PRE-DEPARTURE

How to Get Around South Korea

Posted by DACEYN on 

There are several methods of traveling throughout the country, however depending on the city you study in or visit, some may be better than others. Please be aware that some options may only be available to foreigners via a website and not an app, so plan wisely.

Cross-country:

  • Taking a train (website)
    • There are several different kinds of trains in Korea that one can take, but the fastest is the KTX. A long-distance train that you can take to travel between major cities, the KTX is the fastest way to get around to different provinces. There are other, slower trains that travel to smaller cities where the KTX does not go, which can also be accessed online. There is luggage storage available for check-in bags, but it is very limited. There is also overhead storage for smaller bags.
    • Regardless of the kind of train, they will arrive at the stated time on your ticket, so DO NOT BE LATE. When you book a train ticket, there will be train car and seat number listed on your ticket – sit in your assigned seat for the duration of your ride even when other people get on and off as this will be your seat until your stop. Just before each station, the name of the stop will be stated in Korean, then in English so don’t worry too much about not knowing what stop is coming since these announcements combined with the stop time listed on your ticket will let you know when to get off.
    • Booking a KTX ticket: simply look up “ktx train” or “railninja” and you will be able to book tickets after setting the city names and date. If you receive no result, then a KTX train does not take that route and you will have to resort to a different kind of train (try looking up “Rome2Rio korea trains”) or a bus.
  • Taking a bus (website or in-person)
    • Long-distance buses are a cheaper, but longer alternative to the trains. There is undercarriage storage that can fit check-in bags, but you must do this on your own. These buses will make a singular stop at a rest stop for 15 minutes during the journey. These stops while have several food vendors, a convenience store, and restrooms. Employees here are unlikely to speak much if any English so you can check if there is an electronic order station at the stand, use a translation app, or learn how to order food. The 15-minute break is strict – they will leave without you.
    • Booking a bus ticket: there are ways to book tickets ahead of time online, but it is best to just look up “city a to city b bus tickets.” An easier, but riskier way to book tickets is to go to the station and buy tickets at one of the kiosks. Another option would be having a Korean friend buy bus tickets via the app (it is not advised to use the app on your own; it requires a Korean phone number and ID, but even if you have this, foreigners usually have trouble with it).

In the city:

  • Taxis (app)
    • Getting a taxi is very simple in Korea as the app, Kakao Taxi, is available to foreigners and is very easy to use. You just set up your pick-up and drop-off locations, pick the kind of taxi you would like to take (with estimated price), and the app will search for nearby taxis. It will show you if/when a driver has chosen your request and how far away they are. It will also display the license plate number and a picture of the driver so you can easily tell if the car approaching is the correct one. There is a caveat though – you must have a KakaoTalk account and a Korean bank card to pay via the app, so you would need to pay the driver directly if you do not have these (you will select how to pay before the app sends out the request).
    • Depending on the city you are in, the drivers may or may not speak English. In Seoul, they are more likely to, but most will not in other cities, including Gwangju. Occasionally, a driver may ask for clarification of the drop-off location, so have a translation of the address ready on your phone or know how to say it in Korean.
  • Buses (in-person)
    • In order to take buses in the city, you will need to buy a T-Money card. These can be bought at any convenience store and are usually around 5,000 to 10,000 won for the card ONLY (price varies depending on the design). You can charge the cards at any convenience store as well – they can only be charged with cash, excluding coins.
    • You can find bus stops and times on Naver Maps – this will show you the bus number, stop number, and when it arrives down to the minute.
    • While the price of a bus ride can vary a little based on the city, rides are usually 1,250 won. You board the bus, scan your T-Money card and find a seat or place to stand. Scan your card as you are getting off as well to avoid potentially paying more.
      • There are different kinds of seats on Korean buses: regular, elderly, pregnant women, and disability seating. These will be indicated by the color of the seat. While it is generally socially acceptable to sit in the specified seating, you must move if someone boards after you that needs that seat.
    • The buses move very quickly, so find a place to sit or stand fast as the bus will move even if you aren’t sitting/holding on. In the same vein, prepare to get off at minimum a stop before by pressing the “stop” button (located on the wall) and getting ready to leave. You will know when your stop is coming via an accouncement as well as a screen that lists the upcoming stop in Korean and English.
  • Subway (in-person)
    • The subway works very similarly to buses: you need a T-Money card to use the subway and you scan your card before and after your ride. Naver Maps also shows directions via the subway so using that for the subway too will be helpful. When on the subway, it is advised that you do not talk, or if you do, make it short and quiet as this is the local etiquette. It is also not advised to sit in the pregnant women seating unless it is super crowded. Even then, you must move if someone else needs it. Stops will be announced in Korean and English and they will tell you what side the platform is on as well.

Japan: End of Program – Ethan McConkey

   mcconke  Uncategorized

What Have I Missed?

I think that there’s two things I have missed the most while I was gone.

One is food. As much as “American Food Culture” is an ever-debated topic on the internet, I have missed the foods that were normal to me. Of course, I’ve become accustomed to much of the food here, but I miss things like my mom’s cooking, and the restaurants I used to frequent, both in Bellingham (The Black Cat!) and in my hometown.

More importantly, I have missed people. As much as I have enjoyed (nearly) every second of my time here, I do feel ready to go back home and spend time with friends and family. A few of my friends started going to school, and another moved into a new place, and I have missed these things which I would’ve preferred to be around for. This is a natural concession of going abroad (luckily, nothing bad has happened while I was here) but I think it is important to make sure to stay in touch with people while you’re away!

Reverse Culture Shock

To answer the question; I’m not sure if I will experience reverse culture shock. I initially believed that I wouldn’t, but a friend of mine (a fellow Western student who was also studying abroad at the same university) told me that he was feeling some upon his return.

Regardless, I’ll have about a month after I return before I go back up to Bellingham, so I should be able to readjust back to the US (and fix any jet lag) with no real problems. That’s the goal, anyways!

Study Abroad as a Memory

Many of my friends unfortunately left at the end of Fall, so there are only a few people left as of now. Just last night another friend of mine went back home for Spring, so I had to say goodbye to him. The rest of everyone I talk to is staying for Spring, so I will be saying my farewells over the next few days, as I head home in about 48 hours, as of writing this.

I plan to continue studying Japanese for the foreseeable future. In December, I’m planning on taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, a government recognized test for (as you can guess) Japanese language proficiency. In the future, I want to teach English in Japan, but I am also considering applying to graduate schools here.

I want to try my best to maintain connections after I leave. I am making sure that I let everyone know when I leave that if they ever end up in Washington, to let me know, so we can try to meet up again. I want to try to at least message people occasionally, as I’ve met many cool people here that I hope to remain friends with in the future.

Wrap-Up

Apologies for a bit of a short entry, I’m pretty busy packing up and meeting up with people in these last few days. This has been a wonderful experience, thanks in no small part to the people who make WWU Study Abroad run smoothly!

Personal Goals For Study Abroad

Posted By Daceyn, March 4th, 2024

What do you hope to gain and how much research have you done on your host country and culture that will better prepare you for this experience?

When I initially thought about studying abroad in terms of what I wanted to gain from it, my mind was solely on academics. I thought about how I would meet my major and minor requirements, how I would need to choose the right number of classes to meet the minimum number of credits, things like that. Later on, however, as the departure date got closer, I thought about how I would be able to experience a completely different culture firsthand and how that would change everything. I would need to learn a new language and new customs that were unfamiliar to me in order to get around and do things.

For research, I had been interested in going to South Korea for a time now, and had watched many videos and read different articles about what it was like to study and live there as a foreigner. I wanted to be informed about differences in how classes worked to how much more fast paced certain things would be.

What are you most excited about? What are you most scared or nervous about?

What I was most excited about was the same thing I was most nervous about: visiting a new country. I had never been outside of the US. before this, and now I was going to be on the other side of the world without any family or longtime friends. I was excited to explore and experience a new culture and language and everything that comes with that, but was also nervous because that those same things could pose challenges for me.

What strategies have you implemented that will allow you to overcome these challenges and take full advantage of your opportunities?

Self-care and indulging in my hobbies. Finding ways to relax and recenter myself after exploring or trying new things has been key overcoming my nervousness about going to and being in a new country. Making friends has also been a good way find new opportunities of going out and visiting places or traveling that I likely would have never done on my own.

Host Country and Cultural Immersion – Study Abroad in South Korea

Posted by Daceyn, March 4th, 2024

What are your favorite things about your host location thus far?

It’s hard to say what my favorite things are, but it can be summed up with this: South Korea has been brilliant!!

The natural scenery is beautiful, particularly the bamboo forest that I visited. Coming from Washington, I love views of nature and walking through the trees. Seeing a bamboo forest was on my list of things to do while in the country and I am so glad that I got to see one!! The city views shouldn’t be forgotten since once you get up high enough—like at Namsan Tower or Jeonil Building 245—looking out over the other buildings is very beautiful.

Other things that I’ve quite liked is having the opportunity to try different foods that I probably wouldn’t have been able to try in the US. As a somewhat picky eater, I usually don’t choose meals that I’m unfamiliar with, but being in a country that has such different meals, it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and I have enjoyed most of what I’ve tried.

Tell us about the university, academic experience, the classes, student life, and clubs or activities you are involved with? How are the locals, are there any differences or similarities that have surprised you based on your expectations?

University is both similar and different than university in the US. There were a lot of little things that I didn’t expect to be different and that I had to adjust to. For example, classes in the US are the same amount of time regardless of what day of the week they are (i.e. a history class that goes from 10:00am to 12:00pm on Mondays will also go from 10:00am to 12:00pm on Wednesdays and Fridays too). At my host university however, the history class may run for two hours on Mondays but be only an hour for Wednesdays and Fridays. The times that classes are held is also rather different. Classes are listed in 50min blocks (MWF) and 75min blocks (TTH) and are numbered for each block. So, the history class would be Mon. 2 and 3, and Wed. + Fri. 2 as classes start at 9:00am. This was very confusing.

