I’m currently abroad in Valencia, Spain and everything is awesome and perfect and all I do is travel and love life! Right?
On the contrary, going abroad has been much more difficult than I thought. People have this romantic idea of abroad, which is partly true, because you spend all your time in amazing places. However, there’s another side to being abroad that people don’t mention, which is how simultaneously challenging and amazing it can be.
Think of it this way — it’s like when you first go off to college, everything is different and new and exciting, but a few things are comfortable and familiar. Maybe you have a few friends from high school at your college, maybe some family or maybe no one. But you most likely visited before deciding to go to that particular school so you at least have a slight idea of what to expect.
Going abroad is like that, except nothing is familiar. The only familiar aspect that could carry over is if there are others you knew previously who are also in your abroad program. Everything else is foreign — literally. The food, the people, the language, the daily routine … you name it, it’s different. It’s a simple concept, which is what makes it so difficult to grasp just how much of an effect it has when you are finally abroad.
Right off the bat, you feel completely out of place, plucked out of the environment that you knew. Whether or not you loved that environment or were ready for change, it doesn’t make it easier when you go abroad and feel untethered and uncomfortable.
Everyone I know who is abroad or has gone abroad has experienced the feeling. It’s bizarre actually, because being abroad is already a surreal enough experience. It is truly an absurd feeling to think to yourself, here I am in (insert city here) and all I want is to be sitting inside Boylan eating chicken tenders and fries watching the Hoos dominate at basketball. And yet it happens.
And that’s the part of being abroad that people don’t prepare you for when they talk about their incredible adventures to 10 different countries or their favorite restaurant in some incredible city and on and on. But it’s just as important to be aware of because that’s just how life goes. Going abroad isn’t some alternative world where everything is great and easy. It’s still daily life with both the ups and downs of it just transported to a different location.
Personally, I think the challenge of being abroad is one aspect that’s just as significant as the classic experiences people do talk about, because it teaches you how to handle yourself when you’re isolated and in unfamiliar territory.
It’s like going to college, but kicked up a notch. It shows you what you can do with ease and what’s challenging to you specifically. It’s uncomfortable and no one likes to be uncomfortable, but life changes all the time, and going abroad is just one of the many ways in which you can prepare yourself for the twists and turns ahead.
And for that reason, I’m grateful for my abroad woes.
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