Keeping Up With Your Hobbies Abroad

Even though studying abroad seems like a dream, it isn’t all a piece of cake. Today I’m going to talk about the struggles and successes of keeping up with your hobbies while abroad. Mostly, I’ll be talking about my own experiences, but I’ll try to give some general tips about how to manage expectations and reality when transitioning your life abroad.

I think it’s important ahead of time to do your research. My main hobbies include reading, writing, running and rock climbing; while the first two don’t necessarily require research, I was disappointed knowing that I wouldn’t find any Barnes & Nobles stores in Christchurch (there is a small on-campus bookstore at University of Canterbury!). Running and rock climbing, however, necessitated research. I found out Christchurch is extremely flat, which makes it super accessible for running, and the weather’s quite nice, meaning that I wasn’t going to have trouble running while abroad. The same went for rock climbing: there was a rock wall on campus as well as multiple climbing and bouldering gyms accessible by bus. 

It was easy enough for me to figure out whether or not my hobbies were possible in New Zealand, but I think the hardest part was pushing myself to keep up with everything. I found I had more time to spend on my hobbies but less motivation to get involved. For example, even though I joined clubs early on into the semester, I haven’t attended anything beyond the first club meetings in February. Because the hardest part of studying abroad isn’t transitioning your hobbies; it’s trying to settle yourself into a place knowing you’ll leave in a couple months. I found that even with all the opportunities the climbing club was giving me, I only wanted to go on my own time with people from my program. It was scary branching out and joining these clubs not knowing whether or not I would mesh well with them. 

I realize now, reflecting back on my semester, that my biggest success in keeping up with hobbies was when I set a goal for myself. A few weeks into the semester, I decided to sign up for the “St. Clair’s Vineyard Half Marathon,” where you run 21.1 km (13.1 miles) through beautiful, picturesque Blenheim. Having something concrete to work towards and giving myself a deadline made running easier and more rewarding. Every time I ran, I was training toward the goal of the half-marathon. 

Running the half-marathon was one of the most satisfying moments during my time abroad. Between the mountains hovering above me in the horizon to feeling the adrenaline rush of running a race, I felt like I had achieved what I wanted at the start of the semester. Even though I was fighting off a bacterial infection, I still pulled through and set a new PR!

Similarly, I set a reading goal for the year (30 books), which has given me an excuse to pick up a book every week. If I want to stay on track, I need to read about two to three books a month, meaning there’s always a book in my backpack. Right now I’ve just started “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr; it’ll be my 13th book of the year.

On the other hand, I didn’t set goals for myself in rock climbing or writing, so they’ve fallen off my radar during the semester. I’ve still gone rock climbing and written a few times, though not to the extent which I would’ve liked. If you can’t keep up with your hobbies, that’s okay! Your time abroad gives you the chance to branch out and try both new and old things, so taking a break from a hobby isn’t the end of the world.

I think it’s important before choosing to study abroad to think about what parts of your life would change, and if you’re okay with that. By setting goals for yourself ahead of time, you can find purpose in your experience which will make your time abroad all the more enjoyable.