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Take My Word For It – Do’s + Don’t’s While Abroad

Published on by rhiannalewisLeave a comment

DO…

  • Participate in all the events and trips offered through your program and university—especially if they’re included in tuition! 🏛️
    • Most of the time, these events will be led by individuals who live in your study-abroad city or are full-time students at your university, both of whom can offer valuable perspectives on your new home! This past week I participated in a guided tour of the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum, a downtown Athens tour, and a Greek Delicacies taste-testing event. I sometimes felt like a stereotypical tourist, but I saw so many beautiful ancient sites, made new friends, and got three free meals. Go to everything!
  • Prioritize your mental + physical health. 🚶‍♀️
    • I am someone who LOVES their alone time. Being with my friends and meeting new people is something I really enjoy, but I know that I have to spend time alone during the day to keep my social battery charged. The first week made me feel like I needed to be doing something new at every moment. I was getting tired and anxious quick. If you have things you do that make you feel balanced, don’t stop doing them while you’re abroad just because you have FOMO (the fear of missing out.) Be alone for a bit, sleep, read, go for a walk. You’ll be better off in the long run!
  • Ask for help when you need it. 🙋🏻‍♀️
    • Being somewhere new, where you may not speak the language or have a great understanding of the alphabet is difficult. At dinner last week a group of friends and I needed to use the bathroom but couldn’t find it due to all the signage being in Greek. The other girls I was with wanted to give up, but I asked a waitress for help. She smiled when she explained it was hidden upstairs. I doubt we would’ve found it on our own. Just because the locals might seem intimidating doesn’t mean they won’t help you when you’re confused.
  • Explore locally before jetsetting. 🚲
    • For the first few weeks of being abroad, try to get acquainted with the city and country you’re studying in before venturing to other places. As tempting as it is to spend every free minute exploring a new city, especially between European countries where travel is quick & cheap, take time to learn about your home base. I personally am spending this weekend looking for independent bookstores in Athens that I can revisit again and again. I’m excited to be familiar with this city!
  • Remember to stay grateful. 🩷
    • So many people do not have the time, money, or capacity to travel away from their homes or university for a variety of reasons. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most students, myself included. I keep pinching myself when I realize that I am in the home of Western culture, furthering my education, meeting new people, and learning about myself. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’m learning that having stamps in my passport by choice is an unbelievable privilege and honoring that makes this whole experience brighter.

DON’T…

  1. Be scared if you get lost. 🗺️
    • As long as your phone is charged and you’re in (what feels like) a safe neighborhood, don’t panic if you get turned around! I took the wrong bus by myself yesterday and ended up 2.5 miles away from campus in a completely unfamiliar area. While I initially freaked out, I quickly realized that I could use the opportunity to explore the neighborhood I was in. It ended up being a lovely late afternoon walk, and although I was sweaty by the time I got to class, I was glad I had adventured out.
  2. Eat out every single night. 🍽️
    • Going out to try local restaurants is fun, but going to the grocery store and making meals with new ingredients is just as exciting – try local foods! Greece has wonderful fresh fruit, olive oil, cheese, and honey, and that’s all I’ve been eating for dinner. It acclimates your stomach to the cuisine and helps your budget, too!
  3. Treat school like a joke. 📝
    • If you’re like me and love being in the front row of every class and involved in every club, don’t let being abroad change that. Professors everywhere love it when students are engaged, regardless of whether you’re there for four months or four years. Being engaged in your university can be just as much of a cultural experience as traveling, so don’t let it fall by the wayside. (I promise DU didn’t push me to say this. I’m just really into school. 🤓)
  4. Let the time difference impact your relationships at home. 🕰️
    • Make an effort to call your parents, partners, and friends at home! Texting and social media are convenient, but the people who love you miss your physical presence… and when the adrenaline wears off, you’ll start to miss theirs, too. Make new friends, but don’t forget to make time for home, too.
  5. Smile at strangers. 🙊
    • This really is an American habit, and you will get weird looks if you smile at strangers on the sidewalk or in public. I never realized how much I did it until I got here and the greeting was not returned…

