Being alone on my first Erasmus birthday

Do Erasmus and meet celebrate!

In this article I am going to share my stories from different Erasmus stays which I did in the past. To let you understand more, I am going to describe a bit now why you probably want to be an Erasmus student and go abroad in general. Of course that I am going to write my experience about today’s topic as well, no worries.

Why did you probably decide to do an Erasmus

Some people do it because they just want to travel, some want to get to know a specific country, some simply want to get outside of their comfort zone. Others want to learn a new language or – which is very often – they want to improve their English. English is generally known among the students coming from foreign countries.

I know many people who would love to apply for an Erasmus but they finally do not put any effort into their desire because “My English is not good enough to go to study abroad.” Whenever I hear someone to speak like this, I have to tell them to come on and go on with the solicitation process. One of the main ideas of doing Erasmus is that you improve your language skills and will get to know different cultures.

Erasmus connects people so easily! I will (probably) always remember a sentence which one of my loveliest and most inspiring friend from Palestina (who I met during my first Erasmus in Granada, Spain) said. It was like this: “Do you know... Erasmus is a magical word. Wherever you come, you just say ‘Hey, I am an Erasmus student’ and you have got so many new friends. It is amazing!” And yes, Lara was so right!

Picture: Erasmus connects people from all over the world! Just use the magical word.

It was my birthday and I did not know anyone!

So just imagine this situation. You already went for an Erasmus mobility and because you loved that so much, you decide to stay in the same country, but instead of continuing in the same city, you will go somewhere else. As you want to get some work experience, you will apply for an Erasmus Traineeship (also called internship). You are selected and so you go to a city which is much bigger that your previous destination.

Picture: Valencia is one of the biggest cities in Spain.

You leave your hometown on your sister’s birthday, you call home the very next day to wish happy birthday to your mum and you spend the whole week getting used to your new “home”. As you came for the traineeship, you get to know some people easily – your work colleagues. All of them are really lovely and quite young, but would you really feel like hanging out with them all the time? I mean, work is work and a free time is a free time. Do you understand or you do not agree and your opinion is miles away from mine?

So one week is gone, you did not have really time to meet many people (because all Erasmus students live around a university zone - which is more than an hour far when walking), you come back home from work, sit down and think: “What will I do tomorrow? It is my birthday and I want to celebrate it somewhere with someone. But where and with who?”

A real story

Were you imagining it? So how would you feel? Well, this is a real story which happened to me in Valencia, Spain. So are you asking what really happened the next day? As we live in a modern life and we can use our smartphones to check what events are happening around, I realised there would be a party. So I woke up in the morning, went to buy a present for myself (by the way, if you are in Spain and it is you birthday, you get a discount in C&A, but I suggest you reusing some clothes rather than buy new and new and new  J) and baked a cake for my colleagues. Then, I went to work in the afternoon and when I finished I just passed a store with second-hand things on my way home. They had guitars. That is an instrument I wanted to learn, so I thought it was my birthday and went to get one. When the shop assistant asked me which one I would like, I just replied I did not know anything about guitars, in fact, so he helped me to choose one of the cheapest which would be good for my guitar beginnings. I bought it, brought it home, got ready for my birthday night out and left the house.

Picture: My birthday gift.

I was heading to the university zone (for an hour) where an Erasmus party with a beer pong and a karaoke (that made me choose this event) was held. I did not have Internet in my phone, so I was walking there according to some offline maps – Maps.me. I suggest you to get this app when going for an Erasmus. On the way I met two guys playing the guitar and singing Happy Birthday song. So I stopped and started a conversation: “Hey, It is actually my birthday today!” They were nice but finally we said goodbye to each other and I continued walking.

Finally! I found the place! It did not look like any disco though. I opened a door and entered. That was simply a pub/bar. There was a huge beer pong competition but the karaoke nowhere! And as it was March, all Erasmus students (who arrived around February ) already found new friends.  They were sitting around tables in groups or standing around the bar and chatting.

