Dealing with stress at this time
in our life is difficult enough, add university on top of that and it makes it
ten times worse. Fellow Roehampton writer Evie Chrysostomou tells you ways on
how to tackle stress at uni which you can read here. But, what if you are now attending university in a
completely different country? There is now a whole new place to adapt to, new
friends to make, new foods to try… It is like being a fresher again with added
pressure. Don’t worry though. After reading this, you should feel better about
your brand new, fun, exciting life!
There are ten things that I think are issues that will bring on stress whilst
you are abroad. For you, there may be more, there may be less, but here is how
to cope when you are feeling down.
1. Missing home/home comforts
You are bound to miss home at some point during your trip. It might be right
at the beginning like me, or it may come along to surprise you after a couple of
weeks of amazing fun! You’ll miss your friends, your family, your routine, and
(I can say I am going through this stage) the food. First of all, remind
yourself that this is an amazing opportunity that not many people are lucky
enough to get. Then, if that doesn’t work, talk it out with a friend, write
everything that you are feeling on a piece of paper, or go and have an amazing
night out with all the new friends you have made! Keeping yourself busy is
another great way to make yourself feel loads better, and appreciate this
experience even more. Time will fly by, and before you know it, you’ll be back
in England, wishing you could go back and live abroad for another year.
2. Making new friends
Think of this one as, ‘I’ve been through this before, and I met some of the
most unforgettable people in my life, and now they’re some of my closest
friends.’ You never know who is going to be out there! You might make a new best
friend who you can turn to for anything. You might meet someone from where you
live (I did!), or you never know, you might meet your next ‘One’. Go out, meet
people at bars, specialised parties just for Erasmus students. Attend as much as
you can, be it tapas night, karaoke, film night, a trip to the local museum, a
trip to the beach etc. This way you will feel so much better about yourself, and
you can meet people from all over the world who are here to do the exact same as
you. At the end of the day, you are all in the same boat!
3. Culture shock
Not everywhere is like Britain, which is a very good thing! It means that you
can explore different cultures, food, dance, music, lifestyle and much more! For
example, here in Spain, they don’t eat lunch until between two and three in the
afternoon, and they have their dinner at 10pm at night. Plus, between 2pm and
5pm is ‘siesta’ time where all the shops close for three hours to get a nap in,
ready for the long night ahead. This can be good and bad. It all depends on your
personal taste, but embrace it because you will be living like this for nine
months. You might even end up missing it when you return to Britain. Another
thing to remember is that Europeans are very laidback, so don’t be stressing
yourself out if lecturers are late to class, if they don’t show up (even though
they definitely should), and classes are cancelled.
4. Different language
You are on the Erasmus scheme for a reason. You have been studying your
chosen language(s) for the past two years of university, and now, you have to
put everything that you have learnt together to experience life in that country.
You may think that you are not ready to do that yet. I certainly did before I
arrived in Spain, so much so that I seriously did not want to leave home. I was
terrified, but now I love it here! It is hard to adapt to listening, conversing,
and breathing your second language, but it is what you are there to do, and you
can only benefit from it. It is frustrating and stressful when you don’t
understand everything that somebody says to you, especially if it is your
lecturer explaining something important which may be on your exam. Practise the
language at any given moment, read up on your class topics, and remember that
when you have a second and third language, you will be considered more for jobs
in the future, and you may even earn a higher salary.
5. Missing your university
It has been the place you call home for the past two years; you’ve made some
fabulous best friends who would do anything for you, and you’ve (maybe) loved
your lectures. Now it’s time for the Freshers pictures to go up, and there’s one
person missing: you. This can get you feeling very low, especially when there
might not be parties every single night at your European university. Of course,
you are bound to miss your friends, and the uni lifestyle you are used to, but
fear not! Your friends back in university are probably looking through your
pictures on Facebook thinking, ‘she looks like she is having an amazing time’
or, ‘look at all that sun’, ‘look at the tan!’ There’s the other problem that
the majority of your university friends are graduating this year, and you won’t
be living the student life with them again. Sob! You can always book a flight
back in advance to spend a weekend there. That’s what I am planning to do at the
end of May, so I can go to the yearly Summer Ball. Make plans to look forward
to, and remember that you should be having the time of your life too.
