Erasmus never ends

"Erasmus is a life-changing experience. " You might have heard this phrase before. I have as well. But I only understand the meaning of this phrase now, three years after my Erasmus, when I look at my Erasmus pictures, when I occasionally talk to my friends from Huelva or when I am cooking tortilla de patatas, the recipe I learned thanks to my dearest Spanish friends. In this article I am gonna share with you how Erasmus experience impacts our lives and what life skills I gained from this experience.

Flexibility

When we decide to move and study abroad, the moment we enter the country we start living a new life. Our daily life is sum of our habits. And it is actually our new habits which change us so much. We live in a new apartment, which we most likely share with people we just met. We make new friends and together we start engaging ourselves in new activites.

Suddenly, common activites like taking the bus, doing the groceries, downloading the school materials is a whole new science for us. We are required to figure out a lot of things, which is always easier to do with other people. So we start creating new friendships with people from all around the world. Day by day we learn how to adapt to our new environment, how to be flexible and how to accomodate others who are often very different from what we know or from what we consider to be "normal".

This ability to adapt successfully to new environment is so fundamental, not only for our Erasmus life, but especially for our life after we graduate. Erasmus teaches us how to respect the difference, how to embrace new challenges and the importance of being open-minded and positive. We are naturally forced to apply all these principles every day. Once we learn them they stay with us forever.

Critical thinking

I would say it is at university where we learn to critically evaluate and process information. We learn that during our whole course of studies; but when we come to study our subject to a new university, in a new country and in new language, we gain completely different perspective on the topic. We see new teaching methods, new curricula, and new approaches.

This all makes us think and wonder. We compare and we realize that our way of doing things is not the only correct way, that there is always variety and that the best way to experience newness is to embrace differences. And this another important life skill, which once learned and tried out in real life, will stay with us forever. Because even though it might not seem so, Erasmus life is real life.

Having fun but being responsible

Erasmus is also about studying. I am saying "also" because all of us who did Erasmus know it is just a tiny aspect of the whole experience. The idea is following: the students from all around the world come to a new city, all eager to make new friends, to explore new things, and to take all the advantages of a student life. So this basically explains why it is so difficult for erasmus students to focus on studies. But yet we do it. We all go to our classes, take exams and go home with credits necessary to pass to next semester.

During Erasmus our life looks like one crazy fiesta ("party"), where every day we are forced to find new strength inside us to do what needs to be done; whether to go to pay rent, wifi bills, or buy and cook food, or just sit down and study for the test when we know our fellow friends are on the beach right now. All of these challenges make us stronger and better; and eventually when we come home we are all enriched in every aspect of our life: profesionally, culturally, socially and personally.

Living my Erasmus

If someone told me I will get my dream job and I will meet my fiancé during Erasmus I would ask them what drugs they are on. But well, it did happen. I dreamed to be a flight attendant and when I found out that one of the airlines had an open day in Sevilla I thought I would go and try. I went and I met an Argentinian guy on this interview, who was applying for the same job; he had nothing to do with Erasmus though. I got the job, he did not. This very same guy happens to be my fiancé today and we live in Argentina, working together in our business. It sounds quite crazy when I read it now, but it all started with my passion to travel and Erasmus was a perfect fit for a poor student back then.

Often you cannot even imagine what this Erasmus thing will mean for you in the future. That is why I love to encourage everyone who is thinking about participating in this amazing program. If you already are an erasmus student I wanna tell you to enjoy every single day of it, learn and never stop trying to get better. Erasmus life is just a small illustration of how your life can be even after you finish your studies and when you think that now the real life starts. I live my Erasmus life every day, I keep making new friends from around the world, I work hard but I still find time to have fun and not to take myself too seriously. For me Erasmus never ends.

The following pictures depict a bit of my Erasmus life in Huelva.

My flatmates and friends: Slovakia, Czech republic, Poland

Lovely day on the beach with my friends from Germany and Turkey.

Our favourite bar Mombasa. "Mombasa es tu casa. " ("Mombasa is your home. ")

"Where are you from" party.

"Free hugs" organized by ESN.

New year´s party.

Friends who came to celebrate mine and my friend´s birthday party.

Photo gallery