One year abroad!

Usually students are allowed to go abroad for five or six months only. However, I personally spend abroad one whole year. In this article I would like to summarize my experience and point out interesting facts you realized when living abroad.

A year ago, I was packing and had no idea about what is going to happen. Now, when I look back I realize what a year I experienced. I decided to travel alone to create the real understanding. I have learnt a lot from different situations, people, cultures, travelling and living as a expat in Den Haag, The Netherlands. My story was little bit complicated then usually and I may claim, that I was very lucky. Being lucky I mean that I came out on top after confronting with difficult situations and problems.

Everything started when I came to The Hague with wrong information already at the beginning. The university sent me a letter with dates of tests and interviews I didn’t have to attend to as an Erasmus student. Being here one week earlier gave me an advantage. I started my adventures experience by living in Delft just for few days. Then I was moved to a half Dutch – half Mexican family. Working as au-pair and study at the same time didn’t go very well for neither of us and after two months I was told to move out. I had one week to find a room where I could move. This was the first challenging, unexpected and difficult situation I needed to deal with. Fortunately, I was lucky and got an apartment in three days. I found suitable room with friendly and easy going flat mate. There is nothing I wished for that time. After all, studies went very good and I could finally connect with all my exchange friends and enjoy the right time in the city.

The first semester was almost in the end and I realized, that paying all the bills including the rent I found myself almost without money. I had doubts, if I will be able to stay in Netherlands or if I should go back home to Czech Republic. Then I realized I didn’t come to give up after few months. This is one of my dreams in my life and I am not going to give up and go back without reason. Then I got lucky again. Additional money from European Union for my exchange program meant everything to me. It meant, I could stay and enjoy my second semester of the program. Unfortunately, on the other hand, in January I had to say goodbye to most of my friends I met during Erasmus. However, I knew I am going to meet new people within a second semester that started beginning of February.

In the second semester of my studies I have chosen one Minor called Operation and Supply Chain Management and several other subjects and found it quite tough to manage everything. Moreover, in the end of March I started to work in a Spanish Tapas Restaurant as a waitress. Combining studies and work again made some difficulties. I really wasn’t bored for one minute and I really enjoyed it. This opportunity was unexpected but so helpful at that moment. I worked two or three days per week and I could only dream of salary like this in Czech.

After finishing second semester at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, I had to decide either to move to another apartment or go back to Czech. I decided to stay in Holland, because of getting another apartment and second job luckily. So, I am staying in The Hague during the summer as well.

Of course, I miss all my family and friends, but when I am once abroad for such a long time already, I wanted to take as much as was possible from it.

Whole summer I spent working in two different restaurants. One - Spanish Tapas Restaurant and second – Italian Restaurant. In a little of free time I had, I mostly appeared to be on the beach, travelling or getting know even more about the abroad experience.

To conclude, my year abroad: It turned out to be the most exciting, adventurous and unforgettable experience, I will never regret. It definitely change my life and perspectives. Whole year in foreign country, solving various problems and creating different consequences made my year fulfilled with knowledge and experience. This Erasmus Program gave me many advices beneficial for my future life. Moreover, all of the people I met made my cultural awareness even wider. I created friends from all over the world and the feeling that you can travel somewhere and know various people is always very advantageous. This year was amazing and remarkable.

In the end, I would like to thank all the people and institutions that helped me while staying abroad. It includes mainly The Kellner Family Foundation and NAEP organization for the financial support I got. Without these sources I wouldn’t be able to stay in Netherlands for so long. I would love to thank my family and friends, that were always there for me and supporting me when I needed it the most.

Real big thank you to everybody who made this year the best year of my life so far!

I also promised to point out some facts that changed since you live abroad for a while. Here they are:

1. Word ROUTINE is changed for a word ADRENALIN that fills every situation of yours.
2. Courage is overrated! Everybody is respecting you for how brave you were to do this. In the end it wasn’t that hard. It is enough to just follow your dreams and do everything for it.
3. You realized, how FREE and capable of everything you are. There are no limitations at all!
4. Two or more languages appear to be on your daily schedule (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Czech…)
5. Lesson #1: Saying goodbye.
6. Lesson #2: Enjoy yourself and the time you have!
7. It is usual to have two of everything – phone number, currency, sport pass, back account, student card…
8. When you are going back home you realize, how little everything changes there. However, abroad you are used to changes in unstoppable speed.
9. You lack the words, but on the other hand when you start talk about your activities abroad, you cannot stop talking! There is so many!
10. You start to enjoy yourself and environment around you. You realized how strong and unique you are.