The locals are lovely and clearly understand that, as a foreigner, I don’t always understand what someone is saying or that they may need to repeat what they said. Oftentimes, they will know a few words in English relevant to their job and are able to tell you what they are asking. They also have no issue communicating through an app as they are very understanding since my host university has many international students.

Did you experience culture shock when you arrived in your host country? How did your expectations about your experience compare with the reality of your day-to-day life? Is there anything you wish you would have done or researched more to better prepare you for your experience?

Culture shock is given, regardless of the amount of research a person. There were so many little things that surprised me (like the aforementioned class things) that it took some time to get settled in despite what I already knew about. I kept my expectations realistic, especially for a country that is often sensationalized and seen to be as perfect, so my experience so far has mostly been what I expected except for the little things.

Last Hurrahs and Coming Home

Going on Trips while abroad?

By Jade Harding

January 28th, 2024

I’ve talked about how most of my time abroad was spent attending school. Luckily, though, my longer-term program also allowed students to stay in Japan during summer vacation! Like many others, I did my best to make good use of that time, and went on some trips. The best one was going to Kyoto, Osaka and Nara on the other side of the country for just under a week. I think Kyoto is pretty well known even abroad, as one of the largest tourist destinations in the country and a center of traditional architecture with beautiful shrines, temples, cherry trees and markets to explore.

Yasaka-Jinja, Kyoto–Beautiful at night!

Though, I found myself preferring Uji, a just slightly-less known destination right next to the main city of Kyoto known particularly for its green tea, but also housing a wealth of shrines and historic locations. As someone who likes to get slightly away from the more bustling areas, I loved Uji for having both the big attractions like the shopping street next to Byodo-in, and the quieter places like Kōshō-ji (pictured below) where I was able to explore away from the crowds.

興聖寺(Kōshō-ji), Uji
And of course, don’t forget the Uji Matcha! 上林三入本店 三星園, outside Byodo-in

If anyone reading this is hoping to travel to the Kansai area and has interest in traditional architecture or matcha, I recommend adding Uji to your bucket list!

Packing and Prep — in Reverse

All things must pass, and getting ready to go home was tough in a different way than preparing to leave for Japan. A lot of people have a tougher time packing, due to unavoidable accumulation of Stuff—for Japan in particular, I noticed some folks with exceedingly large volumes of manga and/or crane-game stuffed animals. Unless you came with an empty bag or two, it’s highly probable that you will be leaving with more than you came with. Depending on your budget, it may even be worth planning on bringing an extra bag home, or packing fewer things in the first place that you’ll need to bring back. Having to pack away the items I’d accumulated over my trip was a good moment to look back, but also felt like a kind of closure signaling that the trip was really coming to an end. Depending on the items, it may also be good to post a box home; I sent one full of Japanese-language books, which cost a lot less to get there, even after shipping.

One other note, depending on your program length, it may be necessary to book your returning flight separately from your departing flight. That mainly applies to programs that are half a year or more. It also depends on the specifics of the programs, such as whether you have to arrange airplane tickets in the first place. There could also be some variability in when students return home; in the case of my program you were allowed to stay until the dorm rooms had to be cleared out for the next batch of students, but could leave any time after the semester ended depending on your own circumstances. In my case, I was able to book my departure and return flights together due to knowing the start and end dates well in advance, and therefore took the exact same route in reverse on my way home, after staying at the dorm for as long as I could.

So, I packed my bags, closed my temporary bank account, said my goodbyes, and after half a year took the train back to Narita for the day-long journey home.

Being Home Again

Coming back home has been wonderful. Of course it is just nice to be home, but I also feel a greater appreciation for how different it feels to live here. Climate is one area where home definitely wins, and I was immediately happy to be free of Japan’s sweltering, simmering, stifling summer. However, I can’t help but look back and miss Tokyo. I tried my best to be appreciative of the opportunity I had and spend as much of my time as possible learning and having experiences that I could remember, and I was able to fit in more than I ever expected before leaving. But half a year is hardly enough time to take in the whole of Tokyo, much less an entire country. I hope to return in the not-too distant future if at all possible, both to see more of what Japan has to offer and revisit my favorite places once again.

To borrow the words from a presentation I heard before leaving, expect not to shut up about your time abroad.

What do you miss?

A couple of things I’ve missed since getting home,

Food!

Japanese food is wonderful, and I got used to eating it every day. But sadly, it’s much less common where I live in America, and this was a transition I felt sharply on my return. I hardly craved American food while in Japan, though there were some exceptions (see: maple bars, baked beans). But upon getting home, I wanted nothing more than some miso soup. Since getting back I have been making frequent trips to Asian markets to gather ingredients and learn how to make my favorite dishes. This has been easier than I expected. There are many ingredients like Shiso and various mushrooms common in Japan that are difficult to find, especially fresh. However, I have been able to work around that and slowly introduce those close to me to real Japanese food, from curry to tonkatsu, soba, ramen, croquettes and more. Food is a wonderful thing to bring back, a great way to experience Japan again from home, and a lot of fun!

Using Japanese

A tough thing from coming back from a country that speaks a different language, and getting used to using that language daily, is that inevitably you will have less opportunity to use it. This is difficult if you, like me, want to continue to learn and grow your usage of that language. So, since getting back I have had to continue to be proactive about finding opportunities to use Japanese, as well as returning to my self study, which I mostly abandoned while being surrounded by it and taking actual courses. This is an area that depends on your goals, but I would generally advise finding ways to keep consistently engaging with the language, even if it doesn’t involve speaking. The best way to hold vocabulary in your mind is to hear it every now and then!

And that is the end of my journey. I hope that through my posts here I was able to clear up some expectations about what it is actually like to go abroad, or just convey my own experiences to anyone looking into following a similar path. Thank you to anyone who read along, and well wishes to those who go abroad!

What Surprised You Abroad?

By Jade Harding

There’s a lot to get used to abroad. One of the best things about a longer study abroad program is that you have plenty of time. It allows you to get past the tourist honeymoon period where everything is new, and to actually get an understanding of what life is like. Likewise, the way I thought about my time abroad changed over the course of my program. You don’t know what you don’t know, but there are a few things I didn’t know, think much about, or understand fully beforehand.

How Much Freedom Did You Have?

This is a major benefit of longer programs. School tends to be closer to the experience a normal student has, and structured activities aimed at exchange students are more spread out, if present at all. As such, you are pretty free to spend your free time on exploring, on self-structured activities, to join clubs, or to just stay home for a day. Before leaving I had expected more of my time to be accounted for, more similar to short term programs, so I found this freedom refreshing, and especially later in the program tried to make use of it to learn as much as I could about Japan. Like I’ve talked about before, I was able to put my emphasis on getting out of my English bubble to just explore the city, and although I couldn’t possibly see everything there was to see I think I did pretty well.

Work or Internships?

This is a more direct area where I wish I had thought more about how I would be spending my time day-by-day while abroad. Particularly for programs over six months, a lot of students get a job or internship while abroad, in addition to their college classes. I did not and as such cannot speak from experience, but for anyone going to Japan, know that you get one easy chance to open the door to working while you are there. If you do not say you might get a part time job while in the country at the airport upon your arrival, it will be very tough to decide to do so later.

Culture Shock?

I was blessed with having studied Japanese for about four and a half years before my study abroad program. In the course of that, I thought I had gained a pretty decent understanding of Japanese culture. However, you can only learn so much from the other side of the world, and actually being there was different. My home college tells exchange students about culture shock and how to deal with it before going, but I have always had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. Having gone to a country quite different from America, I can say that the closest feeling I got was a kind of anxiety about the difference in the way things are just expected to be done. That said, I was generally able to overcome these with my language ability (another reason to learn!) or accepting the difference until it became familiar–because that is what culture shock is: being confronted with a way of doing things you haven’t seen before or have trouble understanding. So, be accepting. After all, it isn’t home.

There are some easy examples, like getting used to using military time on the regular in conversation, or learning to speak metric as an American. Other things are difficult to understand until you are actually there, like the feeling of walking through a dense city residential area that has probably been occupied since before your home country existed, with roads just barely wide enough for cars and houses built up to the curb. For some confusion that put me going places way too early on the regular, Tokyo runs on a different schedule than home. I found that many retail stores and restaurants would open late in the day–to me at least–and the city would stay awake late into the night.

Though, there was one area that was completely different from home,

Food!

If you find yourself in another country, a fantastic way to get to know it is through the food, both the dishes themselves and the culture around it. Something that surprised me was the relative prevalence of eating out in Japan. In my experience in America, eating out feels like a treat, as well as costing a lot more than cooking something myself at home. In Tokyo, as well as the sheer number of options you would rightly expect to find in a massive city, I found it much easier and cheaper to eat at restaurants. This especially applies if you are getting food on your own, which is common at, for instance, ramen restaurants.

There was also an interesting difference in the scope of restaurants. In America, menus will tend to have a large variety of options, regardless of the type of food. Of course, there are restaurants like that in Tokyo. However many, particularly restaurants serving food more unique to Japan (for lack of a better term), will tend to have smaller menus. It is easy to find entire stores that only sell curry or pudding or ramen, or even cafes that only have one food item on the menu that changes depending on the day.

In terms of new cultural experiences, food is also a really easy and fulfilling way to experiment. Try everything! Food was fantastic to bring back with me, and a great way to remember my time in Japan. Picked up a few recipes too.

つけ麺 えん寺 吉祥寺総本店 (Tsukemen En-ji in Kichijoji, Tokyo)
らぁめん 真風 吉祥寺 (Ramen Maji, also in Kichijoji Tokyo)
Desert! ならまち 招福庵 (Shofukutei in Naramachi, Nara)

Epilogue

After four months, I’m back home.