6. Long Distance Love
Two of the girls I know out here
are in long distance relationships. It must be hard to not be able to see, hug,
or kiss that one person you are used to seeing a lot of the time. There are
articles on HerUni that have been written especially for long distance
relationships which you can find here and
here. My little piece of advice would be to try and enjoy your
time abroad, even if all you want to do is curl up in a ball. Go out, have fun,
eat something completely different, go and let your hair down for a few hours.
Do anything that you think will make you feel happier. Write to your loved ones,
and ask for letters in return. It’s a nice surprise to find a handwritten letter
sent oversees! And, don’t forget, long distance love may mean the love for your
parents, your siblings, and your friends too!
7. Work load
As university students, we are all expected to do a high amount of work:
writing, reading, researching etc. As a foreign university students, we are not
expected to do more, but we probably should so that we know exactly what we are
doing, what that new verb that the teacher said today really means, and getting
ahead of the work load game so that by Christmas, we’re not scratching our
eyeballs out, eating crisps instead of a meal because it’s ‘easier’ whilst
trying to revise for 24 hours of the day. It doesn’t work. Take a couple of
hours every week to read over all of the notes you made. Write down new
vocabulary; make a list of the things you need to get through be it homework, an
extra task you want to do yourself, or a chapter of the book you have to read.
Be organized, because by the time Christmas comes around, you’re not going to
want to be revising (as much), especially as you haven’t seen your family and
friends in a long time.
8. Don’t like your new home
At first, it will take time to adjust. It is possible that you won’t like
your new home at first because it doesn’t have your home comforts, or the bed is
too springy, or your new housemates aren’t that easy to get along with. Stick
with it. Time will make it better! I have been in Spain for nearly a month now,
and I am still adjusting to the new bed, the lack of English food as well as not
having a connection with my housemates. I still haven’t put pictures up on my
walls to make it feel like home. If in doubt, email your home tutor, or your new
tutor, and explain your situation. If you are feeling really depressed about
living there, don’t just grin and bear it. You need to tell someone who can help
you out. You might be able to be sent somewhere different. Or, if worst comes to
worst, email your home tutor and say that you really don’t want to do this
anymore. It is completely up to you. Help is always out there for Erasmus
students. However, my advice is stick with it. Do something that will make you
happy, or go for a run to clear your mind.
9. Money stresses
As students, we’re always having a fight with our money. We want to save it,
then we want to spend it all on loads of clothes, and a big night out with our
friends. In the next moment, we want to save it for that summer holiday with the
girls. It is a lot more difficult to save whilst abroad because you just want to
do everything in a short space of time! For example, you want to test all the
different restaurants (you can’t be bothered cooking), you want to go to all the
major cities in your country of choice, and have amazing nights out that you
want to remember, but never do. It’s obvious that you will want to make the most
of your year abroad, but try not to get too carried away! Save money beforehand,
or you could get a job. Lots of Spanish people want British students to teach
their children English.
10. Losing sight of who you are
I have definitely had this problem since being here. As you are starting a
completely new life, it is possible that you forget little things about yourself
that makes you you. For example, in a month of being here, I have not
written one single article for HerUni, or any other websites. I have only
written four blog posts, and that has been more recently. I needed to remind
myself what I love doing the most and it sounds cheesy saying that, but it is
true. You need to keep up your hobbies, whatever they are. If you are doing a
combined honours degree with say, dance, you cannot just give up on your dancing
for a year! That is impossible because it is your livelihood. I would love to
study just one module of English Literature, but I am not allowed to. I am
waiting until Christmas to read an English written book, which is hard, but at
least I am writing.
There is a lot of information written here, and I hope that after you’ve been
abroad, and felt fine, you don’t read this and start to get stressed out;
because that is the opposite effect I want to have! All in all, if you are
abroad right now, or you come across this article in years to come, I hope you
have a fantastic year, make the most of every opportunity, and if you are
feeling down, read this article, and give yourself a little pick-me-up.
For more information about your
Year Abroad, there is a great website called thirdyearabroad.com with
lots of very useful information and tips.
No comments:
Post a Comment