I just thought: “All right, you do not have to be here, Iva, if you do not like it. Anyway, I am going to a bathroom, when walking I will check what is going on in here and then I will decide what I will do. But it is only up to me, I can leave even within five minutes.”

I left the bathroom and as the bar was quite tiny, I just ended up next to a table. I knew it was an Erasmus party, so almost everyone was an Erasmus student, obviously. So I remember Lara’s words (mentioned above) and  - well, before continuing, I would also add that the “It is my birthday today” sentence is also quite helpful when not knowing anyone. So now, let me continue – I remembered Lara’s words and bent closer to the group sitting around the table right next to me.

How to start a conversation?

“Hey, I hear some English. You must be Erasmus students, right? Cool. I am an Erasmus student as well. I have just arrived so I do not really know many people here. But it is my birthday today, so I did not want to stay home alone.” Well, as quickly as I wrote this paragraph, I found some French acquaintances that let me join their group. Then the Erasmus conversations are easy. You start with their and your country of origin and continue with a typical question of “Why did you choose Valencia for your Erasmus?” That is maybe why the word ‘Erasmus’ is so magical. Because even before getting to know a person or a group of people, you know that you have something in common. Travelling, coming from different countries than you new “home” is and a foreign language.

Stop worrying about your language skills!

So you see, most of Erasmus students use English for communication with others (or the language of the country) without having a native level (proficiency).  So if your reason for not going to do an Erasmus studies is “My English is not good enough”, remember that nobody there started to learn the language and the very next day spoke it fluently. And all of us keep doing mistakes. Do you think that native English speakers never do mistakes? Well, what is your native language? And do you always know how to use it correctly?  I have been studying teaching, but still, sometimes I even go and check how to write a word in my native language correctly.

How did my “birthday party continued?”

Oh, I was happy not being alone, but as I got to the bar quite late, my new French table company decided to go back home and rest. So I was alone again. “Never mind, I will check the beer pong competition, as it seems people are really excited about it.” So I moved a bit forward and watched. I noticed some girls watching it as well and as we glanced at each other at the same time, we smiled and after a while started to talk. They were from Asiaand as they visited my country in the past, they were curious about other parts of the Czech Republic.

Picture: You can talk even about your home country.

However, even they got tired and left home. So I was checking the competition again. There were the last two finalists, so mood was really in tens. One of them had a bracelet with ‘Ireland’ on it. In fact, it was a wrist band – I used to collect them – so I shouted: “Let’s got, Irish team!” There were only a few people in the bar so then I was joking and talking with both finalists as well as with their friends.

How did the evening finished?

Honestly, I do not remember at all who the winner was, but I stayed till we had to leave the bar. I still kept talking with those students and realised that the “Irish team boy” was not from Ireland, however he was a Spaniard. Truly, I wanted to do another Erasmus in Spain because I had learnt some Spanish, but I did not practise speaking that much. I knew I could improve it quickly in Spain again. So when I met this Irish Spaniard, I really enjoyed talking to him as we switched into his native language. We spent a lot of time in front of the bar just sharing different stories and as I knew there was still the one-hour journey in front of me, we finally said goodbye to each other and left. He could have been a good friend to me, although he was from that outlying zone, but we have never met again.

Conclusion

• I wanted to describe something else, which I will share in the future then.
• Remember that as an Erasmus student it is easy to get new acquaintances who can possible become your friends.
• ‘Erasmus’ is a life-changing word.
• We go for an Erasmus to learn many things and also to improve our language skills. Do not be afraid of applying for an Erasmus just because of the level of a foreign language.
• We are not native speakers of foreign languages and that is all right to do mistakes. We learn like this.
• We do mistakes even in our native language, others do as well.
• It is very easy to start a conversation because there are a few things that you have in common with any Erasmus student.
• If going abroad and not sure about having data in your phone, download an app Maps.me.

  

  Picture: No matter where you come from. You will have a topic to talk about.

You are ready to start your Erasmus experience, aren’t you?!

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