^me with my cat^

It feels so comforting to be back in my old room, to be with my family, and to have a few weeks of unproductive mindless downtime before going back to school. I expected to feel very sad after leaving Prague, and I do miss my friends from UNYP, but I am mostly happy to be home. The glow of all my happy memories from the last few months has kept me feeling grateful, not sad.

This last blog post is what it says in the title—an epilogue, and a reflection on the whole semester abroad.

From WWU’s travel writing program writing prompts:

If I had the chance to go back in time, I would probably do almost everything the same way. I might have tried a little harder to look for an affordable program at Charles University, but my experience at the University of New York in Prague was fine. One thing I could have definitely done better was getting to know people who weren’t studying abroad. Almost all of my friends were only staying in Prague for a semester, and I neglected the chance to talk to full-time students in class. It’s hard to definitively list more things I wish I had done differently, because I know that I did the best I could with the time that I had. Sure, I could have been stricter in my plans and fit more Prague sightseeing into my weeks, but that may have taken away from my ability to be present and spontaneous. I could have spent more time with my friends, but that may have burned up my social battery.

In the future, I would like to travel abroad again. I may not study abroad again, since I graduate after next year, but I think another semi-long-term trip abroad is possible for me (ex: peacecorps). On the other hand, I’ve realized that I really like my home, and I found it hard to be away from my roots. Because of this, studying abroad has shown me that I don’t want to live abroad for a long time period. One semester was the perfect length for me. I know that my experience living abroad for several months will help me in any future trips abroad, and for that I’m grateful.

Main takeaways:

I’ve recorded my biggest takeaways in this blog throughout the semester, so to get their full scope, I’d recommend looking at what I’ve written over the last few months. Here are some of my most notable takeaways that I’ve written about, and where to find them:

Vignettes

One prompt for this post-program post was “What has this experience meant to me?” I think meaning is shown well through memory, so to sort of answer that question, I’ll record some of my favorite memories from this fall.

^ A group of strangers, soon to be friends, stand with me on the walls of Prague castle. We look out over the orange and green expanse of Prague’s skyline, feeling like we have all the time in the world to explore it.

^ My roommates and I walk together in the arched gothic halls of the St. Agnes Convent, in our fanciest outfits, before listening to a string quintet as part of Prague’s Dvořákova festival. Some of us have wine glasses in our hands, and our hushed voices mingle with the clicks of our heels in the echoing rooms.

^ The spired cathedral crowns the hill above us as we follow an overgrown cobblestone path down to the creek. A cat follows us. We’re not in a rush; we have all day to meander through the town of Kutná Hora. For once, the sunlight’s warmth is welcome as we shiver against the first breezes of autumn.

^ I sit with my friend at the edge of a pond, which we found in the midst of a sprawling wooded park. While admiring the light on the water, we gasp as a golden koi drifts out from under the lily pads and glides around us. Once it leaves, we sit for a while longer, talking softly and enjoying the reeds and swaying trees.

^ It’s hard to hear ourselves think over the waves of chatter and laughter flowing across the table at our friendsgiving potluck. But that doesn’t stop us from continuing happy conversations with the people next to us—leaning close to share jokes and loudly compliment every homemade dish. I enjoy Sea’s pasta, and no one can get enough of Todd’s lasagna.

^ After weeks of rehearsal, the school choir that “adopted” me performs our winter concert. My friends (and their friends) take up two full rows of seats, and I feel proud to be sharing our festive music with them. The Czech Museum of Music is built so that every note and chord reverberates through the space, echoing after we finish singing.

^ Captivated, bordering on reverential, I listen to Hozier’s “Cherry Wine.” The whole audience sings along, and our voices are so indistinct that they merge into one. An unspoken connection tethers us all for a moment until the song ends.

^ Reflections of streetlights glisten on the waters of the Vltava as I walk along the bank with my friends. Prague is frosted, and quiet, as if the snow muffles the busy city. A faint fog seems to bring everything closer. We wander around, half believing ourselves to be in Narnia.

Photo Recap

I’ll end this post with some of my favorite pictures from this semester. I’ll make them from most to least recent, just like my Photos page, because that way we can end this blog with the beginning. I always like a good circular ending—don’t you?

From Petřín Hill
I finally found a group of swans!
Snowy Pražský Hrad
Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstíin the snow on film
Swan by Charles Bridge
A lot of pictures of Charles Bridge, right? But the light in this one was too good not to include
Pigeon-feeding
Just a normal selfie, but it’s the only picture I have with Barbara and I like it
Bohemian Switzerland National Park (below pic as well)
The tree caught the light just right
Český Krumlov
Cindy taking pictures of Český Krumlov
From Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest
Statue fountain in Budapest
Hungary’s parliament building
I like that I caught them mid-laugh!
The wall on the hill of Kutná Hora
St. Barbara’s Cathedral, Kutná Hora
The walls next to Prague Castle
On the roof of the Czech National Museum
My favorite park: Grébovka, aka Havlíčkovy sady
Basilica of St. Ludmila at Náměstí Míru
My first glimpse of Prague from the incoming airplane 🙂

Dear reader, thanks for staying with me through this whole post, and for the whole saga of my travels! It means a lot.

Now that we’re officially done: Goodbye Prague! Until next time, na shledanou.

Logistical tips for studying abroad

This post had to come eventually! It will be fairly boring to anyone who isn’t planning an upcoming study abroad trip, so please don’t feel obligated to read this if you’re just following along with my pictures and updates about my trip. The following post will include various practical things I’ve learned about traveling to a new country, including language learning, cell service/technology, packing, and shopping. My very first post (“The calm before the storm”) shares some of my pre-departure tasks and how I prepared for my trip; I will repeat some things from that post but I still recommend reading it.

Packing

I decided to bring one large suitcase, one small suitcase, and a backpack to Prague. I tend to overpack, so it took a lot of deliberating and precise folding to finagle everything I wanted to bring into that luggage. I had to be very picky about what I brought, but that being said, I also think it’s important to bring sentimental and comforting things with you. After all, when you study abroad, your host location will be your home for several months, so it’s important to make it feel like a home, not a hotel. For reference, I brought some framed pictures for my desk, some non-framed pictures to tape on my wall, a small Wonder Woman plastic figure from my mom, and my boyfriend’s oversized puffer coat.

Despite being very strict about what clothes I brought, I still have clothing items that I rarely wear. So one tip is: if you’re trying to lighten your packing load, pay special attention to your clothes, because that’s usually the category where you can remove the most things without causing problems. I know a favored solution to the packing problem is buying things at your host location, but I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. I didn’t want to spend money on redundant things and then have to throw them out or bring them home in extra luggage. I decided to only buy toiletries here (shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc), and packed everything else I needed.

The things I’m most grateful to have brought are:

  • my nice camera
  • an extra folded-up duffel bag (for the trip home)
  • extra bags for shopping
  • my pictures
  • a portable charger
  • a small padlock
  • winter gear
  • small first aid kit
  • my kindle
^my pile of things that I packed^

Technology

For international cell service, I decided to leave my family’s Verizon plan because its international charges were too high. I got Google Fi instead, and used its “flexible” plan so I paid monthly based on how much data I used. I recommend this option if you’ll only be away for 2-3 months, but not longer, because after around 2 months, Google Fi told me it was canceling my international coverage since I wasn’t using it in the US. Apparently, that little stipulation was in the fine print that I didn’t read carefully enough. As an alternative, I recommend trying an e-sim card, because they’re digital and they usually allow you to keep your existing phone number. Another option is to buy a physical sim card once you get to your location. A group of friends of mine did this and got a big family plan at a local T-Mobile in Prague, so they got to split the cost of the plan. They call themselves “sim siblings.”

Other technology tips:

  • Bring multiple outlet adaptors, or a single adapter with multiple charging ports, because I only brought one and had to buy another when I realized I couldn’t charge my phone and laptop at the same time.
  • A portable charger comes in very handy!
  • I recommend bringing any kind of camera that you have, to take higher quality pictures and avoid using up your phone battery while traveling.

Language learning:

I tried to learn some Czech over the summer to prepare for my semester in Prague. Here are the main tools I used:

  • On Spotify: Czech music playlists, and the One Minute Czech podcast
  • I kept a notebook where I wrote down everything I learned, and brought that notebook with me everywhere
  • Duolingo
  • Quizlet (after writing what I learned in my notebook, I made a ton of flashcards so I could test myself)
  • Czech With Katerina (youtube channel): this was the most important tool I used, because Katerina has almost 30 episodes of Czech language instruction, along with free worksheets that you can print and fill out every episode. She even has little quizzes!

I learned quite a few words/phrases over the summer, but interestingly, I’ve hardly learned any more since I got here. For one thing, since I’m at an English-speaking school, I’m not surrounded by Czech-speaking people. In addition, after I learned basic greetings and etiquette over the summer, the sheer volume of vocabulary and grammar rules beyond that was so overwhelming that I haven’t really made any progress since I arrived. I have gotten to use the Czech that I do know, however, which has been fun. One thing I like is that the Czech locals will usually begin a conversation in Czech, not English, even if they can tell I’m a foreigner. I appreciate that they let me initiate a conversation in Czech, even if I then follow it with an embarrassing display of my ignorance of the language 🙂

^my czech notebook^

Some miscellaneous tips

  • Public transport may seem overwhelming at first, but google maps and apple maps have a transit feature that will tell you exactly how to get where you need to go. Follow them, and pay attention to which side of the street you need to be on depending on the direction you’re traveling.
  • If you’re coming to Europe from the USA, you may need to get used to shopping more frequently and in smaller “batches” than in America. Since I’m sharing a small food storage space with 5 roommates, I can’t buy very much food at one time, so I shop more frequently than I do at home.
  • Seeing everything labeled in a different language can be confusing, but google translate has a photo option that translates the words in your picture. I use this almost every day for shopping, cooking, etc.
  • do some research on your host area ahead of time, so you can prepare for the climate, understand the locals, and start a list of things you want to do (especially things that will require planning).

