- Be that annoying American
No, I don’t mean be obnoxious, rambunctious and rowdy in an inappropriate setting shouting “‘MERICA!!!!” in every room you enter. I mean be outgoing, get out of your comfort zone, get out of your own way and meet people as soon as you can. Go to those silly school-sanctioned events that make you feel a little awkward, you’ll meet all the other foreign kids who feel just as silly and want to make friends just as much as you do. Ask them to go to coffee, lunch, a movie–whatever! These are your future homies for the next semester and odds are you’ll take a couple trips with them. The first friends I made here were standing in line behind me and Courtney at the housing office on the first day of orientation and we started talking to them because we heard them speaking English. I literally turned around and went “English… I hear English! Where are you from?” It’s okay to make an ass out of yourself, it can be endearing and it makes for a great how-we-met story. - Leave your dorm/apartment
During the first few days or even weeks of your time abroad, you might find yourself having quite a bit of time alone after class or on the weekends before you’ve found your niche. You’ll be tempted to stay in bed all day and watch Netflix. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. This is the best way to perpetuate homesickness and stay in your comfort zone (which is bad at this point). So, if one afternoon on your way home from school or some random Saturday morning you find yourself with an empty schedule just go outside and start walking. You’ll stumble upon cute little shops, dope coffee spots or even your next favorite place to study. No ill can come of it! Sure, it can be intimidating to go it alone especially if you’re living in a place where you don’t speak the native language (i.e. Danish) but going out and exploring on your own is a hell of a lot better than rewatching season 4 of Parks & Rec for the sixteenth time. - Make a budget
Since you’ve made it abroad, you probably have a bit of money you’ve saved up from jobs or a scholarship or maybe some money your parents have gifted you with. It’s most likely in one big chunk. My best piece of advice, and bit that I wish I would have done myself, is to MAKE A BUDGET and stick to it because you’ll get halfway through the third month and realize that you’ve burned through majority of your funds and have NO idea how that happened. Plus, you want to have enough money on hand to travel as much as you want, and making a budget is the best way to ensure that you don’t spend outside your means before you accomplish your travel goals. Also, check exchange rates and the prices of things in your host country. Joke was on me when I saw that $0.15 equaled 1 DKK. Thought I was going to be loaded but turns out a shirt at H&M is like 150 DKK so it evens out… - Get a SIM card or burner phone ASAP
If you have an iPhone, you could rough it and deal with connecting to wifi everywhere you go to use iMessage but I strongly recommend getting a SIM card for you phone or a cheap burner phone. You can buy either at tons of stores around town (Fona for example in Denmark) and they’re super easy to set up. On the topic of phones… here are some important and useful apps you should get if you don’t already have them: Google Maps, Yelp, the app for whatever bank you use, a conversion app (for temperatures, measurements, and currency), Google Translate and CityMaps2Go. Also, stay in touch with your friends back home but also your parents. You’ll both appreciate and benefit from it, I promise. - Figure out the main mode of transportation in your city
Here in Aarhus, pretty much everyone rides a bike. Naturally, I rented a bike like the first week I was here and it was a great idea! Except it got stolen over fall break… but many rental companies will replace your stolen bike with another rental for no extra fee, they’ll just keep your deposit. Other than that, busses are the way to go. In larger cities they’ll have metros and trams. In Aarhus, there are just busses. You can buy reloadable plastic bus pass cards which are pricy upfront but save you money in the long run, 10-trip passes that you can buy at convenient stores or grocery stores, or you can pay 20 kroner on the bus with each trip. I highly advise against free-riding… I got away with it for awhile but that 750 kroner fine was NOT fun. Also, busses can be very confusing at first so check and see if your city has a trip planning app. Aarhus/København has one called “Rejseplanen” and its super easy to use! - Don’t forget about school
You’re going to get caught up in the excitement of being abroad, going out with new friends and exploring new places for the first few weeks. It’s going to be super easy to forget that you’re actually there for school. So, don’t skip class, do the readings and actually learn things. Most likely, your classes will be super different from back home– a lot more individual work and less benchmarking. It’s easy to fall behind and nobody is there to remind you or hold your hand. So, have fun but stay focused. - Stay centered
Again, you’re going to have a hard time saying no to going out and doing stuff with your new friends but it’s important to remember to say no every once in a while. If you’re feeling homesick, it’s okay to stay in one night. If you’re missing your boyfriend/girlfriend back home, you shouldn’t feel obligated to go to the bars if you don’t want to. If you’re feeling like you might get a cold if you go out for the third night in a row, don’t go! Do what your instincts are telling you to do. Listen to your body and your conscience. - Don’t be afraid to spend time alone
This one goes hand in hand with a few others. It’s extremely important to know who you are and know who you aren’t. Getting to know yourself can be difficult and even a little bit frightening, but I firmly believe that self-discovery is one of the most important stepping stones in a young adult’s life. To do this, spend time alone, in the quiet, not watching Netflix, not on your phone. Just be. It’s really, really hard at first. One of the best ways I’ve found to get to know yourself better is through Chakra exercises. Its a good starting point. Another thing that helps is having a hobby, or “discipline” as Nick Offerman would call it, and exercising that hobby while abroad. For example, I like to write and I like to paint. So, in my free time I write (here and in my personal journal) and paint a little here and there. Its excellent time alone, away from my phone and technology, and keeps me centered, or calm even. - Fill in your maps
GO DO STUFF!!! Travel as much as you can! You’ll absolutely learn the most about your situational awareness and responsiveness while traveling (see my Paris post for example). This is the cheapest travel around Europe will ever be, if you’re from the states, and you’ll get to make so many incredible memories with people you’ll be friends with for a very long time. You’re young and uninhibited, unless you’re dating someone, you should go wherever you want and do whatever you want with no restrictions! This is the singular time in your life when you won’t have to check your decisions with anyone else, so go out and do it! Seize the day and junk! YOLO like you’ve never YOLO’d before, within reason of course. Don’t get in any gypsy taxis in Latvia or something. - Make your city your home
You’re going to travel, see the world and make tons of new friends along the way. While traveling is a huge part of studying abroad for us Americans, its important to spend some time in your host city and really make it feel like home because, well, you’re stuck there for the next 4-6 months so sooner or later you’re gonna have to start liking it and sooner is better than later. It was after my first trip out of Denmark (Oslo) where I felt like I was “coming home” to Aarhus and it was a beautiful feeling. I got excited to sleep in my bed and see my friends that didn’t go with us to Norway, and I think it felt like home because I spent time alone in Aarhus, just walking around after class, riding my bike around town and just taking a moment every now and then to stop and realize ‘wow, I’m right here. I’m standing here. I’m this far from home and I don’t know if I’ll ever be here again.’ Once you feel that, you’ll know that wherever you are is home.
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Read more from Meaghan at https://meaghanshus.wordpress.com/
To find out more about her exchange program at Aarhus School of Business in Denmark, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/wcobaarhus
Read more from Meaghan at https://meaghanshus.wordpress.com/
