even on the busiest weeks: Parks and Recreation. This show has made me laugh and has made me cry, but most of all I have related to this show more than I would like to admit.
Here are some "Parks and Rec" moments that relate to life struggles that just about everyone faces.
1. When you fail that midterm you studied so hard for.
We’ve all been there. You practically live in the library the week before the test and still, chemistry crushes your soul with every midterm grade.
2. When your crush finally texts back.
FINALLY! I mean yeah, it took him 4 hours, but at least he still texted back...right?
3. When payday comes around.
When you see those numbers rise and you feel rich for a full minute, and then realize you need to pay for that expensive review session because chemistry is hell.
4. When you accidentally like someone's picture from 108 weeks ago.
*scroll* *scroll* then that heart pops up out of nowhere...oh no, what have I done?!
5. When someone takes your unassigned assigned seat.
Oh no she didn’t! It is the fifth week of classes, she should know by now that I have called permanent dibs on this seat!
6. When your favorite character in your favorite TV series dies.
How could they do this to us? Make us fall in love with the character and then just rip them away from us like this?
7. When that guy/girl you’ve been crushing on agrees to go on a date with you.
This is the moment you have been waiting for.
8. When you have so much to do, and such little motivation to do it.
Why is being an adult so hard? Why is chemistry so hard?
9. When someone asks for your last fry.
Seriously?? My last fry??
10. When you try a new health-food craze.
Kale? Quinoa? What are these foreign and healthy foods, and why are they in everything now??
11. When you get new clothing.
New shoes can make you feel like you can take over the world, one step at a time
12. When you check your bank account.
This is more heartbreaking than realizing that you’re out of clean underwear and need to do laundry. Or chemistry.
13. When they're serving good food in the dining hall.
Still not as good as mom’s home-cooked meals, but close enough...kind of.
14. When someone tries to tell you what to do.
Haha, nice try.
15. Or just your thoughts about life in general.
Ron Swanson is my spirit animal.
