Dana's "What-To-Know" Guide for Studying Abroad

After spending the last few months away from home, there are many things I was not prepared for. From meal prepping to learning the best ways to take care of myself, my joyous times abroad were not always the easiest. The goal of this post is for future study abroad students to read this and prepare accordingly!

Taking Care of Yourself

Putting yourself first is something that a lot of students forget to do. In the chaos of trying to take everything in at once and make the most of your time abroad, many neglect taking a break to focus on what they need to truly be well.

One way I made sure to take care of myself was by calling home, but it wasn’t always easy. The problem was schedules: when I woke up, everyone back home was just going to bed. By the time I was done “going about my day,” everyone at home had just started to go about their days. Then, by the time they were done going about their days, I was going to bed! Realistically, the only real time I had to call people was on the weekends, but even that was hard sometimes, depending on private travel or the amount of schoolwork I had at the time. This was especially difficult in the last month of my semester abroad because I started to get a tad homesick, which I have actually never felt before in my life. I think the lack of connection with the people I held closest to me started to take its toll. I enjoy my time in Europe, of course, but I started to really miss talking to people from home and school. The least I could do was text people often, which definitely helped, even if just a bit.

Also, a huge factor that I knew was important but didn’t take very seriously at first was cooking… I’ve said this before, but before studying abroad, I was lucky enough not to have to cook much, which had to change once I was here in order to save money. Unfortunately, the laziness demons often got to me…especially because grocery stores are closed on Sundays. I often don’t want to shop on Saturdays because I want to relax and do nothing, and then when Monday comes around, I tend to think of some other excuse not to go shopping. This was especially the case when I knew I was not going to be in Freiburg for the entire week. Do not be like me!!! Shopping should be part of your weekly routine, even if you only shop for a few days' worth of meals (if, say, you aren’t going to be home over the weekend). For the sake of developing life skills and saving money, cooking for yourself is a top priority. Side note: take advantage of grocery store rewards apps! There are often good deals on them (I will add that they will only appear in the App Store if you change your phone’s region to wherever you are studying,  but it does not cause any issues, and you can change it back when you go back home).

Social Matters

During my study abroad orientation, I was told not to be “scared" of my flatmates because I was a member of the flat just as much as they were. I did consider this, but unfortunately, I am still a tad awkward when it comes to talking with them, especially since they did not seem to know each other well, either. I had many study abroad friends who were close to their flatmates because they took more of an initiative to connect with them, which is something I regret not doing early on. I recommend saying more than just “Hi” when you see them and even asking to eat meals with them; I actually grew closer to my friends’ flatmates than to mine by doing this, haha. It wasn’t the biggest deal that I wasn’t connected with them, but it would have made my living experience much better if I were.

Speaking of connecting with people, I recommend hanging out with literally anyone and everyone. For IES Abroad Freiburg specifically, it can be hard to get to know people across all three programs (EU, LAS, and ESS) because you have class in different places and different required trips. However, it can feel very restricting to only surround yourself with the people in your specific program, especially since all of IES Abroad Freiburg is not that big to begin with. It is always better not to be around the same people 24/7. Also, try to meet as many locals as you can! It is quite counterintuitive to go to a foreign country and only meet Americans, so joining a club, asking to meet your flatmates’ friends, and going to student events are all great ways to meet people who come from entirely different backgrounds (albeit, I am not the best at doing this…).

Being Prepared

This is a pretty broad category, but I wanted to focus on two specific things: what to (not) bring and planning travel. Starting with the former, it is important to know that you will definitely be bringing a lot of stuff back home, whether you think so or not. There are so many things that I want to hold on to, so I made sure to have room for them. Also, I don’t think there is one item that I recommend bringing before you arrive, but if you are packing and think something may not be important while abroad, it probably isn’t! Be mindful of your limited space, what you can simply buy abroad (instead of packing it), and what you will inevitably take back with you.

The last thing is a bit specific, and I did not think it would apply to me, but it ended up mattering a lot. In Europe, it is very easy to travel, so have locations already in mind in case that interests you. I did not plan to travel outside of the travel that was included in the IES Abroad Freiburg EU program, but I ended up doing three overnight trips outside of IES Abroad (which may be what the next blog post is about…). However, I know people who traveled as much as every single weekend! It is important to plan trips early so you aren’t stressing about them throughout the semester (many people actually planned travel during class, but I will not name names). One very important note is to take advantage of being students, EU residents, and under 26 years old. All 3 of these characteristics often come with perks like free and reduced entrance into certain museums and attractions. You will probably never be able to take advantage of all three of these at the same time after studying abroad, so now is the best time to go crazy and see as many things as you can!

That being said, it is perfectly okay not to travel as well! As someone from a low-income background, I know how hard it is not to take part in things that require a lot of money. Thankfully, I worked and saved a lot over the past couple of years to be able to travel, but I did not have to. Not being away from Freiburg too much was also important to me because it is where I call home, and there is plenty to do in the city and surrounding areas, as well!

I hope future students (especially ones from my homeschool) come across this post before studying abroad. IES Abroad blogs helped me prepare before traveling, so I hope this post was enough to help even one person in the future. I obviously could not cover everything, but I tried to touch on what I believed was most important, especially for those who have never been abroad before 🙂

Take care,

--Dana