The week leading up to my departure from the US I was definitely excited and could not wait to get to France. But, as the day got closer to leave, the more I got nervous, especially since it was my first time leaving the country. May 20th has finally arrived and I was off to France. 12 hours and 3 flights later I arrived in Nantes, France. Nantes is on the west coast of France, about a 2 and a half to 3 hour drive to Paris. After I got settled into my apartment I went and got groceries and right off the bat this was definitely different than an American grocery store. Picking out what to eat I guessed what the food was since it was all obviously in French and hoped for the best. I go to check out and see the customers in front of me bagging their own groceries into a big bag that they brought with them. So, I had to buy this bag and bag my own groceries. Ugh, such a struggle. Later on saturday night and sunday I went and ventured around Nantes and checked out the city. Going around the city I was a little nervous since I just arrived in a new continent all alone. Europeans can spot an American from a mile away, so I got a few stares, which definitely made me feel out of place. My first two days in France I thought there would obviously be a language barrier, but every person I talked to, I would first ask if they spoke english and about 90% of them said yes. I did have some people that automatically starting speaking to me in english, I don’t know how they knew, I guess the way I said bonjour. After a week and a half here I have ran into a few problems with the language, but I’ll just stare at them for a little bit or shake my head no and they finally realize I have no clue what they’re talking about.

Studying abroad has allowed me to learn about myself. You never really learn about independence until you move out of your parent’s house, which typically happens when one starts college. However, being in different country where you do not understand the language and culture is great way to develop one’s independence. Being abroad has allowed me to see that I am capable of doing pretty much anything on my own. It takes confidence and a bit of resilience to take on the challenge of being alone in a new country. So if you are afraid of traveling abroad, I recommend that you forget that fear and go abroad. This opportunity is a valuable life experience and for most people this is a once in a lifetime chance. Many places you have never been able to imagine visiting could become a reality and the experiences you will learn throughout the trip will be remembered for the rest of your life. I am really glad I studied abroad and if you are on the fence about going, just take the leap of faith, because life is short and you do not want to regret not going later on in life.

Five weeks abroad may not seem like a long time to some people, but for me I feel the opposite. I got to experience many amazing things that people have only dreamed about and I have met people who I feel I will be connected to for the rest of my life. There was one guy I met in particular, who is from Washington, who I have many things in common. The first day I met him, it seemed like we would never really talk, but one day we happened to sit next to each other in class and we found out we had very similar interests and almost instantly developed a friendship. We have taken most of our trips together and we are actually planning to meet up in the future to each other around our city. While I have known him a short period of time, he has been more of a friend to me than some of my “friends” back home. It is unfortunate that we do not live close together, but I believe the bond we have developed over these past five weeks will be unbreakable. Thus, I leave the recommendation of talking to as many people as you can while abroad. Talk to people who appear to be different than your friend circle back home and get to know. Although, it may seem like a waste of time, but you could possibly develop friendships with people all over the country, who are not only good people, but also a potentially resourceful business contact if you decide to move near their area in the future.

Another recommendation I have if you are studying abroad, is find that one person in your program that has travelled a lot and befriend them. This person will have all the insight about all the places you are thinking of traveling to during your time abroad. These people are great resources, honestly in some cases more beneficial than the people who work for your program. They know good places to eat, good places to sleep, interesting monuments/structures to go see, and even nightlife places to experience, if that is in your realm of fun. So get to know everyone in your program, if you can, because you will never know who holds a wealth of information. Also, if you do encounter someone with this knowledge, of what seems everything, they may be able to help you save money on trips.

In terms of your financing while studying abroad, you should definitely over budget. I know it is recommended to take $200 worth of euros, but personally I felt this was not enough. Therefore I ordered $600 worth of euros and it turned out that I still did not budget enough money prior to leaving. With one week left in Torino, I had no cash and most places there do not take cards, which is a real nuisance. Thus, I had to go to an ATM and pay the fees for withdrawing such a miniscule amount of money. Heed my warning, take much more money than you need abroad because you will feel better going back home with money to convert back to U.S. dollars, than coming home with an empty wallet.

