Study Abroad: Beyond the Perfect Instagram Posts

While study abroad is usually filled with a lot of fun experiences, it is not always the easiest. When talking to others before I went abroad, I was met with a chorus people telling me sentiments along the lines “This will be the best year of your life!,” “You will never want to leave there!,” and “You will fall in love with the city!” I found that most people whom I spoke to before, did not take any time to address the potentially more difficult aspects of study abroad, or they glossed over it. Many of my friends who had been abroad, both on the UMass Baden-Württemberg exchange and on other exchanges with UMass, all told me about the wonderful times they had had and how it completely changed their lives. Meany of them expressed wishes to return permanently to the place they had studied abroad. I fully expected to have a similar experience from the get go, but that was not the case for me, personally.

Honestly, study abroad can be very difficult at times. I had a difficult time adjusting at first and I found that I was homesick a lot. While I have found Tübingen to be a very beautiful city that I’ve had very good experiences in, I would be lying if I said there were days when I didn’t wish that I could go home instead of staying there for the remainder of the year. I often felt guilty and I didn't feel like I was enjoying my experience as much as I should be. I had days when I felt like I was having a “wrong” study abroad experience because I wasn’t experiencing constant euphoria. It took me a few months to realize that these feelings were normal and that I shouldn’t be comparing my experiences to others’. It was natural to have these feelings when spending a year abroad, in a foreign land for the first time ever. A situation like that tends to be difficult for anyone.

One of the most difficult aspects of the year abroad was that I missed a lot of events in my family.  I knew that would occur, but I did not anticipate the emotional impact it would have on me. I found it difficult to miss events like my cousin’s graduation, music concerts my brother performed in, and even holidays like Christmas and Easter. I’ve realized that my family really does mean so much to me. I did visit home in February for three weeks, following the end of the first semester, which was a really good decision for me personally. It provided a way to “reset” my time away from my family, but at the same time it allowed me to really appreciate the time I had been having abroad.

While I have ultimately enjoyed my study abroad experience so far and have really enjoyed the experiences I have had had, it hasn’t been without difficulties. I think that when speaking to friends about study abroad in the future, I will do my best to provide an accurate, non sugar-coated description of my time abroad.