T. O’Rourke

Abroad Diaries, Madrid

Week 1: Pre-departure

September 3-11

Any sane human would start packing no more than two days before a trip abroad. However, I came to the conclusion many, many moons ago that I am a far cry from sane. Evidence for this claim includes my copious use of post-it notes (thank you Arthur Fry), obsessive addiction to sugar (how can anyone go without Swedish fish?), and, more relevant to the present matter, my compulsive need for advanced planning. One could say I started “packing” in mid-June. Why, then, has this past week been one of the most stressful of the year (a close third to finals week and The Bachelorette finale)? Even the most detailed lists of clothes, travel documents, and precise amount of Luna bars needed to see me through Ibiza could do nothing to quell my pre-departure jitters. Read More »

You lived, you learned, you loved. Now you are back at your home campus and in a total funk.  What happened to the campus you used to love and why is everyone rolling their eyes when you start telling hilarious study abroad stories? Coming back home after going abroad can be a surprisingly weird experience and it’s normal to experience reverse culture shock. While it’s great to look back fondly on your time abroad, it’s not okay to spend the next semester sitting on your couch all day, wearing a beret and watching Eiffel Tower specials on TV.

So, wow, can you reconcile your international experience with your stateside college life?

You first need to discard the expectation of total familiarity. Some things have likely changed at your college/home while you were away and you will have some catching up to do. Some changes are positive (a new dining hall or library) and some will be negative (a falling out in your old group of friends, your crush dating what’s-her-face). Remember that spending a semester in a foreign country required some sacrifice, but the experience was worth it.

The most important thing is to find a way to incorporate the positive aspects of your time abroad with the positive aspects of your campus or home life. You can join a culture club or conversation group, share your experiences with other returning students, or broaden your academic interests. I changed my minor to French and Francophone studies as a result of my time in Paris. This decision permitted me to keep practicing my French and benefit academically from the social and cultural knowledge I acquired while abroad.

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[Everyone’s got a morning after story (though most don't involve a large group of potential sorority sisters) and we wanna hear yours! Send it over to us and we’ll post it – anonymously, of course – right here!]

Wine is cheap in Europe, super cheap. I made that discovery early on during my semester abroad, and took advantage of it during my spring break in Italy. As all college students know, boxed wine in the States is a great invention which allows for portable drinking, but this idea has been one-upped in Europe, with the creation of what my friends and I would lovingly refer to as “wine boxes.” One liter of “table” (ie. awful) wine in a pouch, with an oh-so convenient pop tab opening which allows you to reseal your wine and take it on the go! They’re adult juice boxes, with alarming consequences I would eventually realize.

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While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (Procrastinating, Blue Book exams ), she also carves her own path and has her own unique adventure. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for other girls? What it’s like to be an online student? To get married?! To be a commuter student?Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers (and readers!) are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds.

Being an international student is kind of like being a celebrity. No, seriously, hear me out. Everybody wants to talk to you. Everybody think you’re really interesting. Everybody is fascinated by you. At first.

Everyone wants to hear about your lifestyle and your culture, and they find everything you say hilarious. Like celebrities, everybody already has their own ideas about you. Everybody already thinks they know you because of what they’ve seen on the TV or what they’ve been told. And then they’re disappointed when you aren’t exactly how they imagined. They realize you’re not exotic or exciting. They realize, well, you’re just like them really.

Like a celebrity representing their brand, I feel like I’m constantly representing my country. Sometimes I force myself to conform to stereotypes and revel in my Britishness far more than I would do at home.

Being an international student is kind of a double-edged sword. A lot of time I love the attention. I know that all I have to do is open my mouth and people will be all over me with “ohemgee, where are you from?” It’s especially fun in my Shakespeare class, where my teacher is always making comments only I’ll understand, or apologizing for generalizations. Everywhere I go people strike up conversations with me the minute they find out I’m English.

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[Everyone’s got a morning after story (though some are WAY worse than others) and we wanna hear yours! Send it over to us and we’ll post it – anonymously, of course – right here!]

I am currently studying abroad in an unspecified location in the world. We’ll just say… not in the U.S. (really narrowing it down there). My host university always organizes events at bars and such for students, but my roommates and I usually just pass on them because they just wind up being these huge all-American fests. But the other night we actually decided to go because this particular bar, in the red-light district, was serving unlimited free wine and beer between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and, honestly, who could pass that up?