Studying abroad has made me appreciate aspects of America that I took for granted. For one, food in America is way cheaper than it is in Italy. I will never forget walking into McDonald’s and seeing a McChicken with medium fries and a medium drink for 5.50 euros. Another thing that should not be taken for granted is free water. Probably one of the hardest things I have had to adjust to, is paying for water at restaurants. While it is possible to get free water by asking for tap water, most waiters/waitresses are not fluent in English, therefore they end up bringing out the “premium” water that increases your bill. The last thing that I have taken for granted is the high speed internet that is offered in America. For most of my time in Italy, except for like 4 days, I did not have Wi-Fi in my apartment. While it is not a big deal to me that I cannot check social media, however it was very annoying for school purposes. There was a couple of assignments I could not turn in because our Wi-Fi was out, when it was supposed to be “working.” All is all, do not take the small things for granted, because studying in another country will open your eyes to how the world operates in relation to America.

Another recommendation I have if you travel to Torino, is to trust the Pizza Kebab guy. Now I know this may sound silly or I just may have been lucky with the guys I have talked to, but whenever I needed directions, the Pizza Kebab guy knew where to go. Do not get me wrong, I do not understand Italian in the slightest and some were hard to communicate with, but they knew where I was trying to go and at they at least were able to point me in the right direction. For example, I went to Florence and was having difficulty finding the leather market. I was in a big Piazza and sure enough there was a Pizza Kebab stand, so I went up to the vendor and simply said “leather market” and he pointed towards a street and made a hand gesture to turn left, so I thanked him and followed his directions. Then, as always the Pizza Kebab guy was right and I found the leather market. So when in doubt of directions, find a Pizza Kebab guy to ask for directions.

One thing that I recommend when you travel abroad is pay attention to your surroundings, as well as the people you may come across. If you become too engulfed in the scenery, you may pass up on an opportunity to meet someone, who you may never have thought of encountering. Thankfully, I adhered to this recommendation, because I got to meet one of my favorite DJs, DJ Mustard. The encounter was kind of spontaneous and funny. So to start off, I took a weekend trip to Barcelona and walked for hours around the city, roughly 30,000 steps, and I had a flight back to Torino very early next morning. With little sleep and the previous day’s adventures, I was very exhausted. After boarding the plane, to make matters worse, we were delayed for like 45 minutes, due to engine issues. Not only was I exhausted, but now nervous, my vision of the day was not very optimistic. However, it was a safe trip and I was able to take a 30 minute nap. Then, as I was departing the plane, I noticed this short guy with a Gucci backpack, followed by what looked like a 6’5”, Pittsburg Steelers linebacker. After further inspection, I was filled with excitement as it turned out the mysterious person was one of my favorite DJs, DJ Mustard. He was headed to Torino for the Rhianna concert. I got to take a picture with him and just like that, my rough day was immediately turned around and I quickly forgot everything that was making my day less enjoyable. Thus, stay aware of your surroundings, because you never know who you will encounter.

As I write this post, I am spending one of my last days here in Costa Rica. I cannot help but have feelings of sadness, excitement to go home, and utter awe at what I have learned. If you were to ask me what I learned in my classes I would say nothing.  In comparison to all of the other parts of the trip outside of class, I have learned so much about the Latin American culture and customs and I have truly fell in love with the places, the people I have met, and my host family.  In my Spanish conversation class, I learned Spanish words and phrases and had to give many presentations. In my international marketing class, I learned a lot about how to work in real world situations by doing many case studies, presentations, and examinations of marketing outside of the class in Costa Rica.  I enjoyed my classes even though they caused much stress at times and made me a bit crazy with such a jam-packed schedule. But as the weekends quickly approached each time, I could not wait to go out and explore the country.  The people, the culture, the food, and the beauty have all amazed me.  I will miss seeing the mountains every morning when I workout or walk to class.

I believe that studying abroad is about studying (trust me I did not realize how much there would be), but also about not getting too caught up in the studying and spending time experiencing the culture and the people within it.  Whether it be spending time sitting outside in a park, exploring the nearby city, or doing something crazy like white water rafting or bungee jumping or rafting that you have never done–I urge you to do this! Make sure you make connections with your host family (if you have one), meet other people all over the world, try new foods, and step outside of your regular schedule.  For me, it was hard to eat rice and beans every day for breakfast and not go to the gym one single day for thirty-eight days. But I know that once I go back to the states, I can continue with my green smoothie and daily workout with the remembrance of such a great experience I have had here in Costa Rica. Caio, pura vida, te amo, Costa Rica 🙂