If there are any students reading this who have further questions about preparing to study abroad, feel free to reach out to me!

Life in Another Country: Settling in

By: Jade Harding

High rise buildings, walls of people, events for every season, massive gardens and surprisingly quaint parks; anything you have the will to look for.

Shinjuku image city tokyo cat

Settling-in

For a refresher: I studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan for half a year via an exchange program. There are a multitude of ways to study abroad and even more places to go, but I hope that by describing my time abroad, I can provide some expectations to people who are considering the same path. This is the post for anyone who wants an example of what studying abroad was actually like for someone who went to Tokyo.

I am generally a pretty quiet person, and if left to my own devices I’ll just stay home. I wanted to make my time in Japan a little different, using it as an opportunity to grow. A lot of people have some goals for their time abroad, and aside from academics I had two: exploration, and actually talking to people, which were especially important while settling in. 

Getting out there and exploring the city was a neverending font of fulfilling activities. Quick tip, if you expect to be doing some exploration and don’t have a portable power bank to charge your phone with, I recommend getting one. I didn’t until after arriving, but it saved me on multiple occasions. I was lucky enough to land in an incredibly walkable city with widespread access to public transport that is easy to learn and use, but spending a long time away from the house is bad for battery. It’s difficult to express the dynamic of the sheer density of Tokyo with its surprisingly tight scale, or at least that’s how it felt to me, an American used to having plenty of wide open space. You have access to just about anything you could want within an hour or two by train, or if you want to see the sights, a few hours by foot. Both are great! That is exactly how I spent my weekends, particularly in the early days of my program, getting a grasp of what the city is actually like by going to new places, from touristy spots like Asakusa or Ginza, quieter neighborhoods like Sangenjaya, or areas lively with locals like Kichijoji.

Inokashira Park

How did you get around?

It’s worth checking into the quality of public transport at your destination, or whether your program provides any transportation. An easy way to gauge the public transport is to find a bunch of places nearby you want to go to, and look into the travel time to get there using the different options available. In the case of my program, exchange students had the option to rent a bicycle, though I would say that you don’t need one given the walkability of the city. Whatever options there are, learn them and make full use to explore new places. That’s a big part of studying abroad, after all.

Finding opportunities to use Japanese

The other goal of actually talking to people had a lot to do with my study abroad location being a non-English speaking country. I won’t say that going straight abroad is the best way to learn a language from scratch, but if you go in with a strong foundation, it is easily the quickest way to increase your vocabulary and confidence with speaking. But, in order to do that, you have to actually interact with people (and things) in the language, without sticking inside a bubble of exchange students, and preferably without relying on English as a crutch—a language I assume you know if you are reading this. A quick way to find local students is to join a club. I did, and that was one of my best opportunities to interact with them outside of, say, structured events arranged for exchange students. Some programs may also put you into homestays, or, as my program did, a dorm that’s shared between exchange students and locals. That was an opportunity to see people every day and interact with them, and also helped get me out of my bubble.

Do I actually need to know Japanese?

As a tourist, you can get by in Japan with English alone. But, as a resident, especially for a longer period, you will have a tough time without speaking the native tongue. For this reason, a lot of longer programs will require a basic level of language ability, but bear in mind that textbook learning is different from the real thing.  I studied Japanese for about four years before my abroad program, and it benefitted me immensely. You do not need to be fluent in a language to study abroad, but the more you know, the more you can make use of it to make the time you spend abroad more effective. And if you are still relatively new to learning the language, adjust your expectations–don’t go in with the expectation of walking away fluent, just try to understand as much as you can and see how far you go.

Personally, being able to interact freely with locals, go out on my own with confidence that I could find my way or do what I wanted without needing help, and use that as an opportunity to strengthen my skills further was incredibly beneficial. 

Next time, I’ll talk about what changed as I continued with my program.

Paying for Study Abroad

By: Jade Harding

It’s a tourist trap, but..

The Finances

In my experience as a student in the US, studying abroad can, luckily, be surprisingly inexpensive! I feel like getting into the weeds a little, so I’m going to consider the financial side of study abroad from the perspective of someone looking to go abroad, who knows about their program and location. Some things to immediately look at are the cost of living and program type. In the case of Japan, the cost of living in Tokyo is approximately half of Seattle, Washington. Therefore, you would plan on spending about half as much on expenses like food and rent in Tokyo than if you lived in Seattle. Note that the reverse could be true for your destination, with the cost of living being more than if you stayed home. This information is easy to find and cross-compare online, so check for your destination! I wouldn’t advise this as a method of choosing your program or location unless money is a primary concern, but it will give you a rough idea what to expect prices to be when you get there. 

As for the kind of program, this is once again highly individual. In my case, the program was a half a year, so relatively long, and the college arranged a dorm with set rent and meals included for most days of the week. As such, I was able to factor in that cost immediately. It is also worth considering transport; for a program in Japan, a substantial cost is the airplane. I’d advise reserving a flight the instant you know when you will need to be in the country, as the closer to departure you reserve, the more expensive flights will be. 

Scholarships??

In order to afford studying abroad, there are many scholarships available; simply too many to detail here. There are probably some local to your area which your study abroad department or google could refer you to, as well as country-wide options. Many are specific to certain critical languages, or meant to encourage students to go to underrepresented areas that are of critical interest. My general advice would be to look for something that appeals to people in your specific circumstances, like financial need, study abroad location, or skills. For one specific example, if you live in the US and receive a Pell grant, you can apply for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, offered by the US state department to support students with financial need who want to study abroad. Disclosure: I received this scholarship, and without it I would not have studied abroad, nor would I be writing this blog. As of writing, the program will provide an award of up to five thousand dollars, depending on financial need and program length, which does not need to be repaid. Including me, the Gilman scholarship has supported over 41 thousand students. I’ll include a promotional pamphlet below for more information about it. If you qualify, it is worth looking into, and if you don’t I can guarantee that there are more out there to look into. Some study abroad programs also offer scholarships specific to that program. For instance, my host college offered two scholarships that incoming students could apply for to cover costs like rent and food.

How do I budget?

I want to take some time to explain how I thought about budgeting before and after my trip abroad. A lot of costs are going to be included in the program–i.e. tuition–but a lot is also under your control. Especially if you are doing a longer term program, going in with a budget that you can adjust over the length of your stay can make the process easier. Personally, I built a spreadsheet! One sheet with a budget, and another tracking actual spending—yes, I counted my receipts, and understand completely if you don’t want to. This is what worked for me, and everyone’s system will be different. That said, I’m going to delve into my own system a bit as an example. 

I didn’t record each transaction individually, just keeping track of total spending in overall categories—food, rent, shopping, travel etc.. If your program arranges aspects like housing you should be able to find out most major expenses beforehand, and you have control over how much you want to spend on shopping, personal travel during the program, etc.. At the end of the month I compared the budget to how much I actually had, and based on that adjusted the budget (or my spending). Having a rough budget prepared also tells you whether you need scholarships, how much you would need, or if you should work while abroad to supplement savings and/or scholarships.

With that in mind, here’s what ended up being the main framework through which I made spending choices while abroad: I separated out the categories in my budget that were under my control—areas like food or shopping, not rent or tuition. I took that number, divided it by 31, and the result was a goal for the average amount of discretionary spending I wanted to aim for day by day, let’s say $30. On my handy spreadsheet, I took my actual spending, added it up, and converted it to an average over the month so far. If I was two weeks into the month and my current average was $20 per day over those fourteen days, I could splurge on a daytrip. If it was $40, I would hold off and explore something nearby instead, unless I could reduce spending on other things for the rest of the month. Being above $30 doesn’t mean I need to spend $0 until it’s back on track, it means that I need to spend less than $30 per day unless I have a good reason to do otherwise. Similarly, having some leeway means I can spend some not-entirely-necessary money without feeling any guilt. My main point here is that I worried about the trend, whether I was below or above that average, not the specific amount I spent each day.

So, look into the options! Studying abroad can be expensive, or if you choose the right program and location, it can be cheaper than staying home. Making a budget can take some time, but having one ready will give you a tool to determine how realistic going abroad actually is, convey your circumstances clearly, and make decisions while abroad. At least, that’s what it did for me.

Before Leaving

By: Jade Harding

This week, I’m going to talk about my single largest point of stress before going abroad: the trials and tribulations of getting a VISA. My study abroad program was my first time abroad, so this was completely new territory for me with a lot to learn, and I made mistakes. I’ll leave this record in the hopes of setting some expectations about the pathway to actually getting abroad.

I haven’t been abroad, how do I schedule my flight?

My study abroad program wasn’t just my first time abroad, but also the first time I had to arrange a flight. That made me quite nervous. Some programs may arrange this for you, but if you have to, you mainly need to know the destination airport, your nearest airport and how many checked-bags you want to bring with you. The biggest tip is to reserve your flight at least three months out from departure. The closer you get, the more expensive the flight is going to be, particularly within about two weeks. However, you also cannot reserve the flight until you are accepted into your program and know the destination, so some patience is involved. Additionally as I’ll talk about below, you are likely not going to receive your VISA until close to departure, so expect to reserve a flight before that process is finished.

How Tough is it to Get a VISA?

