Choosing between one or two Erasmus semesters

The second semester has just begun, meaning that, with great sadness, we've had to say goodbye to all those who've had to go home because their Erasmus grant only allowed them to stay for one semester.

First of all, I'd like to give you some advice based on the experiences I've seen of the people around me.

When we think about going on Erasmus, one of the first things we think about is the length of time we're going to want to be abroad; if we're going to want to spend a whole year away from home, or, if we want to go but only for one semester.

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When it comes to making a decision out of these options, we can consider some of the following criteria:

• My university only offers us the possibility of going on Erasmus for one semester.

  Although it seems odd, this is quite common because many universities do not want their students away for longer than one semester. I'm not really sure as to why this is the case but the only thing I can think of is the university's lack of money when it comes to giving its part of the grant, or a teacher concerned that their student will continue his/her subject without supervision - this has happened to a few people I know.

• We can't be away from home for a year.

  If you're in the same boat as me, going to Poland, you won't have many problems. This is because the cost of living is more or less half as expensive than in Spain. But then you have to add it all up, for example, the cost of flights - if your strong point isn't finding cheap flights, you could end up spending a lot of money. You have to make the most of your new situation to see as many places you can, go on trips, or instead you may choose to invest more money into sport, free time or partying.

  If, however, you choose somewhere like Paris or Italy, it's going to make your decision much easier when it comes to choosing the length of your Erasmus stay, since these places tend to have an expensive way of life, expensive food, expensive rent as well as other daily costs.

• We don't want to be away from home for a whole year.

  Each to their own - not everyone wants to leave home for such a long time. This can be for several reasons, like for example some people haven't been away from home much and they feel less secure, or, people have things tying them down to their home, for example, their boyfriend or girlfriend, but I'll leave that for another post.

• We have important subjects in our university.

  This is also very common and it is because there are a lot of students who have gone on Erasmus in their last year of their degree, which is usually when we have to do our final year project or dissertation. It's true that, if your university lets you, your teachers agree and you decide to go ahead with this option, you can do it perfectly well, but there tends to be a lot going on at one time and there is almost always something which gets in the way. However, I know people who are in this situation, and yes, it's true that things are complicated and not having your teachers there to guide and correct you can make it even more difficult. But nowadays, there are so many ways to communicate online, like Skype, where you can get in touch with your teacher without a problem. Besides, what we tend to forget is that you have a new university in your new Erasmus 'home' that can help you either less, the same or even more than your home university. If your case is the one of the last two, make the most of it and use this opportunity to your advantage to get as much support as you can from your new teachers.

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When one of these factors is what you want, but for academic reasons you cannot stay longer, you must prioritise what your main reasons are for going. You have to know how to accept your final decision in the best way you can and realise that in any case you're going to be able to enjoy five incredible months abroad.

I think that the problem lies when you decide to stay just one semester because of psychological factors including fear, anxiety or the build up of false worries. Don't let yourself fall into this trap.

It's very normal to be scared when thinking about going abroad to live. Like it or not, we no longer have everything that we are used to and our home will stop welcoming us as only it can. We will have to survive by ourselves, manage with a new language, feed ourselves and make an endless amount of decisions alone.

So, why wouldn't we be scared?

I think that being scared is a good thing. When we set ourselves a challenge, it has to scare us and have an impact on us; it has to make us feel small, because if not, it's just not big enough.

As time moves on, we push ourselves, doing what we can to overcome this challenge little by little. We'll realise that we've grown and that it no longer seems so unachievable: the end is now in sight.

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And we reach it, of course we do, despite it being a complicated and difficult journey. If you continue until the end, you will get there, and everything will have been worth it.

So, don't let being scared of leaving home for a year determine the outcome of your decision simply to reduce problems. Take me for example, I'm going abroad for just one semester, because if things go wrong, I don't want to have to stay there.

And if they go well, then what? We always think of the things that could go wrong. Instead, think of all the good things that could happen.

I'm saying all of this because, again, I've seen many people who've been forced to return to Spain for reasons like those I mentioned before. Sadly, however, there are also people who have gone back home to Spain because they decided to stay for just one semester. They moved abroad, lived the experience and then realised that, although they were enjoying themselves and making the most of the experience, everything happened so quickly that it was already time for them to leave and it was too late for them to request that their Erasmus experience be lengthened.

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Not all stories are going to be negative as we also find ourselves with people who asked for one semester for the same reasons, fearing that things wouldn't go well for them and they would have had to stay one whole year. They later realised that they actually knew very little at the beginning and that they did want to stay longer, so they spoke with their home universities who accepted their request with no problems.

Anyway, you have to think that, even though you choose to go for one whole year, you may not be enjoying your Erasmus, for whatever reasons they may be. There will be no-one putting a gun to your head forcing you to finish the whole year. It's true that we think that if we have problems, they will be resolved easily. In fact, the complicated thing is that continuing will just make your Erasmus go on and on.

Remember, don't be guided by your fears, false ideas in your head or negative imaginary thoughts that make you believe that they may actually happen. It's the only opportunity that you're going to have in your whole life to go abroad with these conditions, even if the money subsidies aren't the greatest, the rest of the experience is. You're at a great age to go out, enjoy, travel, meet people, learn, party and be swept up in the magic that is Erasmus.

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