Now for something a little different.
Today I'm not going to talk about Spain or Seville, rather it's just going to be about Erasmus/studying abroad in general, so as to give anyone considering it some information and anyone at home a little perspective of how things are sometimes. I don't think I have had a 'typical' Erasmus experience, partially because I don't really think one exists. Yes, everyone is living in a different country with a different culture, and everyone ends up making enough international friends to create their own United Colours of Benneton advertisement, but when it comes down to feelings and emotions we're all a bit unique, and so everyone, I believe, handles those aspects of the year differently.
Now, I found the beginning hard. No one's denying that, I even wrote a post about it. And it took a while to settle, not so much because of any tangible difficulties (beyond admin. Puta admin. Seriously.) but due to plain old anxiety and fear of the unknown. Nowadays I'm liking the whole thing, it's an experience and it's all a story to tell one day. But because Erasmus, contrary to popular belief, actually is real life, there are bad days as well as good ones. The thing is, those good days and bad days are like exaggerated forms of the ones you have at home. Everything is so strange, even quite a few months in, that while average days do exist, the ones that fall either side of 'normal' fall often very far to the side.
The Good Days
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| "Sometimes Life's a Party, Sometimes You Love Your Life" (erasmus in-joke) |
When you have a good day on Erasmus it's like a dream. The really good days are usually sunny, they involve few classes and a lot of "School of Life" style learning, typically involving faffing about doing nothing (but enjoying yourself) and maybe having a beer. You're with your friends, you're somewhere beautiful and new and exciting and yet you feel at home. You might be eating (I'm definitely eating) something you love from the place you're in. Maybe you've traveled somewhere new and you're basking in that glow. You've made new friends. You're practising your host country's language and you're having fun. Someone might have thought you were a nationality other than the nationality you are, or even *gasp* the nationality of your host country! Today is a day you'll talk about to friends at home next year. It's like you're in Oz or Wonderland and Kansas or Generic English Meadow are very very far away. Everyone's having a good time and yep, those words go through your head; why would I ever want to go home? Forgetting for a moment the reality that you will have to go home, this is a good thing. This is why Erasmus is so amazing. When you're having a good day you're living the dream, you're on an adventure, everything is SO. MUCH. FUN.
The Bad Days
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| And sometimes you feel like this. |
Bringing you all down to earth with a bang now, sorry. Bad days happen, they always do, whether you're home or abroad. And sometimes bad weeks happen. If a bad month happens you might have a problem. And speaking from experience, when you're out of your comfort zone and, to use some very fancy lingo, away from your usual emotional support structures (Read: family, friends, tea), bad days hit a little harder then they usually do. The fact that students in general aren't known for taking very good care of themselves comes into play here, certainly in my case that's led to me getting ill quite easily and more often. And when you're run down but you still have to take care of yourself everything is difficult and painful and why can't I just stay in bed. Case in point: I was sick for almost a week. I couldn't walk very far without feeling faint, but I needed food. I went to the supermarket, a task worthy of Hercules. I forgot my purse and had to put everything back. I cried. There are days when you need a hug and you'll find there isn't anyone there to give you one, and that's not a good feeling at all. But the thing to remember is that all things pass and a bad day is just that, a day. Tomorrow is another one. And there's always someone who can help. The important thing which I learned is to ask for it. How are things going to get better if you don't try to make them better? All in all you just have to chalk it up to experience, have something nice to eat, and go to bed.
*****
Ideally, your good days will far outweigh the bad. It's just not going to happen that you will never have a bad day. It's really all part of the experience, and you come out of things a better and stronger person if you find them a little difficult sometimes. Nothing worth having comes easy and challenges are good, and you become more mature blah blah inspiration blah. The good days and the bad days are what make up Erasmus and you won't be the same person at the end, in a good way, hopefully. You find as time goes on that you learn an awful lot about yourself. I'm well past the halfway point now and I feel like I've aged about 10 years. Some days that even feels like a good thing!
Hasta luego muchachos x
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