For shorter programs, a VISA often won’t be needed. Assuming you aren’t working, you can be in Japan for three months without needing to get one. But, for programs over three months, getting a hold of one can be a primary point of concern (and stress). The exact process is going to vary by country and consulate. For programs in Japan originating from the US, VISA procurement goes thus: apply to your program in Japan, if you are accepted and there aren’t any sudden global disruptions the host institution will get a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) from the Japanese government. The certificate certifies your eligibility for a VISA, as well as setting the duration you can stay in the country. The host institution will send this certificate directly to you, in the post. This certificate must then be sent or carried, along with all the other necessary application materials, to your local Japanese consulate. If that process goes well, they will send you a VISA (after a 5 day processing time in the case of my local consulate) and you will be able to be in the country for the period of your stay. This process has a decent number of steps, but is fairly simple as long as you submit the right forms. The constraint is time; the process is entirely dependent on the timeline of the host institution, government, and local consulate. This can be stressful, especially when something goes wrong because a lot is simply out of your hands. For me, the most difficult part of the process was patience.

Double Check your Paperwork

The easiest place to mess up this process, and where I did, is the paperwork. In the paperwork given to my host institution there were some mistakes in my shipping information. They didn’t catch the mess-up, and it translated into the CoE getting held up in shipping for about five days. Now I must stress, the timeline from when the CoE arrives to departure can be tight; even without being held up, it would have arrived just over two weeks before my planned departure. A delay in shipping means a delay in it arriving at the embassy, delaying the VISA arriving to your waiting hands. In my case, the CoE arrived a week and a half before my departure. My only option was to send it to the embassy the same day, which I did. After arriving there it took a week or so to process, and arrived on the afternoon of my planned morning-departure day. Where I live, delaying flights is expensive and would use up a decent chunk of the savings I was intending to use while abroad. But after going back forth worrying while staring at the shipping info, I decided to push the flight back by ~3 days, the most I could without impacting the program. They generally outline a period during which you need to arrive, such as during a particular week, and I ended up entering the country at the very end of that period.

Read Your Insurance

Important fact, most study abroad programs require or encourage the purchasing of study abroad travel insurance. The primary purpose of the insurance is to help you in case you are injured or have some kind of accident while abroad. But, I noticed a clause in my program to pay for remedies in the case of delayed departure due to VISA procurement issues. The pushed back flight cost about four times as much as the original, so this was a delight to notice afterwards and retroactively reduced my stress level by about half, putting the finances back on track.

tl;dr: If your study abroad program does not require you to get study abroad insurance, it is worth the cost. If you have it, read through what the policy covers!

Winter in Prague, a story told through photos

McKenzie Harris

December 9th, 2023

From snow-covered statues, to foggy mornings, to Christmas markets, Prague in the winter feels like a fantasy land. Equal parts cozy and formidable, the city captures the duality of the season. Sometimes I feel like a child, looking at Christmas lights and catching snow on my mittens, but sometimes I feel like a traveler wandering through a forbidding and ancient realm of eternal winter.

In this post, I’ll be showing off Prague with pictures from the winter season so far.

^ Kicking off the holidays, the Náměstí Míru Christmas market in my neighborhood opened last month while my parents were visiting. Above are pictures from its first night! ^

^Above are scenes from the Vltava river bank on a chilly November afternoon^

^ Prague being its “dark academia” self ^

^ winter-themed people-shaped cute things ^

^ Friendsgiving potluck ^

^ The grand opening and tree lighting at the main Christmas market in Old Town Square ^

Below are more miscellaneous snowy pictures!

^from the walk to school^

^my apartment^

^ Prague castle ^

^ entrance to Charles Bridge ^

^ my friends at Václavské Náměstí ^

The blur of the middle

By McKenzie Harris

November 3rd, 2023

^sundial painted on a building in Český Krumlov^

I’m now exactly two months into my study-abroad trip. Because I leave in around a month and a half, that means I’m over halfway done with my time in Prague. I was very surprised by this two-month anniversary; after the one-month mark, I’d apparently continued to think I’d been here for “one month” for several weeks after. The rest of this entry will explore how I’ve conceptualized time passing as a study abroad student.

^an old boat by a pond in Český Krumlov^

Sometime after the “I just got here” stage began “the middle,” an amorphous haze of time in which many things have happened, much time has passed, yet the impending “final stretch” still came like a jump scare. Weeks have passed in quick succession, eating up fall, and somehow my mindset has begun to shift to the question of what I will do with my last weekends. So what exactly happened in the blur of the middle? That question was on my mind when I started planning my mid-program blog post, and I decided it deserved a post of its own. Upon reflection, my feeling of empty time passing during October was an illusion caused by the combination of midterm season, health issues, and (paradoxically) my plans and trips. To elaborate:

  • During midterms, students spent a lot of time studying for classes, and less time was given to more memorable pursuits.
  • In the past two weeks, I injured my knee and got a cold, which has kept me apartment-bound. I haven’t been able to do as many adventurous and social things as I could earlier in the semester.
  • Lots of plans made time pass quickly. In addition, it created a mindset where the time in between these trips was allocated for rest and school. With this mindset, a week between trips would zoom by, because I didn’t do anything present-focused. I was just doing homework and chilling, anticipating the next thing.

Despite my surprise at time’s passing, I experienced a lot of fun things in October. Here are some highlights and updates from recently:

^Fisherman’s Bastion^

Budapest! I already wrote a post about this, so check it out if you want to hear more!

iddle

^sundial painted on a building in Český Krumlov^

I’m now exactly two months into my study-abroad trip. Because I leave in around a month and a half, that means I’m over halfway done with my time in Prague. I was very surprised by this two-month anniversary; after the one-month mark, I’d apparently continued to think I’d been here for “one month” for several weeks after. The rest of this entry will explore how I’ve conceptualized time passing as a study abroad student.

^an old boat by a pond in Český Krumlov^

Sometime after the “I just got here” stage began “the middle,” an amorphous haze of time in which many things have happened, much time has passed, yet the impending “final stretch” still came like a jump scare. Weeks have passed in quick succession, eating up fall, and somehow my mindset has begun to shift to the question of what I will do with my last weekends. So what exactly happened in the blur of the middle? That question was on my mind when I started planning my mid-program blog post, and I decided it deserved a post of its own. Upon reflection, my feeling of empty time passing during October was an illusion caused by the combination of midterm season, health issues, and (paradoxically) my plans and trips. To elaborate:

  • During midterms, students spent a lot of time studying for classes, and less time was given to more memorable pursuits.
  • In the past two weeks, I injured my knee and got a cold, which has kept me apartment-bound. I haven’t been able to do as many adventurous and social things as I could earlier in the semester.
  • Lots of plans made time pass quickly. In addition, it created a mindset where the time in between these trips was allocated for rest and school. With this mindset, a week between trips would zoom by, because I didn’t do anything present-focused. I was just doing homework and chilling, anticipating the next thing.

Despite my surprise at time’s passing, I experienced a lot of fun things in October. Here are some highlights and updates from recently:

^Fisherman’s Bastion^

Budapest! I already wrote a post about this, so check it out if you want to hear more!

^An outdoor Signal Festival exhibit on the front of the library where I study (Městská knihovna)^

School: My midterms went well, and without test anxiety! Between now and finals, I’ll focus on a podcast research project for my gender studies class, and prepping for final projects. I have many plans in the works for the next month (trips to Dublin, Vienna, and Dresden, and a Hozier concert!), so school will once again have to be a smaller priority for me. I mentioned this in my mid-program post yesterday, but I’d like to take more opportunities to talk to my classmates and hear about their experiences in different countries before the end of the semester.

Český Krumlov! My flatmate and I took a day trip to this medieval town and fell in love with it. We spent hours by the river, looking at the castle, and walking under autumn leaves. I have many pictures from this trip in my Photos page.

Last week, my flatmates and I celebrated both my 21st birthday and Halloween. My 21st birthday was slightly anticlimactic, being in a place where I could already legally buy alcohol, but it was still a fun day!

Bohemian Switzerland! I went with a group of roommates and friends to hike for a day at the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic. It was a day filled with stunning views, perfect fall colors, and many mushrooms. Last year, a fire came through the park and left large swathes of destruction, but now, there are carpets of moss and saplings growing from the ashes (you can see this in the left picture above). The park’s main attraction, Pravčická Brána, was unscathed, as was much of the forest. The rock archway of Pravčická Brána (top picture) was beautiful, and we learned that a scene from Narnia was filmed on it! The river was just as beautiful, and our group agreed that the gorge it descended through must be home to fairies.

To conclude this somewhat rambling post, I’ll say that even though “the middle” seems to go by without enough to show for it, all of my time here has been valuable. I look forward to the next two months of new memories!

Japan: Arrival – by Ethan McConkey

October 10th, 2023

Arrival

This post is coming a little bit late, about a month and a half after arrival, due in part to me being pretty busy lately. I feel as though I have never stopped moving, and simultaneously I do feel that time is slipping away from me at an alarming rate. There’s so much more I want to do, and that’s one thing I want to focus on more throughout the rest of my time here.

Akita

Honestly, I didn’t really know this prior to coming here, but Akita is an incredibly interesting place, even by the standards of Japan. For those who aren’t aware, Japan is currently suffering through an aging population and a declining population crisis at the same time. As is to be expected, rural communities are affected by this more than, say, Tokyo.

Akita is one of the–if not the absolute–most highly affected prefecture out of all 47. The thing that makes this especially tragic is that Akita has many unique cultural items and customs that are being threatened by these losses.

These unique cultural aspects are one of my favorite things about Akita. I’ve already had chances to experience some of these things first hand and I am incredibly grateful for that.

Classes, Clubs and Activities

Right now, I am taking 4 classes, along with an extra practice course for Japanese language. The courses are as follows:

  • Upper Elementary Japanese 2 + Practice (Language)
  • Eurasia Foundation Endowed Chair: A Series of Discussions on the Possibility of “Asian Community” in Akita (Discussions based on guest presenters’ lectures about rural Japan’s connections with the rest of Asia)
  • Personhood and the Self: Anthropological Perspectives (Personhood in relation to our current world, in which many people exist in two different cultures)
  • Japan’s Constitution and Law (This one is pretty self explanatory)

I am in two clubs, Kyudo which is a kind of archery, and 日本語ハウス or “Japanese Language House”, which holds regular events and meetings to encourage the education of the Japanese language for domestic students, and practicing Japanese language for foreign students.

