Real Talk: What Study Abroad Really Means

Everyone has pre-conceived notions of what their study-abroad journey will be like. Chances are you imagine everything will be different, exhilarating, fulfilling, and exciting. You might be a bit of a realist as well and recognize that you will have boring days between all the good ones, along with the occasional culture-shock and homesick moments. Although all of those things are true in some aspects, I need to tell you the most important thing you will ever hear before you study abroad:

You will never be completely prepared for study abroad. 

No matter how many blogs you read, pamphlets you flip through, or how much advice you're given, you cannot predict what study abroad will bring. Even this post won't be able to bullet-proof you against the future that awaits. Honestly I can't even promise it will reach bubble-wrap levels of protection. 

I'm writing from my own experience as a girl who she thought she had it all together. (I didn't. Still don't.) So even if I can't help you avoid all of your potential road-blocks, maybe I can offer a little comfort in knowing someone has been where you are. I'm going to give you a run-down of what study abroad has been about for me.

1. Study abroad is not about adventures every day.
   Even if you already know this, you don't actually know this until you're in a foreign country laying in bed, wallowing because you can't use Netflix and you've scrolled your Tumblr dash four times already. You will have boring days. Sometimes you will not be able to find a single thing in your entire city that interests you, and that's okay. At the end of the day you're still living your normal life, you've just re-located for a while.
   
2. At the same time, it IS an adventure every day.
   You may not have a novel-worthy adventure every day it's true, but I promise you won't go a single 24 hour period without experiencing something new. Sometimes that means finding your favorite new food (Speculoos butter) and sometimes it might mean being forced to sit next to the one stereotypical French person who does smell really bad on the tram. Embrace the little adventures. They're what makes you grow.
   
3. Study abroad is about you.
   Whether you notice it right away or not, study abroad is 90% learning about yourself. How you function in stressful situations. How you manage money. How you make friends. How you learn a language. What you like best about a new place. What you hate the most. What you appreciate about home. How you problem solve. How you adapt. The list is honestly endless, and you'll be surprised at the outcome to some of those scenarios. Take what you learn about yourself and embrace it. If you find that you want to move to your new country and live there, great! If you realize that you never want to live abroad and are more of a visitor, that's find too. What is important is that you strengthen your relationship with yourself.
   
4. It's about culture.
   The good, bad, and the ugly. You learn so much about a place when you live there that you can't learn when you're a tourist. Honestly there is no possible way to comprehend how "American" you are until you are completely separated from the American culture. Everything from the tone of your voice to the way you interact when you're standing in line at the grocery store is going to feel completely out of place. This is probably my favorite part about living abroad. Sometimes it can get frustrating, yes, but at the end of the day I realize how much more there is of the world than just what I can find in 50 states, and how much more there is to people than I ever realized before. Culture is beautiful, interesting, and important.
   
5. Study abroad is about change, growth, and acceptance.This one kind of ties into the previously mentioned aspects. You're going to change and learn how to deal with things changing around you. Above all else, though, you will learn a great deal about acceptance. Acceptance of yourself,  the place you are in, the people you meet, the differences you find. Even if the experience is not what you hoped it would be when you started, you will be a different person because of it. 

Finally, let me close with what I have found to be the most important advice I could have received.

Get rid of any expectations. Let life happen. You don't wake up every morning with a grandiose, Utopian, Ihop-commercial idea of what your breakfast will be like do you? Good.  Then think as little of study abroad as you do of breakfast.

It's hard to live up to someone else's expectations, particularly if they are un-achievable. If someone holds impossible expectations, they will always be met with disappointment. You can't expect anything of your study abroad experience other than that it will change you.