Life abroad is a rollercoaster

So they weren’t lying. All those people who tell you that the year abroad will be the best year of your life? It’s true. I’ve just hit the milestone: one month of my first year abroad, studying at the Freie Universität in Berlin. And I honestly don’t think life could get any better.

Obviously every year abroad is different; the experience of a teaching assistant will be completely different to that of a university student, just like the experience of someone doing a year abroad in California will be completely different to one in France, for example.

But there are things that unite us: moving to a new country, adapting to a new culture, homesickness, but especially being surrounded by the new and the exciting, making new friends and trying new things. It’s a rollercoaster of a ride.

But it isn’t always fun and it inevitably comes with its difficulties. I showed up at my student accommodation to find a dirty flat, a rotting toilet and an insect infestation. Thus, I spent every day for two weeks applying for flats, making phonecalls, sending e-mails, trying desperately to find a home. I would spend the rest of my time on Skype to my parents, Facebooking my friends at home, or curled up in my bed crying.

Once my parents left I kept returning to the apartment block where they had stayed, to sit outside the building and cry, wishing they would come back and tell me it was going to be alright. I’ve never felt so miserable and alone in my entire life.

And then there was the bureaucracy to think about. Registering as a Berlin citizen, matriculating with the University, getting a new phone, a bank account, filling out my ERASMUS forms…
But things got better. My language improved incredibly quickly, and soon enough I was able to chat happily auf Deutsch. I worked out the transport system. I really discovered who my friends were: the people who listened to me whinge, moan and cry night after night. I also made some amazing new friends here.

And then I found my new home. I now have a wonderful flat, my paperwork is sorted, and I have the time to enjoy all the amazing things that Berlin has to offer. Yes, you will get homesick occasionally, even when things are going great. But a cheese sandwich and a cup of tea are not ‘cheating’. When everything around you is new and different, sometimes you do just need something familiar. And that’s ok.

It’s so important not to waste a single day. After a month you can feel a bit settled, which is why I find a list so helpful. Crossing off things from my six-page ‘to-do’ list every weekend is so satisfying.

Also making the most of the opportunity to learn a new language is important. I do a four-hour German class every week, which makes me want to cry, and it can be difficult to make local friends, when the Erasmus ‘bubble’ is so much easier.

Get out of your comfort zone. Break the bubble! Don’t be that person who comes back from their year abroad wishing they’d spoken the language more. You’ll be so grateful you did later. A year really is not that long when you think about it.

As I said, every year abroad is different. Every one is like a rollercoaster: there will be big highs, and big lows, too. There are immense difficulties and challenges that you will have to face. Leaving your parents, having to integrate into a different country and culture, maybe even grappling with another language. But at the end of the day, it is so worth it.

Any year abroader will tell you that their experience was the best time of their life. So don’t waste it. Take the opportunity if you can and get on that rollercoaster. Hold on, sit tight, feel the breeze in your hair, and enjoy it. And I promise you; it’ll be the ride of your life.