Welcome to my four part series on study abroad! Here is the first installment, where I give tips through my eyes to not only give you insight on my experience, but also if you are maybe thinking of studying abroad or staying for a little bit in Europe then this will be helpful.
Listen & Read (songs I constantly listened to while studying abroad):
Mi Gente by J Balvin
New Rules by Dua Lipa
Teacher by PRETTYMUCH
- Easy access to literally everywhere. There are so many cultures and languages within only a few hours of each other. Studying abroad in Europe is the perfect time to see when and where your favorite artists will be going on tour, because it doesn’t take a lot of time to go out of the country for one night. In three hours (by train, even shorter by plane!) you’ll be in France. You can stay the night at a cheap Airbnb and come back the next day, or get the earliest train
(5:00 AM for most trains) out of there. And if you’re having fun, waiting until 5 takes no time at all. - No car, no problem. In cities (big, moderate, and small) you don’t need a car. Trains, buses, trams, and bikes will get you anywhere you want to go. I rode in a car three times while I was abroad: when someone picked me up from the airport, when my friends and I took a trip to Malta, and when we were too tired to wait for the earliest train so we took a taxi. Every other time, I was riding public transportation. It’s different riding public transportation than in America, or more specifically, Atlanta. In Atlanta, most people who take the MARTA are either tourists or earn a lower income. In Europe, anyone and everyone takes the train– there is no stigma behind it. It’s easy and punctual. It also allows you to read a book or catch up on your homework rather than focusing on the road (for the first two weeks I literally did my homework on the way to school like I couldn’t be bothered doing it at any other time).
- The food. I never grocery shopped until I had to live alone in another country. I barely ever went out the eat, and I think that is because Switzerland is extremely expensive (so I’m sure literally anywhere else you will have a different experience than me), so I was always in Coop or Migros or Denner buying bread, vegan butter, cheese, and orange juice. The food was always so good. I rarely ate anything greasy
(unless I had time to kill… then I would convince myself that McDonalds or Burger King was a good idea). Pasta and wine was what I had for basically every dinner my first semester, and rice with vegetables and an egg was basically every dinner my second semester. Very simple, but also fresh. I don’t even know where my nearest bakery is in America, but if I find out, the first thing I’m getting is a baguette, and I’ll eat it with a veggie sausage, cheese, and grapes– just like old times. - Scenery. There are so many places in the world that have so many breath-taking views. Europe is one of them! Maybe I’m bias, but Switzerland looks like a painting at (almost) every turn– if the hills aren’t bright green, they are white with snow, and the rivers are always aqua blue. In addition to the natural beauties, there are so many museums throughout Europe (some for free!) with art from around the world (bought, loaned, and stolen).
- Police seem more responsive and better trained (than in America). So. I found this out from … experiences that were not the best. Firstly, they are more responsive. According to others that lived in my building, the student dorms we lived in were placed in a lower income area. One night, we were celebrating someone’s birthday, and the police quickly arrived after a noise complaint. Secondly,,,, better trained. Long story short, a different night, local police and SWAT team arrived at 2 in the morning, guns raised,
looking for one of my neighbors. They were screaming for so long, announcing their presence, and began entering each room. Let me just say, I was asleep and completely naked. After the screaming didn’t go away, I woke up, guessed kind of what was happening from the noise, put on a bunch of clothes, and stood in the middle of my room, in the dark, with the door unlocked (that was the last night I left my door unlocked). When they reached my room, opening the door, seeing a random person (me) standing there and staring at them in the dark (and in complete fear) they… were not startled by my weird and potentially terrible decision to rise like a ghoul and stand motionless, already in my shoes with my phone in my pocket. All I’m saying is, in America, the police seem too… jumpy(and racist),to say the absolute least, to not literally shoot me as I was there with bad posture and my glasses on, literally in the dark standing in the middle of my room facing them with probably no expression on my face.
- Most dorms are single person rooms. As I sit here on my bed right now, back at my college in America, I am reminded of my roommate that will arrive any day now, because only half of the room is filled with a bunch of shit. In Europe, for the most part, everyone has their own room. I still had to share a kitchen, toilet, and shower, but at least I never had to use to earbuds, I could talk super loud to my friends on the phone, and I could completely sprawl out on the bed, no clothes on, talking to myself.
Those were six reasons why I would suggest studying abroad in Europe. Next up: 6 reasons to literally not study abroad in Europe like these reasons are why I kind of (totally) don’t want to go back to Europe for a while. Take these pros and those cons, and then you decide for yourself.
Your weird ghost girl who thought it was a good idea to literally stand in the dark and wait to be taken upstairs by police,
Kennedy 
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