Semester 1: Done... sort of

Five and a half months ago I boarded a plane going to from Calgary, Canada to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After a cordial greeting at the airport and a short bus ride to Delft, I began to settle into my new "home", not sure what to expect, but very excited. I quickly made many many new friends, which to this day is my absolute favorite part of this whole experience. The down side: classes were much more difficult than anticipated, and it took a long time to get the basics settled, like a bank account, campus card and residence permit. Even though there were many days that I found myself homesick and wondering how I ended up here, coming here is definitely the best decision I have made.

So, the semester is over. And by over, I mean that classes for next semester start tomorrow. In actuality, last semester has not completely ended. I still have three oral exams and a final project due in February. This concept of overlapping semesters is quite foreign to me... back in Canada, the fall semester ends before Christmas, during which time the only things you have to worry about are waiting for final exam grades to come in and Christmas shopping. Of course I would prefer to be completely done with last semester by now, but its really not the end of the world. Aside from that, what is really amazing to me is how fast the past five and a half months have gone by. In five more months I will be moving to Sweden for my second year. I have definitely learned a lot so far, both academically and in terms of life. I'll comment on a few things about the daily life of an international student.

If there is one piece of advice I'll give to new international students, it is to invest a bit of time and money to make your room/flat more like a home. When I first got here, the basics were provided: I had a furnished room, including sheets, blankets and basic kitchen equipment. But, the walls were bare, the blankets were old and unattractive and my linoleum floor even has holes cut out of it. At first, I decided that because I was only going to be here a year, I would just stick with this place the way it was. But, after a few episodes of home sickness and feeling like I live in a little depressing little box, I decided to fix it up. 

I bought a nice, warm duvet, a purple bedding set, some mirror tiles, a carpet to cover up the holes in my floor, candles and some over-the-door hooks to hang clothes/towels on. I have put up some art that I bought on my recent trip to Italy (which I will eventually write a post about) and made some flower decals out of colored paper. Low and behold, being in my apartment felt much more comfortable, which did make a big difference. It was easier to unwind after stressful days at school. 

As someone who likes to cook, another thing that helped me to relax was to make myself a nice dinner. The "kitchen" of my apartment has a sink, tiny fridge, hotplate and cupboards. Without a freezer, oven or microwave, I found it hard at first to cook. Until I bought a combination microwave and oven, all I could do was either fry or boil things. I am still missing a freezer (and REALLY missing ice cream), but the 90 euro cost of the combi-microwave was really worth it. At some point I will post some recipes.

The other thing I've learned to do is not to take the hard parts of being an international student so seriously. Of course, there may be times that I feel overwhelmed again, but I am better able to remind myself that these crappy things will soon pass. Sometimes you can't do anything about a sucky situation... it will suck no matter how much you complain about it and wish you were somewhere else. But, one thing is for sure: the more you focus on how unfortunate it is, the worse the situation will seem. I know many other people that have had some tough times, but none of them (that I know of) regret coming here. So, for anyone trying to decide whether to go abroad or not, I will say this: If you move abroad, you will likely have some challenging experiences, but in most cases, you will learn a lot about the local culture, have some life changing experiences, make new friends and learn a lot about yourself. If you are up for the challenge, you'll likely find that it is well worth it.