During my 3rd year at Leeds, I was lucky enough to move my life over to the sunny state of California for an unforgettable year of road trips, beach bonfires, and American’s making me pronounce the word ‘Aluminum’ in my funny British accent. Here are some of the things I learnt about studying abroad in the states:
- My first and arguably most important point- they don’t have kettles.
This blew my mind. If you are an enthusiastic tea drinker, prepare yourself for a year heating up water on the stove like it’s 1890. Also, your chances of finding Tetleys Tea in an American grocery store are slim to none, so you might want to pack some with you before you go.
- You will make friends.
In fact your funny accent will make it almost impossible not to.
- If you are living on campus, be prepared to share a room.
I was blessed with an angel of a roommate who didn’t mind my snoring (it’s bad) but I know others that weren’t so fortunate.
- 7AM CLASSES ARE A THING.
As ungodly as they sound, they are pretty standard and you’ll get used to them.
- The drinking age is 21
and bars are very strict about this. Surprisingly, bouncers do not react well to you drunkenly slurring ‘we can drink in the UK at 18, you know’.
- Make friends with frat boys.
They throw good parties.
- Make the most of the year round sun, and winter snow
by Visiting Big Bear and Mammoth mountain- learning to snowboard was a massive highlight for me. If you plan on doing this, pack clothes for both climates.
- It is hard to get around without a car.
I can’t drive but luckily, everyone else in America can so this didn’t prove to be much of an issue. However, with everything being so spaced out, there was no quickly popping to the shops. Prepare to plan your weekly grocery shops with meticulous precision.
- SAVINGS.
You want to have extra money for travelling- Hawaii has never been so close!
- You will also need a portion of these savings for your textbooks.
I could not believe it when I had to fork out almost $500 on books in my first semester. I quickly learnt in time for the second semester that there are websites where you can rent these for a small fraction of the price (the one I used was www.chegg.com).
- The way they do uni is very different.
Rather than specialising straight away, students are encouraged to try out a range of different subjects in their first few years- so have fun with it. Each home university will have different requirements but for Leeds, I had to take 70% Psychology classes. This meant that I had 30% free to explore the weird and wonderful classes they had on offer. I had one class where we practiced yoga every morning with 0 assignments, you just had to show up. Other honorable mentions include: Hip-Hop 1 (DNCE 203) where I felt like part of the Step Up cast, and Elements of Cinema (FMST 300) where we watched a different classic movie in almost every lesson.
- Don’t sweat over your exams.
This may seem ill-advised, but based on my experience only, I really wouldn’t stress over them. My year was pass/fail (yours may be different) meaning that the letter grade did not matter as long as you passed. This removed the pressure that most universities insist on crippling students with, and left more time for having fun- which is the main purpose of your year abroad, right?
- The way you speak might change.
Now I’m not saying you’ll come home with a fully fledged American accent, but you might pick up small things and your friends back home will take the piss. I will never forget the horror when I accidentally said frozen ‘yo-gurt’ instead of ‘yog-urt’.
- If you have the choice, do the full year.
A handful of students I met opted to study abroad for 6 months rather than the full year and every one of them said it didn’t feel like enough time. Many felt frustrated having to leave after the first semester, just as it was starting to feel like home. For me, even a year felt too short.
- Reverse culture shock.
Everyone prepares you for initial culture shock, but one thing they don’t talk much about is reverse culture shock. One memory springs to mind of the day after I returned back to london. I was sitting on the tube and naturally, was beaming a smile at my fellow central line commuters. It then dawned on me that I must look like a complete maniac to the straight-faced Londoners who refused to crack a smile back. I had become so accustomed to the American way of life, which often involved smiling and greeting passers-by, that the lack of reciprocity took me by surprise. Adjusting to life back home can be surprisingly difficult once you get over the excitement of being reunited with your friends and family. There is something unsettling about saying goodbye to the free spirit of living abroad and travelling, and slotting right back into your normal life.
- Dealing with it.
Yes, you will feel nostalgic looking through your instagram highlights for the hundredth time. And you might hear a song that brings back all the memories of the life you once lived, but there are a number of practical things you can do to keep yourself from wallowing in your post-year abroad blues:
- Stay in touch with the new friends that you have made. I’ve loved sharing my culture with my American friends that have since come to visit London (trying Nandos was on their bucket list… and rightly so).
- Reminisce with your travel buddies. To avoid being that dickhead that just has to mention their year in California in every conversation (that might have been me for a while), save it mostly for trips down memory lane with the ones you experienced it with.
- Share your experience in a fun way- for Hannah, this took the form of an impressively detailed scrapbook. For me, it’s blog writing. Honestly, whatever cathartic activity floats your boat.
- Keep travelling. Someone gave me this advice a couple of years ago and it stuck: once you start travelling you catch the bug, and the only way to fix it is to keep travelling.
- For tips specifically for California State University San Marcos (CSUSM)
