My two cents: disenchanted study abroad student
March 6, 2008 11 Comments
I could relate to one of Cary Tennis’ columns from last week pretty well. “Shouldn’t Have Left” wrote that ever since she had arrived to Europe for a study abroad program, she had been feeling a malaise uncharacteristic of her and her earlier-held excitement about the prospects of living in Europe. Cary advises her to plan her days out while accepting that going abroad is never what one expects from it:
Make a schedule for each day. Pick an activity for each day and make yourself do it. Plan your transportation. Plan your currency. Make yourself do it.
I have to say, if I had received salutary advice like this while I was abroad, I would have still felt a bit defeated, because it is simply more difficult in a new setting to do those things we can do in our own society, especially making friends. However, he is right that she ought to be pro-active, if only to make the most of her time abroad.
When I was abroad, I had similar feelings at times. I found myself longing for comforts of home that I had not even particularly sought out at home, like McDonalds and Starbucks. I would go as far as to steal away to the Starbucks in the Opéra section of Paris, with an underlying worry that I would be caught.
Looking back on this, I have to think that there is no reason for a foreigner to be shy about seeking some of what she knew in her native country. Someone should tell every person who is going abroad that it is perfectly reasonable to question why you decided to leave friends, family, and home. Anyone who wonders what is wrong with them because everyone else they knew thought study abroad was “amazing” should know that most people have low points while abroad.
I am guessing that this letter writer’s defeated spirits stem in part from the feeling that she should be having a great time, because she is abroad, where she is supposed to be changed. There is a tendency to exoticize “abroad,” as if every other nation that’s not us is an enlightened, cultured, non-white bread, destination. The beauty of studying abroad is that it challenges this. You see that people in your host country deal with the mundanities and challenges of daily life just as you do.
Right on. I should do my own entry about that column, thanks for posting that. I felt exactly the same way down here when I realized that I was on my own every day after 5 PM. I huffed and puffed and watched an entire season of The Wire before I found some new routines to force myself into, and things are slowly improving (more on that when I actually get back to the damn blog).
Yeah, there is always an adjustment period!
“mundanities”?
I’m glad to see this post. I have heard of Rhodes Scholars getting crushingly depressed during their stay in England.
I myself spent time studying in London that was abysmal; studying in Mexico, however, was a revelation that fundamentally changed the direction of my life.
Michael Blaine
http://www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com
Yeah I agree about those comfort problems. I always start eating McDonald’s when I go abroad even though I rarely eat that kind of stuff in the States.
“Mundanity” is in the dictionary (Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate).
Well, then “mundanity” should play a greater role in mundane communications! Good word.
word
thank you for backing me up, hm.
even Canada isn’t perfect every second of every day. imagine that…
also, i think people tend to exoticize college in general. being bummed out naturally follows when one realizes that life has ups and downs wherever one is, man.
maybe ‘idealize’ is a better word for my comment about college
word to that, adele. exoticize and idealize. and all of the miserable parts of college seem to fade quickly after you graduate while the romance of a life of learning remains.
it’s true: i think it is most daunting when one is disappointed to find that somewhere once idealized is like everywhere else