I also do volunteering for the Foreign Language Conversation Partner (FLCP) Program, in which people who want to practice their English sign up for half hour slots for me. Early next month I will also be going to a local school to do a presentation in English about the US to some local high schoolers who are interesting in improving their English as well.

Culture Shock

This might be a little bit of a boring answer, but I don’t feel like I experienced much culture shock upon arrival. I do think that I may experience some reverse culture shock on my return to the US in March, but frankly when I arrived I didn’t feel particularly blindsided by anything.

I have been very fortunate that things have worked out well so far, even if there have been some small hiccups.

I think I did plenty of research to the point that I have never felt overwhelmed or out of my depth.

Conclusion

So far, I am really enjoying my time here. My classes are fun and interesting, I’ve met some really cool people from all over the world, and my Japanese is improving very fast. In just a few days (as of writing this) I will be going on a solo weekend trip to nearby Sendai city, and I am very excited to do my first bit of solo traveling.

Arrival: Czech Republic “The chronicles of traveling for 24 hours, and my first few jet-lagged days!” by McKenzie Harris

Prague – Unsplash @ceye2eye

The chronicles of traveling for 24 hours, and my first few jet-lagged days!

At 4 am, bright (not) and early Saturday morning, my parents dropped me off at my hometown’s airport. By 7 am, I had landed in Seattle, where I settled in for a 7-hour layover. During my time haunting the airport, I practiced my Czech flashcards, watched Once Upon a Time, got food, started a new book, and generally wandered. The hours passed surprisingly quickly, probably because I was in a half-asleep fog the entire time.


The near sunrise of my early morning flight to Seattle.

My next flight was the longest leg of the journey, a 9ish hour flight to Paris. I knew it was important to sleep on this flight because I would be up for many hours after, which is probably why I couldn’t sleep a wink the entire time; murphy’s law and all that. Despite not really sleeping, I did spend most of the flight resting. Once I had landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport, I had an extremely tight layover that made the hour between landing and leaving for Prague very stressful. Thankfully, the airport seemed very well-organized and I made no wrong turns on my way to my connecting flight. I rushed through halls, up and down escalators, and bore the unbearable slowness of each line, without time for the bathroom or a single mistake, until finally I reached my gate. At the point I arrived, they had called all groups to board the plane. Once I was finally in my seat, sweaty and gross, my hands sort of shaking, it took basically the whole 2 hr flight to Prague for me to calm down. I was very excited to have made my flight on time, though. Seeing Europe below me, and the first glimpses of Prague (pictured below) also made me feel better.

At 11 am Europe time, which was 2 am to my body, I landed in Prague. This marked hour 23 of traveling (counting from when I woke up the morning before), but I wasn’t really letting myself be tired, because I still had one more leg of the journey to go and I couldn’t afford to stop functioning after I made it so far! I left my plane and stopped by the bathroom, where someone spoke to me in Czech for the first time. A woman told me thank you (“děkuju”) for holding the door, and it happened so fast I couldn’t say “není zač” in return, but it was exciting nonetheless.

Before continuing to the exit, I took a moment to get all of my immigration paperwork together because I assumed the Czech customs would be strict. These documents were my passport/visa, proof of my purpose of stay (acceptance letter), proof of accommodation, plane tickets home, and even proof of financial support. As it turned out, I didn’t need any of them; I walked straight to baggage claim and out of the airport. That was a little hard to wrap my head around, because up until that last checkpoint, I think part of me was still worried that something would go wrong and they wouldn’t let me in. I was met at the exit by a UNYP student shepherding a group of 7 new arrivals like me, who had flown in from the East US coast, South Korea, and more. We were shuttled to our apartments in small groups. I’ve since gotten to know all of these people at orientation and 2 of them coincidentally are also my flatmates! The group of visiting students is quite small (around 100), so it’s been nice to see the same people every day and build familiarity.

For the rest of my first day in Prague, I slooooowly unpacked my suitcases and decorated my side of the room, in between eating, a small shopping trip, and a walk to our school with my flatmates. In general, I was going through the motions in a sleep-deprived fog. It took me until the next morning to feel fully excited about being here.

The front steps of my host school.

Today was day 2 (“dva”) of orientation and day 3 (“tři”) of my trip. In the last 2 days, I’ve met many interesting and friendly fellow visiting students. I’ve also enjoyed some sightseeing with my 5 flatmates and other new friends. One of the most exciting things about this trip so far is that our apartment and school are located within walking distance of Prague’s most famous areas. In our walk to T-mobile to get sim cards, for example, we walked through Wenceslas Square and all the way into Old Town. While we were there, we walked a little further to pop by Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock—as if it was just a normal walk around the neighborhood! I’ve been in such awe over the beauty and architecture of the city, and it feels so fulfilling to see all of these famous things I’ve researched and seen pictures of.

I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve been homesick, felt tired and dizzy, or gotten overwhelmed at the prospect of 4 long months before me. But I brought many little reminders of home with me, and I hope I will eventually develop routines and familiarity that make Prague into a home as well.

Below are some pictures from my neighborhood, Vinohrady, a picture from a walk with my orientation group, and a video from Old Town Square. I have no pictures of the most famous things yet, because so far I’ve only walked through them without my nice cameraI also apologize for the poor picture quality—I don’t know how to upload pictures to WordPress without them turning grainy 🙁

Pre-Departure: Czech Republic “The Calm Before the Storm”- A week before departure – by McKenzie Harris

Prague – White bridge over river in daytime – Unsplash Photo @leachmar

“The Calm Before the Storm”- A week before departure

Hi everyone!

This first entry in my study abroad record will hopefully orient you to where I am in my preparations for studying abroad, as well as go over the main steps I’ve taken up to now. For those of you who are here for fun pictures and stories about what I’m up to in Prague, you will be sadly disappointed by this post, as it will hopefully be very dry compared to my future ones. This post is also partly to test if I know how to post things on WordPress. As of right now, I don’t really know how to use this website, so fair warning: the formatting of my posts and pictures will be quite lackluster.

My completed pre-departure tasks from earlier this year:
– Visa application
– register for classes
– buy plane tickets
– register with STEP
– paperwork both from my host school and home school’s abroad department
– make a budget estimate with my advisor
– figure out how to switch my cell service provider to get a better international plan

As summer made its way into the year and my abroad trip got closer, I switched my focus to the more exciting things—learning the language, deciding what to bring, and researching the Czech Republic.

The notebook I’ve been using to record what I’ve learned of the Czech language.

An example of an average ill-organized page!

I think part of being a respectful traveler is making an effort to learn some of the country’s language. Since I’ll be in Prague for 4 months, I’m trying to learn as much Czech as I can before I leave. I’m focusing more on learning common words and conversational phrases than grammar, thankfully (I’m not going anywhere near the seven Czech cases any time soon!). My main resources for language learning have been youtube (mainly Czech with Kateřina but there are many good channels!), duolingo, a podcast (One Minute Czech), and quizlet flashcards.

Part of my packing list.

Ideas for the things to do in Prague!

In addition to learning Czech, I’ve also had fun researching Czech history, customs, geography/things to do, and food. For these things, youtube has been my best source (travel vlogs, tour guide videos, etc). As you can see above, I made a list of ideas for things to do and places to go while I’m there, and nearly all of these items came from videos I’ve watched. There are so many places in Prague itself that I want to see, not counting all of the cool places outside it. I’m very excited to try some Czech dishes, like knedlíky (dumplings), svíčková (cream sauce over a roast), bramboráky (potato pancakes), and trdelník (a swirly pastry!).

I leave for Prague on Sept 2, which is a week from tomorrow. As the date looms closer, Prague feels no more real than it did when I applied to this program, but I’ve gotten some nerves about the trip that I didn’t feel until now. I’m nervous about being lonely in a new country, and about the way that every simple task feels complicated in a foreign place. I’m also nervous about things like my safety, transportation, and the immigration process.

But I’ve prepared as best I can, and I hope that will allow me to be flexible while I’m traveling and adapt to the inevitable complications that may arise. During this trip, I hope to lean into the experience of being alone in my dream city, because there’s freedom in being my own company, I think. I also hope to meet interesting people, participate in my interesting psychology classes, take too many pictures, and share them here with all of you.

Na shledanou!

End of Program: Spain “Preparing for Re-Entry & Maintaining your International Connections” -by Anna Sutherland

Granada, Spain

Study abroad has shaped who I am going forward in life. The knowledge, connections, etc. have opened up so many doors. I can say that the person that left the US is different than the one returning but in so many positive ways. I feel more of a well-rounded individual, more knowledgeable culturally, and confident in who I am.”

– Anna Sutherland, CEA Granada Spain, Fall 2022

What have you missed most about the United States? What will you miss about your host country when your return?

The most ironic part about studying abroad is there will be times when all you can think about is what you miss about your home country. Now that it’s the eve of returning to the US all I can think about is what I will miss about Spain. What I miss most about the US is most definitely my family and animals. Distance from those that I love does make you reflect on how much people and animals mean to you. It gives you a greater appreciation for being in their life in person. Then there are simple things in the US that you take for granted that you don’t realize how much you miss them until you no longer have them at your disposal. Living in the residencia I didn’t cook, and I missed making my own food. WIFI in Spain can be a bit slow at times so I will be happy to return to my speedy WIFI. Now what will I miss about Spain, well this could take a while. I will miss the socializing culture, going out for drinks and tapas with friends. In Granada I walked every day and there are so many shops, stores, and restaurants all close by. I will miss eating lunch and dinner with my friends at the residencia with Antonio’s food. I will miss saying hi to the empanada guy (Claudio). I could go on and on about what I will miss about Spain.

