Qualities i gained during Erasmus

Intro

People are not born with qualities and a great character, this are things one is gaining during his lifetime from experiences, education and life lessons. Me and anybody else before Erasmus and also now i may say i was not so sociable and friendly person. I was the type that didn't had too many friends and hated to go clubbing and to parties. I loved more sitting home and watching TV shows and doing random stuff...

I can say now that after 6 Erasmus experiences i did changed a bit, not as a person but how i interact with people and i gained some amazing qualities which are already helping me cope with this life, some of this qualities are independence, responsibility, positivity, interaction and some others. But let's start with each single one!

Independence

This probably is my main quality which i gained and i cherish tremendously. I always had sense of independence since i was little but you need a life experience to see if you are really made to be an independent person. All my life until 19 years old i lived with my parents so i couldn't feel independent but i always wanted to try how it is. When i first moved to Egypt i learn one on one what independence is really like and i can say i become addicted, it was no way after living on my own i would ever return and live with my folks again for more than couple of weeks. Maybe this is the main reason why i signed up for Erasmus over and over again, i wanted to pursue that independence once again and trust me everytime my Erasmus is ending up and i need to return back it gives me bunch of anxiety and i am always looking for my next step to be again independent.

Not all the persons are the same for example my cousin is such a momma's boy that for him is very hard to live alone abroad, he always needs someone from the family or someone he can trust in order to live his nest. He had various opportunities for jobs abroad, after he went there he couldn't stay more that 2 or 3 weeks because his level of anxiety was so high that he needed to come home.

But one thing Erasmus is teaching you is how to cope being on your own, all of the sudden you are living independent, you need to cook for yourself, wash, clean and you don't have your mom anymore. So you have no choice than adjust to the situation and pass throgh, and trust me when all this is over and you return to your comfort zone then you will miss once again the independence!

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Responsibility

Responsibility goes hand in hand with independence, is the sense related to your situation of being on your own, suddenly you have bunch of chores and things you need to do, Erasmus provides you a grant for the entire period of stay but now the huge responsibility is to manage this money in a way you can survive the period and if you want to be independent then you will try to not ask money to your parents. I saw many cases of students in Erasmus that spend all their money in the first weeks on drinks and parties and then their parents were sending them cash, this is not a way and for sure thus not teach you responsibility.

In all my Erasmus experiences i managed almost for survive from my grant, it was rare cases when i asked my family for money. I was lucky enough to always travel with a close friend so in case i didn't had money i just borrow or in worse cases when the country i was it had an expensive way of life ( Malta ) i had to get a part time job. But all this experiences taught me responsability.

Positivity

This is a quality a few persons tend to have all the time, mostly you learn how to become positive by passing throw some hard experiences, maybe a breakup or maybe a sad episode of any type. I am still trying to learn how to be Zen and fully positive about things. But my positivism is always clashing with my level of anxiety which is super high whenever i have to end an Erasmus. Even if in my mind there is a voice saying me you can get throw this you need to stay positive i still have than sense of doubt in my mind. I guess is a quality you need a lifetime to practice and gain, but if in most of the time you are positive and see things from a different light then you are a winner my friend and stay the same!

During my Erasmus i had some break ups which totally affected my positivism overall but i always knew how to get back on my feet and start over, so pushing yourself is also a way of positivism.

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Self Confidence

You know i always taught about myself i am not the most pretty or popular girl in the room and i taught this for a long time, after my first Erasmus experience i started to love myself and invest time and money in my own persona. Self confidence it goes two ways, you can spend a lot of time build it and in one second can all crush with just one bad word or offense from somebody else. I am such a hyper sensitive girl and i wear my heart on my sleeves every single time so i had many cases i was over confident and i was wrong. Usually in relationships i am in the beginning so confident and it can be a good quality but how you maintain that confidence all the time is the real struggle.

Going into Erasmus with no self confidence and coming out after 6 years with so much confidence in what i can achieve and make, it's the ultimate goal one can have. And trust me Erasmus can do all of that for you!

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Interaction

As i said in the beginning i was never that party girl type and having just a few friends i always felt more lonely and kind of boring. In all my Erasmus experiences i always tried to push myself to go out of my comfort zone, go more to parties even if i hated them, be more sociable, get to know more people, make more friends. Most of this cases i hated to do that and once i arrived home i felt so relief that all was over but the next day i felt good because i went for example to that party and i met some cool people and why not i kept in touch with them.

For example when i met my boyfriend in my Erasmus Portugal experience, he was the type to always go out with friends and party but me i was more set back so it was a challenge in the beginning of our relation, even if i wanted to stay more home and watch movies i compromised a lot in trying to fit, but it worked and sometimes i actually enjoyed myself. So my advise is even if you hated just try to interact with people one or two times and maybe you will like it!

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In conclusion

All in all Erasmus was part of my life for the past 6 or 7 years, it's going to be a hard transition from this life into the real world but i feel like i learn some much from this experiences and most of all i have gained bunch of qualities and life lessons that can prepare me for the real struggle. But i have the first base very well settled in, i have then sense of independence and responsibility so i think i am going to be fine...

In case you have an Erasmus opportunity never think twice about it and once you went throw one experience try to apply for a second one and so on until you cannot go anymore, is such a big plus into becoming an adult, take this from me and my stories, you will know why!

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