We did our usual pregame before the bar and all 4 out of my 4 roommates wound up getting wasted. Literally, couldn’t stand up, needed-to-borrow-the-flip-flops-I-conveniently-had-in-my-purse wasted. Mind you, it was only around 8 p.m. We hadn’t even left the house and I was already fully concerned about my roommates’ well-being, mainly because bouncers in this particular city are extremely strict with blatantly belligerent people trying to enter into their clubs (I wonder why…).

But I was worrying for nothing. Somehow all of us managed to get let in and the real (free) drinking quickly began. After we all scurried over to the bar to grab some drinks I wound up chatting it up with an adorable American guy for a really long time while all my roommates disappeared into another adjacent room. I wasn’t too worried though; it was a pretty small place. Only when I finally made my way over there, let’s say around 9:30 p.m., 2 out of the 4 girls were missing. Read More »

So the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (which sounds like a very legit publication) released a study that I think you’ll find quite interesting.  “Interesting” in that you wouldn’t have expected the results, not in a million years, and please note that after reading this, your life will be forever changed.  Okay, are you ready for me to enlighten your narrow, sheltered mindset?

Here’s their big finding: “Students who go abroad while in college are likely to increase or even double their alcohol intake while they’re away.”

Wow, I know.  Let that sink in for a minute.  Would you have ever guessed that while visiting countries with lower drinking ages, things called discotheques, and a plethora of town pubs, college students would have the balls to increase their booze consumption?  Color me shocked.

As someone who’s now very interested in subscribing to this extremely scientific journal, I just want to alert the editors of a few more studies they might be interested in conducting (but really don’t need to).

Just Discovered: Drunk Students Eat More Pizza than Sober Students
Drunk munchies happen.  Usually around 3AM as the bars are closing and that pizza place across the street is still open.  Two slices with pepperoni and extra cheese sound like a brilliant investment in your health, so you stumble to the counter, place your order, and throw down the $2.50.  For some reason, going through these same motions in broad daylight really doesn’t hold the same appeal (unless it’s post-kegs and eggs on game day).

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It goes without saying that there is an enormous difference between being two doors down from someone and 2,000 miles apart. As junior and senior year of college approach, destinations like Italy and France begin whispering into the ears of undergrads, luring them into the idea of studying abroad.

Going abroad for the semester is full of new sights, new sweets and new stories to tell, but the abroad experience does not have everyone’s name on it.  Some apply for the passport while others just pass all together on the international experience.

But what happens when our friends go abroad without us?

How do we possibly survive when our closest pals board those planes and we are back in the states being red, white and totally blue?

Let’s put those old words into practice and let the distance make our hearts (and friendships) grow stronger through these simple ways to survive the semester apart. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like the ever controversial jeggings!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

The time has come once again to start picking classes for spring semester (really? didn’t we just do this?) and my mind turns to places that won’t be covered in grey slush come January. Places with warm, sunny vistas and boys with sexy accents. In other words, places abroad.

The appeal, of course, of study abroad is distinctly held in the ”abroad” part. It’s a chance to go off and live somewhere exotic, and yet, have the safety net of a very specific purpose and time period (not to mention a built-in group of people who speak your language). With study abroad, you get the chance to soak up a new culture and really be a part of it, instead of the way you rush through on vacations. Plus, you can go to a place you’d never really be able to afford to live in and because of the school, you can make it work. Read More »

Let’s just hope you never have to know how to say this one. Although, from our experiences with guys abroad, this convo is a given.

[Photo courtesy of failblog.org]

If you’re lucky, you’ll be studying abroad this summer instead of taking a load off and “relaxing” (aka being unemployed) or working at Barnes and Noble (which is how my summers typically go). To avoid such occupational plagues, I decided to go to France last summer even though I didn’t really know French and I hate cheese. Nevertheless, I learned a thing or two about our neighbors overseas and being an American on old, foreign soil.

1. Blend in. The problem with studying abroad is that the experience tends to lack authenticity — You go abroad only to find yourself surrounded by more Americans than in America. And these Americans can be fairly “exotic” themselves (in my program there was a tribe of Mormons).

In many cases American students abroad make no bones about their nationality and flaunt it by traveling in large, loud groups, bumping and grinding in discotheques, speaking odd Franglish and buying bottles of champagne by the crate to drink in the streets. My best advice is to stray from the American wolf pack and try to pass as a native. It’s a fun challenge that prompted a man to feel me up on a bus in Paris because he thought I was German. Close enough. Read More »