Do you think you’ll experience reverse culture shock when you return? Do you have a plan for how you can immerse back into home campus life and share your experience with family and friends?

I already know I will experience reverse culture shock when I return home. I know it will be worse than coming to Spain if I am being completely honest. Leaving Spain is one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life. Spain isn’t just a country but now my second home, the people, connections, and places I’ve gone will hold a special place in my heart forever. Since living in Spain my perspective of the world, the US, and almost everything in general has been altered. I am eager to share my experience with my friends and family. I think in many ways I am also almost scared at the same time because living abroad is an experience that is near impossible to relate to if you haven’t experienced it. My job as a peer advisor in the study abroad department I think will provide me some structure because I can spend more time reflecting on my experience and help other students study abroad and hopefully come back and be able to tell me it was the best three months or year of their life. Besides my job I plan to focus on my studies.

How do you plan to keep your study abroad experience as a key factor in your life; maintaining friendships, language skills, staying internationally engaged?

Study abroad has shaped who I am going forward in life. The knowledge, connections, etc. have opened up so many doors. I can say that the person that left the US is different than the one returning but in so many positive ways. I feel more of a well-rounded individual, more knowledgeable culturally, and confident in who I am. The friends I have made ranging from other Americans all from different states to Spaniards from every part of Spain and international students from other countries means more perspectives and connections. In the future I would like to work in an embassy or consulate preferably a Spanish speaking country and my time in Spain has been invaluable to improving my language skills.

Post Program: Spain “Study Abroad Takeaways and Post Program Reflections” – By Brandon Beyler

Barcelona

What were some of your biggest takeaways from your international experience?

“Overall, study abroad taught me a lot and has helped frame my future travel adventures, giving me many lessons, insights, and feelings to chase.”

– Brandon Beyler, API Barcelona Fall 2022
  • First, I found that traveling with friends is the best way to go as opposed to traveling solo. Traveling solo can be fun for smaller trips when I needed a tranquil break, but overall, for me, traveling with friends makes it much more enjoyable and worthwhile for a variety of reasons. In general, having friends makes it more fun because you are with the people you get along with, be yourself with and those that you can share all the experiences you encounter with. Also, I found that traveling with friends is always safer because you have people to look out for you and help you if something happens and groups are generally less vulnerable than solo individuals. I found that I encountered more opportunities with friends, and also have more abilities because we were pooling people’s resources, knowledge, and connections. Lastly, being in a group I found that we were more spontaneous and can engage in more adventures and, in the end, make more memories!
  • I learned that it is important to engage myself in the coursework and classes, because there is great information and new understandings there, not the mention the flat-out fun I had in these courses. I learned how important an international respective in academics is. My colleagues and I only having been taught in the US, for the most part, only get the US perspective and it was very refreshing and informative to hear how other countries felt about the US, to hear about the problems that other countries, like Spain, have that we may not be aware of and how their ideas of things like marriage, globalization, capitalism, welfare and the internet are different than ours. Also, I thought professor-student interactions were much very enjoyable and casual during my causes in Spain and created for a fun and engaging atmosphere.
  • I learned that to stay safe while abroad I just have to not be stupid and also be aware of my surroundings. In my experience, I found that the only time when I was a risk of having something stolen from me was when I was stupid or not aware for whatever reason. So, my takeaway is to always be smart and to not do things that I think could put me in a bad or vulnerable situation and be aware of what going on around me.
  • I learned that people are very nice everywhere and that being a white English-speaking American does not really carry any stigma while other countries, although people often tell you it does. I found that if I just put in effort to be respectful generally and respect their language and culture I was not treated differently.
  • I also learned that it is important to manage my money while abroad. Most importantly in this, I realized I need to better financially plan for my weekend and day trips because the train/plane, hotel, and food can add up and it put me in a tight situation later on during my time abroad, so I takeaway that I need to plan better specifical for my out of city trips.

What advice would you pass along to other interested students considering studying abroad?

  • Foremost, study abroad is a great opportunity to try new things and meet new people, so I would tell people to take initiative, try new things and go with the flow, because there is always something happening in the flow.
  • I would suggest making friends early on because it gives you a base friend group that you can do things with. In study abroad you will naturally meet lots of people at the beginning of the semester through your program so make an effort to hang out with them and find the people you like, because this will give you opportunities to explore a lot of new things around the city with them and have a solid group from the rest of the semester, and for life!
  • Make the most of your time because it flies by. It is important to do everything you can because time will seem to move fast during study abroad, and you don’t want to try to cram too much stuff in at the end. You will be busier than you think we all the classes, homework, hanging out with friends and going out, exploring, and all the other stuff like buying stuff you need, making food and eating, and laundry. I would suggest slating out a couple of things you want to try to do outside of the stuff that you are going to do inevitably, like see a park or go to a coastal city an hour away, so that you stay on top of your bucket and to-do list. This doesn’t however mean that you should be going 24/7, let yourself rest and relax so that you feel good but motivate so you don’t sulk in your resting…. that can be done back in the US.
  • Make an effort to speak the native language, even when people respond to you in English. Like I have said earlier it will often happen that when you try to use your Spanish, the Spanish speaker who can speak English will choose to speak in English because they think it will be easier to communicate, but as long as your Spanish ability is functional, try to continue to use it even if they respond in English, its great practice!
  • I would also say try to get involved in different activities that are offered or not offered to you and engage with your classes. For example, my study abroad soccer league was super fun, and I met a lot of people through that. Early on try to sign up for things that will get you out there doing stuff and meeting new people.


Is there anything you would do or plan differently based on your experience?

  • I would try to better plan trips to other places in Europe because it gets expensive when you plan last minute and the planning itself can be taxing when you are busy during study abroad. I didn’t get to travel out of city as much as I wanted to and had I planned a little bit better I could have gone on one or two more trips.
  • If I did study abroad again, I would choose a homestay again, but I would like to be closer to the action. My homestay being far away from the main student apartment and club area made my commute difficult and it made it harder to go out, so I would try to find a homestay that was closer to my friends and the nightlife.
  • I would have tried to learn more Catalan; even though I was thoroughly prepared with my Spanish I wish I learned a little more Catalan because there were people who spoke it in their daily lives in Barcelona that I couldn’t communicate in their borne tung.


Have you considered going abroad again or researching international internships and careers?

  • I have considered going abroad again, and next time I think I would try a different and colder country like Germany or Sweden. I have also thought about trying to find an internship abroad as I think it would be a great opportunity to get some work experience in a different country, which would further broaden my perspectives, especially in the professional sphere.


How do you plan to “pay it forward” to the greater local community?

  • Since Spain has given me such a great international experience, I feel the need to repay them and let them know I apricated my stay.
  • I plan to tell people how great my experience was in Spain and how wonderful my study abroad experience was in general so that more people visit Spain and also might choose Spain as their study abroad destination. I will suggest to people my favorite restaurants, stores, clubs, and areas in Barcelona so that I can help support the local economy of Barcelona. I will also pay it forward by trying to share some of the language, food, and culture of Spain. One thing I want to do is make some Spanish tapas for my friends like that of Spanish tortillas, bread and Manchego cheese, stuffed peppers, and calamari, along with trying to make the famous patatas bravas. I will continue to speak Spanish with people in my community and while I’m around my friends when if it annoys them. Also, I will try to review some of my favorite places on google so that future travelers can know the best sports. Lastly, I will spread great word of praise for the people of Barcelona, their food and culture, and their nature so that people can know what makes Spain and Barcelona such special places.


In reflection of your experience before, during, and after your program, can you put into words what this experience has meant to you?

  • Overall, study abroad was a dream, I got to explore a new and amazing place with wonderful people while making mistakes, moments, and memories.
  • It has helped me be extra social and meet a ton of new people, both people with very different lives from mine and those from different countries, and it has helped me to make a ton of new friends that I will truly have for the rest of my life.
  • I love knowing that I got to learn about a new culture and actually be able to live in it. I am so fortunate to have been able to live in Spain for 3 fully integrated months rather than something that would equate to more of an extended vacation. Part of this can be attributed to my homestay situation where living in the middle of the city in a very cultural part of Barcelona made me feel like I was living like a Spaniard and also that my homestay mom made me feel like I had a family while in this new and strange place, with her teaching me many things about Barcelona and giving me a taste of Spanish cuisine, activities, and formalities.
  • Study abroad also gave me many wonderful opportunities to learn new things about traveling, making mistakes like missing my train stops, using the wrong metro or train lines, ordering the wrong way, or getting sucked into tourist traps, and it has made me a much better traveler.
  • After I am so grateful that I got to live in Europe because I know not everyone has the ability or opportunity to do this and it has meant so much to be able to explore Europe, including Spain, France, and Italy, and all the history, landscapes, people, foods, arts & culture and feelings it had to offer.
  • Lastly was also super happy that I got to open my wings and fly around, because during study abroad I felt so free, energetic, passionate, and happy to do new things and engage with life which was refreshing!


Describe your experience exploring identity in your host community.

  • My citizenship as an American played a part during my time in Spain and my being white. Being American-looking people spoke English to me even when I spoke Spanish to them. Other than that, my identity seemed to thrive in Spain.

Did you study in a host country where you felt or had more or less freedom as a person of your identity/ies? What has this experience been like?

  • I felt like I has about the same expression of my identity in this country, my identity is quite easy, but it still seemed to thrive in Barcelona, Spain, and Europe more generally. But for people of more persecuted identities that I knew, I felt that they had great freedom, inclusion, and encouragement in Spain.


If you studied in a country where you reconnected with your heritage, what was that like? Is it what you expected? How were you treated by locals in that country? Do you feel like it was a homecoming or did you feel out of place, or perhaps both?

