First week need to know things and some thoughts about cultural experiences in general

How Erasmus helped me to get to know myself better

Hello, people! Today I decided I want to talk about why Erasmus is a life changing experience and how it helped me get to know myself better so that maybe my example would prove to be enough to make you consider going on exchange. Erasmus means what it means for the people who are doing it because we are doing it at an age when we are still searching for ourselves. That’s one of the things your mentors or your coordinators will not tell about, that when you are leaving your home, you are going to discover yourself. I remember my first day of Erasmus during orientation week in Vilnius. One night before that I cried myself to sleep, alone, having McDonalds for dinner and knowing anyone. The next day I had to be at the University at 9 am and I took the bus and I got terribly lost. I got there one hour later. I had already missed a part of the opening ceremony. They were giving us the info for enrolling to classes and pretty much everything they do during Orientation Week and they had everything organized based on the country we were coming from. I found out there that I was the only one from my country. I felt lonely. But then, at the opening ceremony, Živilė showed us a short movie about how Erasmus changes people. Senior Erasmus students were there, and they have also been abroad, away from home. They did it. So could I. And I did it too. And now I’m an Erasmus senior.

You should know by now that there are thousands of students going abroad on Erasmus each and every semester. If they can do it, why couldn’t you? Studies at European Commission level show us that students who go on Erasmus and have a cultural experience abroad tend to feel their European citizenship more than the ones who decide to stay at home. And some recent research in the field has shown that such experiences are looked better at by the employees. So, just for you to get it right, the European Union pays you to go abroad, have the time of your life, get the best of your college years, make friends all cross the globe and at the end your experience will also give you a head start in front of your other colleagues when you are applying for a job.

It will definitely not be easy but as I was approaching the departure date and during my first week in Lithuania I kept telling to myself this quote I read somewhere on Facebook I think some time ago: “Great things happen when you get out of your comfort zone”. And it’s true. You have to keep pushing yourself and get over your fears. Yes, you will be lonely in a foreign country where people don’t understand your language. Yes, your friends, family and dog will be back at home. But you’re not the only person on Earth to do this. Look around you. See how many people are doing this at the same time with you? See how they are also lonely and foreign of these places? Remember those Erasmus students in your college? You didn’t think about them that much then. Think about them now. Do you think they had an easy start? And you know what the best part is? You will grow so fond of that place that it’ll stick with you for the rest of your life. When you first arrive to your receiving country, it’s natural to feel homesick (unless you are a robot who doesn’t have feelings). When you’ll leave, you will miss your Erasmus place in ways you never imagined.

Here are some things you should know for your first week:

My first week was a lot of new. I always kept an agenda with me and a pen and I asked all possible questions that popped into my head and then wrote them down on my agenda. During the first week, I would never go out to visit without taking my agenda with words and things (because honestly, you won’t be carrying a dictionary with you always and I get annoyed when I have to use Google Translate, it’s just something about it that I dislike), a city map and my external battery. It’s always important when you are in a new city and don’t know the language very well to have with you items which will help you orientate if you are as I am an introvert and shy to ask people for directions, especially if you will be asking in another language than their mother tongue. And an external battery is always a good thing to carry around as you never know when your smartphone might pull the low battery on you and shut down. (It happened to me once when I got lost in Budapest in a Euro match night when Hungary won and I was completely alone) And also another piece of advice is to have another phone with you, the one you hear about in American movies as: burner, because you might want to stick to your old phone number to chat with your friends from back home and parents, but you also need a sim card which will allow you to talk to people there and the friends you make there.

Also, during my first week I took so many pictures. I took pictures of everything. I took pictures of buildings, trees, parks. One time I was scrolling through my Camera roll and I noticed I took a picture of a trash can. So yeah, don’t forget to bring your camera with you (This is just for the people who own a professional camera). Otherwise, if you don’t have a camera your phone will be just fine. For some reason I dragged my old camera with me, which has 10 megapixels objective, then I realised my phone had 12. I wish my laptop wouldn't have crushed and I hadn't lost all the pictures I took during my first 3 months of Erasmus :(

Alright guys, I have to stop here because last few days and the ones to come are a bit too much, as I’m moving currently and I have a lot of work to do and things to figure out. I will resume.

P. S. : I am attaching here 2 links, the first one is the short movie Živilė showed to us and the second one is a short movie I came across, made by the Erasmus people of Czechia. Take a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-uwgnnTflQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTylTXB-Dm4

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