How studying abroad changes your life

Traducerea în Română e disponibilă aici.

Studying abroad is a roller coaster of emotions and adventures, it can both pressure from back home and pressure from the new environment, its laughs and tears, new colleagues, friends, weird teachers, new boyfriends/girlfriends, parties and lonely days, overall – a big growing point in every student’s life.

Whatever you expect from studying abroad, forget it, because nothing exceeds reality so wait until you get abroad and embrace the change to the fullest. I must say, it is worth it! The most amazing thing about studying abroad are the people that you have the chance to meet. In an International class like mine in Copenhagen, we were around 20 nationalities, so the exposure to cultural differences is huge. There are challenges to overcome in group work, language barriers in the work environment, in daily communication at the supermarket, with telephone companies, or landlords, etc. And by defeating these little differences day by day, your mind broadens up and new perspectives flow into your mind.

I still remember seeing for the first time this Danish word “Hvidøvre” and thinking that, if these people dare to put those letters next to each other, make a weird word out of them and even pronounce it in the weirdest possible way, then OF COURSE they will have different perspective on things – my brain would never think of associating these kind of letters together, just as it won’t be able to see a problem from a perspective a Dane, a South Korean or a Portuguese would see it. It just wasn’t build that way! So keep an open mind while studying abroad, because you get to learn something new every day! You will discover beautiful traditions, have interesting conversations, they will make you sing your country’s national anthem, and you will enjoy the feeling of sharing a piece of you with someone else. I don’t think you even know how proud you are of your country until you’ve had the chance to share your traditions and stories with students for whom they sound like unbelievable fairytales.

The whole beauty of international studies is that everybody gets to bring their input to the table, so stay authentic to your values and to your true self. In the long-run, studying abroad changes your life only for the best, it’s like a hero’s journey, so be brave to take this step forward!