  • In terms of connecting with something similar to heritage, I felt I had allegiance to Don Quixote and Cervantes, and I felt like my love of Don Quixote was received very well by the people of Spain; it felt like I was accepted into a brotherhood of Don Quixote lovers, which is, of course, extensive in Spain. My host mom and teacher were very happy to know that Don Quixote was my favorite book, and even that it was part of the reason I came to Spain. My host mom and I even got to talk about the book a little bit in Spanish, which was very cool. Many people in La Mancha were happy I made it out to The Stain to see the land of Quixote and all its glory.


If you studied abroad and spent time with other US students who were also studying abroad, were you experiencing anything unanticipated related to your identity/ies?

  • Many of us were surprised by how many people spoke English to us initially in conversations in public if we were very white looking, even if we spoke Spanish initially. The study abroad students who were fluent in Spanish, because they grew up around it, found that they were very respected when compared to the non-fluent study abroad students, for good reason.
  • We were pleasantly surprised by the fact that people were always interested to talk to us even though we were Americans typically asking us what state we were from, why we were in Spain, and how we were liking their home country and/or city and always seemed to like that we tried to speak Spanish with them, so that was cool to see.


How did it feel to be “the foreigner”? If you hold US citizenship, did you observe that your citizenship is treated differently than others?

  • Overall, because I believe I dress and look like an American people often knew that I was in fact American, and this is further reinforced by the way I spoke Spanish or English, in that neither was in the Spanish tung. The main thing was that people often spoke English to me either from the beginning of the conversation or during to conversation even if I tried speaking Spanish to them. Other than that, I did feel like I was often a target for tourist scams, including those at restaurants, markets, and street vendors, and even clubs and bars, giving me high prices or lower quality products and such. Lastly, I feel like I was probably judged for not knowing what I was doing in lots of situations in Spain like doing stuff in the grocery stores, using the train, and using school services, but I learned quickly and believe I was more accepted later on. For me being a foreigner was not a problem, it is just part of traveling and often it can get you into some fun and interesting situations as well.

End of Program: Spain “Preparing for Re-Entry & Maintaining your International Connections” – By Brandon Beyler

Barcelona

” I feel connected to Spain because it gave me one of my greatest and most enjoyable life experiences.”

– Brandon Beyler, API Barcelona Fall 2022

What have you missed most about the United States? What will you miss about your host country when your return?

The main thing I have missed about the United States is the food at the grocery stores; I have been missing my favorite cookies, juices, and protein bars. I have also missed my routine in the US which looks much different from what I had in Spain with the different living situations and daily activities. Other things I miss are my family and friends at home and my tranquil hometown of Sammamish.

For Spain, I will first of all miss the Spanish language, I love speaking and listening to it and I will miss being able to, every day, better my Spanish abilities. I will miss being in the holdings of Don Quixote de La Mancha, the greatest Knight that ever lived. I will miss the city of Barcelona and its culture and just being able to walk around and take in all the art, buildings, socialization, and daily life along with meeting and talking to local Spaniards, the vibrant and bustling nightlife, the huge variety of good food and the wonderful nature in and surrounding Barcelona, especially beaches and mountains. I will even miss some of my classes where I gathered new perspectives and engaged in wonderful class discussions about ethics and the international sphere. Lastly, I will miss Europe as a whole, with its history, culture, and landscapes and I will miss being able to travel to many other destinations in Europe because of the cheap transportation. Another big thing is I will miss the friendships I have cultivated in Barcelona where I engaged in a great many adventures and moments with new people allowing me to create special bonds and friendships.

Do you think you’ll experience reverse culture shock when you return? Do you have a plan for how you can immerse back into home campus life and share your experience with family and friends?

I don’t think I will experience reverse culture shock when I return to the US because I didn’t experience culture shock in Spain, and I appreciate the benefits that each culture brings. I am planning on getting slowly back into my routine, of going to the grocery store, making my own food, going on my hikes, doing on-campus clubs and activities, going to classes, and just engaging with the student body again. And it should be easy because my schedule in Spain was relatively similar. My family has been eagerly awaiting my arrival and will be slamming me with questions as they have been wanting to hear about my favorite study abroad movements and see the pictures that go with them. Reconvening with my friends will be a breeze because I’m very close to them and they will love to hear my study abroad stories.

How do you plan to keep your study abroad experience as a key factor in your life; maintaining friendships, language skills, and staying internationally engaged?

I plan to maintain many of the friendships I cultivated in Spain through messaging, social media, and also hanging with some of the ones that live in my area or will come by my area, which I have planned to do with various people. I also plan to keep in contact with my host mom through text as we got along very well and had great conversations, so I plan on sharing my further travels, my inns with capybaras, or celebration of Argentina possibly winning the world cup, the team which she supports. Also, our study abroad group has planned on doing a reunion at some point later down the line because we had lots of fun together and would like to reconnect at some point. Lots of our program was from a specific area so we are planning on centralizing in that location in a reunion-like fashion. Also, since our API study abroad team won the study abroad soccer league, we are planning on passing around the trophy we won to share the victory so we will never forget the glory we gained in Barcelona!

As for my language skills, I plan to take more Spanish classes as I have continued to love the Spanish language and want to get even better at speaking, grammar, and vocab. I also want to talk to more Spanish speakers to understand the cultural language of which I got a great understanding of in Spain thanks to my classes and conversations with my homestay mom and locals. As for staying internationally engaged I plan to consume Spanish news and current events, keep up to date on popular Spanish songs and artists and keep up on current events in Spain because at this point I feel connected to Spain because it gave me one of my greatest and most enjoyable life experiences.

Mid Program: Spain ” Study Abroad Tips” by Anna Sutherland

Here are a few tips and pieces of advice from my study abroad in Granada, Spain. I hope that this advice is useful and future study abroad students can relate to this from experience.

  1. Slow Down the Money Spending– Once you get abroad it can be easy to find yourself spending money going out to eat, going to bars or clubs, buying souvenirs, and traveling. In my case I spent double what I intended to spend the first month in Spain unintentionally. I recommend if you are studying abroad for longer than three months to take the time once or twice a month to briefly look at where you stand financially. Studying abroad for three months like myself I was less money conscientious because I knew I would be returning in three months but at the end of the second month I wished I had paced my finances a little more. Make sure to have fun and travel though!
  2. Class Absences– My study abroad program CEA had 80% mandatory class policy which meant up to 4 absences were allowed for each class. Five absences or more means that you are unable to take the final exam and will fail the class. This policy meant that I used my absences wisely for future trips and I made sure to leave an absence for a sick day or if for some reason I couldn’t attend class for another reason.
  3. Planning Classes- My class schedule was morning classes 8:30-12:30 with an occasional evening class from 6-8 pm on Monday’s and Wednesday’s. We often didn’t have class on Friday’s unless we had makeup days for holidays in order to meet the mandatory curriculum hours. We had around 4-5 Friday classes throughout the entire semester abroad for the three months. Finishing class at 12:30 on Thursdays was amazing because it meant that I could have essentially a three-and-a-half-day weekend which is perfect for traveling. Flights are often cheaper on Thursdays as well. I recommend early classes on Thursday’s if possible.
  4. Cheap Transportation– In Spain a few popular airlines or sites used by students for cheap flights were Ryanair, Vueling, and Skyscanner. Trying different combinations to get to a destination is often worth the time. Different combinations include direct flights, multiple stops, round trips, booking legs separately on a journey, booking legs as one, or using multiple different airlines. Don’t forget about alternatives like buses or trains. In Spain I used the Omio app for long distance bus trips to other cities and it was often very cheap. Sometimes it’s more economical to take a bus to another city and catch a flight from that city instead of the city you are studying in.
  5. Research the weather- Before I arrived to Granada, I researched the weather, and this was essential in helping me pack for my time abroad. Don’t pack inessential clothing that takes up space and weight. The first month it was extremely hot but instead I found I wore only long pants. The last two months has been bitter cold weather and requires winter clothing. If there was any clothing that I really needed I was able to buy it in Spain.
  6. Record Your Time Abroad- Whether it’s taking pictures, writing in a journal, or blogging take the time to record your time abroad. It’s easy for the days to blend together and to forget certain moments. Looking back, you will be grateful to have written down what happened on a certain day or look at that photo which was one of the best days of your life.
  7. Lack of Contacting Home– This was one piece of advice that I wish I had been given before coming to Spain and that is the lack of contact you will have with people back home in your country. I thought before coming to Spain that I would be facetiming my friends every few weeks, but this wasn’t the case. I didn’t end up facetiming some of my friends until the start of my last month in Spain. The time difference of nine hours for me and being busy with my new life abroad made it extremely difficult. Before going abroad let your friends know that your friendship or relationship will most likely look different while you are abroad. But just remember it’s only for a few months or a year. While you are abroad you will meet so many new people and the people from home will be there when you return.
  8. Making Friends– There are often hundreds of students studying abroad at the same time. This means so many opportunities to meet new people and form connections. It can be easy to get attached to one friend group but don’t forget about the other people that exist and could change your life if you opened up a little more. Invite that person who eats alone to eat with you and your friends or go sit with them, go out for a drink with the classmate that sits next to you every day… if you don’t ask you never know what could happen. Remember studying abroad you are already outside of your comfort zone and so are all the students around you who are probably feeling the same.
  9. Go Outside Your Comfort Zone- Sing Karaoke in an Irish Pub, stay out until 5 am with your friends, Drink tinto de verano and eat carbonara in a plaza by yourself. Do all the things you didn’t dare to do back home because you were scared of being judged by the people you know. This is a unique experience and make the most of it. (Be safe and smart)
  10. Don’t Study Abroad with a Friend from Home- Studying abroad is a time to grow, meet new people, and learn more about yourself. By going abroad with a friend from home you are already putting yourself in a comfort zone and limiting yourself. Maybe there are activities you want to do but the fear of judgment or if you don’t have that same friend at the event with you then you won’t go. Leave your friends at home because they will be there when you return and experience a solo journey for a few months or year.

Study Abroad Tips