Nederlands Weekendje

Published on by jillianec516Leave a comment

Bratislava, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest are all day trips from Brno, with Budapest being the furthest and still only a 3-and-a-half-hour drive away. Growing up my family would take road trips to Florida, so from El Paso to the east end of Texas was a 12-hour drive, and California was closer to us than Dallas. Even driving up to Denver from El Paso is about 10 hours. The drive from Brno, Czech Republic to Amsterdam, Netherlands is just over 10 hours. Taking advantage of the easy transportation system and time between countries and iconic cities is a must. Visiting other friends in different countries is also a huge perk of studying abroad, especially when you’re in Central Europe.

Nederlands
Lise, Fleur and I taking a selfie in the Interactive Art rooms at the MOCO Museum in Amsterdam.

I am fortunate to have a high school friend living outside of Eindhoven, Netherlands. I took a two-hour bus from Brno to the Vienna Airport and a two-hour flight from Vienna to Amsterdam. Fleur, my native-to-Holland friend, met up with me at the Airport and we got to catching up quickly. After an afternoon spent exploring pieces of Amsterdam, we caught a train to Eindhoven that was about an hour long, followed by a 15-minute drive to Aarle-Rixtel, her hometown. I think at this point of my study abroad experience I might have been starting to have some homesickness, but being able to spend time with someone from high school truly cured it. It was also insane to see the house and town she grew up in when I had only known the “US version” of Fleur and her home. 

While we were in Amsterdam, we took a boat ride through the canals while eating cheese and drinking wine. The boat guides explained some of the history of Amsterdam and went through their silly but true anecdotes. One thing that stuck out was the fishing hooks that extended from most building’s roofs. The buildings along the city’s canal system were all built to be commercial buildings and factories. They were also built at an angle leaning forward, with large hooks that could drop down to the canal to pick up cargo to take up to the top floor through the window. Most of these buildings now house people as flats, and oddly enough some now lean to the sides due to structural decline. A quarter of the country is below sea level, and the water flowing throughout the country is beautiful. The man-made and maintained spots still complement its surroundings visually. Throughout the entirety of the weekend it was on and off rain, which Fleur remarked as being the norm in the weather and sometimes annoying as she bikes most places.

Nederlands
Waiting to get on a wine and cheese boat tour in front of the Central Station in Amsterdam. The boat ride was about an hour long and went through the city center. The tour guides said that each year at least a meter of the 3-meter deep canal is filled with bikes that fall in from the streets.
Nederlands
Some buildings close to the city center have hooks extending from the roof. These hooks are still used for moving furniture into apartments through the windows, even couches as long as they fit!
Nederlands
My “fancy” dinner at Stout in Aarle-Rixtel. The appetizer (top) is a fish dish with creamy flavors and Cranberry. The entree (middle) was a buttery pheasant with gnocchi. The dessert was a black pepper, lemon, and chocolate mix.

During my time in the Netherlands, I was able to visit the Cat Museum (Museum of Cat-based Art) and Modern Contemporary Art Museum, which is home to creations by artists like Bansky, Keith Haring, Basquiat, and Warhol. I was able to eat my first “fancy” meal that was served in courses and each was a curated meal the chef came out with seasonally. I got to experience a Dutch night out in Eindhoven, check out what grocery store snacks are available in the Netherlands, and see the most bicycles (+electric bikes and cars) I’ve ever seen in my life. Even though it was only 3 days, it was a “gezellig” visiting the Netherlands and reuniting with a friend to explore her little part of the world.

(Gezellig is a Dutch adjective, similar to cozy/fun/pleasant/sociable)

After I leave Masaryk I really hope to keep in contact with the other exchange students so I can have places to stay throughout most of Europe and other parts of the world. Being in someone’s hometown is so helpful in understanding them and getting to enjoy how they live in their own spaces. The ability to travel to different countries at a decent price and get to new destinations quickly has been a huge bonus to studying in Europe, and it can help you make friends that can house you in new places all over. I also really really hope to have more creative curated culinary dishes in different countries now because of how delicious of an experience it was.