Oh man...
I just found my old blog from when I studied in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2012! Honestly it was not as cringe inducing as I would have assumed. Sure my pictures aren't focused, I clearly missed a few keys while typing and my hair was really....... dry. But the effort behind it is clearly there. I'm surprised I forgot so much of this trip as it was a life changing experience for me.
To say I was a quiet kid would be an understatement, when I was in high school I would only talk when asked a question by a teacher or by another student. I really didn't have many friends so I often felt like an unwanted presence. It got a little better in college, but I was nowhere close to being a social butterfly. Looking through the blog its almost hard to believe it is the same trip I had. One of the main things I remember was having a lot of anxiety while I was there which is not showcased in the blog. In retrospect, I assume that is because this blog was only ever released to my family and friends on Facebook so I wanted to show them how much was fun I was having.
So, should you study/live abroad? Even without knowing anything about you, in almost all situations I say you should. It was not always easy that's for sure, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. While it wasn't easy filling out a form with my shaky Russian to retrieve a care package my first week there, it really gave me confidence that I could get through this experience. I saw a lot of beautiful places and met some really great people there as well. Some of which I still talk to today.
I really cannot stress though that it wasn't always fun. There were times when I was really stressed out my studies or with my roommate who got mad if I was in the room when she skyped her boyfriend at 11 at night 😒. Yet those aren't the only experiences that you take with you. If I had to summarize my experience in one sentence it would be " Sometimes it was fun sometimes it was hard, but I did it anyway". Even if you are shy like me and have difficulty making friends I really suggest you go for it. Even if the whole experience is awful and you hate the whole thing at least you can say at the end of the day you got through it and you will be stronger for it.
So I guess that is all I have to say, if you want to see my pictures and laugh at my hair and typos the link to my old blog is right here. I know this wasn't a super ultra positive outlook on living abroad, so I hope I didn't discourage you. Still, I think that's part of the problem with a lot of testimonies people give. Not everyone is an extreme extrovert who makes friends easily. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to reach out to me! I would love to hear your testimonies as well; where did you go and how was it for you?Until Next Time!
-Steph
