1. Sort out the essentials before arriving.
This may not sound like the most exciting advice in the world, but that makes our first piece of advice any less important. Before arriving in a new country make you know exactly where you will be living and how to get there. There are few experiences, more stressful than arriving in a new country and not having any idea where you are going with a few suitcases weighing you down in the process. This is even more vital is you’re doing your exchange in a country in which you don’t speak the language fluently. So before leaving home to make sure you have the address written down and have details notes on how the local bus or train system will get you there. The third major thing to remember is to make sure your mobile phone and sim card will be useable. This can be useful for Google maps and simply telling your family you arrived in one piece. Finally, speak to your bank in your home country to make sure your card will be usable is your new destination. Even with this knowledge telling the bank you are moving abroad for a year can save a lot of hassle. It is totally normal for banks to freeze accounts if there is some unusual activity on an account. In other words, without informing the bank it may only be a matter of time before your supply of money is blocked, a situation in which everybody would want to avoid.
2. Get the balance between meeting local and fellow exchange students right.
One of the most enjoyable and important parts of studying abroad is to meet people who like you (or at least we hope) who are also interested in learning new languages and about new cultures from all around the world. The experience can open your mind up in so many ways of thinking as you come into contact with so many types of people you would never have met before. You will make some great friends. Some will last a few months, others a lifetime. Exchange students are the easiest to meet as everybody is in the same boat as you. They arrive knowing a few people and often nobody. Like you, they are desperate to start building a social circle and regaining a sense of normality and structure in their lives. They are also the group of people who will have more free time than others and for the most part, will do all they can to enjoy the free time. We are not saying that is a bad thing. You just simply must find a balance between the two. As a native English speaker, it is very easy to fall into the trap of spending all your time with other exchange students and never practising your language skills. While local students are more difficult to get to know they will really help make your experience worthwhile. As an exchange student, you can spend so much time learning about other cultures far away you don’t really consume the one you are surrounded in, in the very moment. This is the quickest way to improve your language skills and who knows you may just do enough to encourage your new best local friend to do the exchange in your city.
3. Choose your friends wisely and in small numbers.
No, I am not suggesting you make five friends on the first day and not bother to meet anybody else. In fact, I am saying the opposite. For the first few months go to as many social events as possible. Meet as many people as you can and give every new person a chance. But as you move further and further into your time abroad and in turn move closer to coming to when you will go home again, start to identify the people you have connected the best with. Start spending more and more time with them. Again, this does not mean you ignore everybody else. It just means be realistic. Despite best intentions, it will be impossible to keep in contact with all the friends you make while abroad. The best evidence of this is that you will soon realise how difficult it is to keep up with all your friends back home while abroad. But unlike your friends at home, you won’t be returning to all your new international friends after 12 months. In truth, many you will most likely not see again sadly. So, the further time goes on, in your mind choose who of these new friends you want and realistically feel you will be able to keep in contact with and focus on them. This is the best way to keep your experience going long after you come home.
4. Be/Find Yourself
Whether you are at home or abroad the hope must be, that one can be themselves and that we surround ourselves with friends who know who are we are and accept and like us for who are we are. The trouble is we often lose our edge as people in order to fit it and maintain and create new friendships. At home, the world is a smaller and more permanent place. So, we hide our true selves to a point. Most often it is something small like “that music group you secretly love but would never admit to” When socialising with exchange groups there is an automatic acceptance they people are different to ourselves simply because they are from somewhere different to ourselves. This setting gives you as an exchange student a great opportunity to let down any walls that may be standing. The experience will teach you to be more honest with yourself and others and overall a happier person. The key is, to realise you can do the exact same back home even if it a little bit more difficult to do so.
5. Don’t live with people you know from home
If I was to take this advice further I would say “Do your year abroad alone” While often this is can be seen as a step too far and often simply impossible to do depending on your program. To get the best out of your year abroad you really should not spend much people time with people from your home country. This is simply because you will be far less likely to experience new things. Again, this is unrealistic. It is easy to get homesick while abroad and spending time with friends from your country or city can make that a lot easier. But a line must be drawn somewhere, otherwise, you are defeating the purpose of going abroad. If you think going abroad for a year with your five best friends and doing everything together is going to help you really embrace a new culture think again. All you are doing is wasting your money as in reality you’re not going to do anything you would or could not do at home. Whether it is living, working, studying or partying with people from other nationalities don’t let the fact you have friends from home stop you from people many new people as possible. If you have open minded friends from home they will want to do the same and you won’t waste the year in any way.
6. Travel, Travel, Travel
This can somewhat depend on where you are coming from and where you are doing your exchange. As somebody living in Ireland away from mainland Europe, living in Germany and suddenly having the ability to visit so many new places without having to fly is quite amazing. If you are an exchange student no matter where you go on your exchange you will most likely suddenly living next many amazing places that only a few days earlier were so far away. Take advantage of this and see as much as you can. Since you will be in your new city for at least a few months it may be good to invest in some way of getting around cheaply like a bus pass. This will further help you see how small the world truly is. You will have a lot of fun and if you book things in advance, travel can be done cheaply.
7. Study Something New
Sadly many degrees are quite restricted. Once you have picked your major, degrees and career paths can quickly become very tunnel visioned. This is why in particular studying abroad is great. It gives you a chance to study something new and potentially discover new talents and interests. Even if you are under strict rules on what you can and cannot study, seeing your studies from a different perspective can be very insightful and rewarding. Especially in business, history and social sciences where views and perspectives can differ greatly from country to country. You will return home a much more rounded student. So my advice is to study something new and just see where it takes you. It may be the last time you have a genuine choice is what you study.
Did I leave something out? If so leave it in the comments below
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