Making Your Own Rules While Studying Abroad
Before I left for my Dublin study abroad semester, just about anyone who I told about my upcoming experience had some piece of advice to give me—whether I asked for it or not. Sifting through all of these opinions and deciding what to take with me was a stressful process. Now that I’ve been in Ireland for a couple of months, I have compiled my ultimate list of “hot takes”; my sworn tips for adjusting to your study abroad experience. What works for me won’t work for everyone, and ultimately, you know yourself best! It’s important to approach your experience with a healthy mindset above all else. Outside of that golden rule, here are my top five study abroad hot takes:
1. Get Outside of Your Apartment All the Time
Many people gave me this advice: “make your dorm/apartment feel like home!”. While I understand the sentiment, I propose an alternative: spend as much time as you can outside of your dorm/apartment! Go out with friends, go on excursions, go for walks, meet new people! Of course it’s important to have a private space that you feel comfortable in, but for me, functionality has been key. I didn’t decorate at all (a massive changeup from my very heavily decorated campus apartment in the US), but I did end up buying some bins for my clothes to make my room more functional. While it’s a great idea to make your space cozy, you ultimately don’t want to be spending a lot of time in your bedroom alone. Approaching this tip with a healthy mindset and taking breaks when you need to is also key!
Me and my friends in Slane, Ireland on a rainy Saturday morning. Photo taken from the top of some ruins at the top of the hill.
2. Find Your Places
For a couple of months, I struggled to feel like I truly lived in Dublin. A semester can be an awkward amount of time to spend in a new city; you’re certainly not a tourist, but you’re also not a permanent resident. Something that helped me get through that apprehension was to become a frequent patron of local shops and cafes that I enjoyed. These places have become my “spots,” and knowing the menu and the workers makes me feel much more connected to my neighborhood. I had a mental block with this tip for a while because I was worried that the places I liked weren’t unique enough, or that a native Dubliner would laugh if they knew that they were my favorites. At some point, my perspective shifted: these aren’t their spots, they’re mine! Anything that makes you feel more at home on your journey abroad is important.
I am a huge movie buff, so the Light House Cinema has become a frequent weekend activity for me!
3. Lean on Family and Friends
Another thing that people told me before I left was that I was going to become my most independent self while abroad. I was told that I would make new friends—and not even need my family and friends from the US! I strongly believe that two things can be true: you can make new friends and become more independent while abroad AND you can lean on your people from your home country! I felt immense guilt for calling my mom every day for the first couple of months in Dublin, and questioned myself for texting my US friends. I thought it would take away from the strength that I was supposed to have or that people would think I wasn’t immersed enough in my experience abroad.
After a while, I stepped back and realized that I had accomplished a lot of great things and gone on a lot of great adventures in my time in Ireland—and done it all by myself! I realized that I could hold space for both my new independence and my love for my family and friends at home. Everyone’s experience is different while abroad, and it’s important to be kind to yourself as you go through all of the major changes that come with adjusting to a new country!
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On FaceTime with my cat, Spiffy.
4. Notice Your Routines
I struggled hard with adjusting my body to living in a new environment. It felt like my nervous system was always heightened, making my feelings more elevated. I was comparing my daily routines to what my life in the US was like, all while being surrounded by a constant stream of new experiences. So many things are out of my control during this experience, so focusing only on the things that I could affect was helpful.
For me, the biggest part of that has been getting really good at noticing all of the things that stay the same from day to day. For example, every morning I cook scrambled eggs. That’s the same every day! Every afternoon, I pass by the Liberty Belle pub on my walk back from school. The same! It seems silly to describe from the outside, but it has truly helped me feel more settled in my day-to-day life here.
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Every day I pass this cathedral when I leave my neighborhood! So pretty.
5. Get Touristy
My final piece of advice is: don’t be afraid to do “touristy” things! I was told by a lot of people that one of the key parts of being a study abroad student is that “you’re not a tourist, you live there!”. As we say in the improv world, “yes, and!”. Yes, I do live in Dublin, AND I have never been here before! Not being afraid to go to more mainstream Dublin excursions, buy Ireland-themed clothes and trinkets, or ask “stupid” questions ended up being the key to learning more Irish history and meeting interesting people! It’s not worth it to stress yourself out doing only “underground” activities that locals would do. Of course there’s a balance to that, but I do think that boosting the tourism economy a little bit is a great way to get to know how your new city works—and is a lot of fun.
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Me at the Guinness Storehouse, one of Dublin’s most attended tourist destinations.
Cheers to your study abroad experience and to making your own rules!
