As you may have realised, the experiences I have recorded on this blog have largely been positive. When people ask how things are, the automatic reaction is to claim all is going swimmingly as that’s the easiest answer you can give.
However, everyone who has been on a year abroad or has travelled knows that there are always low moments. Like everyone else I’ve had my fair share, but have kept most to a select audience (you know who you are.)
However, I wanted to highlight some of the hard times to show that this ‘swanning off to live in the sun’ business isn’t as easy as it looks. This is also to reassure anyone who’s embarking on a year away that it’s not fun all the time. It’s only normal to have the odd disaster or struggle which ends in you crying to someone over skype. We’ve all been there.
Here are a few of my low points I’ve had throughout this year:
- The Beginning
Finding out you’re going somewhere you least expected, having no idea where the place is let alone where you’re going to live was not fun. With such a huge unknown ahead of you, it’s hard to get excited pre departure; I was a bag of nerves before I left! Patience is the key in this phase; you may not think so but it does all come together in the end.
- Stolen Bike
Not long after I arrived I invested in a beautiful, white mountain bike from Decathlon to get around on. Only a few weeks later and someone had nabbed it from my garage, bringing me back to square one. Being robbed is never pleasant but you feel even more vulnerable when you’re far away from home.
- Injury
In my case, early on I cut my foot badly while cycling to school. The cut proceeded to get infected, causing my foot to blow up like a balloon! It was pretty embarrassing asking for help from people you had just met and at this point I was still clueless about the Spanish health system. Panic.
- Food Shopping
It may sound trivial but going to the supermarket abroad can be a very daunting task. Mercadona and Eroski are very different to shops I’m used to and it took me a long time get the hang of them. I found myself wandering aimlessly round the aisles clueless of what to buy; the absence of pre made ingredients was a particular struggle!
- Being yourself
No matter how good you think you are at a language, it’s another story living and breathing it every day. It’s a constant effort to communicate in a foreign language 24/7 and it makes easy things in life much more difficult; having a cry, giving advice, being funny; it’s hard to be yourself when communication is limited .
There are a few of my ‘low points’ from this year. Looking back, the majority of my lows happened early on which goes to show that things do get easier with time.
And of course, negatives have been massively outweighed by positives. Stressful moments make all those good times even better. It sounds stupid but a few struggles really do make the year worthwhile; you wouldn’t feel that massive sense of accomplishment if everything had come easy.
So even if you end up with no bike, a swollen food and no idea what to feed yourself; don’t be disheartened! A year abroad is not all smiles; that’s just part of the package.
La Buena Vida 