Student Blogs/Jessica in Austria
Whenever you’re preparing for a year abroad, people will always tell you the third month is the worst month and the period when you will be the most homesick. While I was preparing for my year abroad, I was trying to mentally prepare myself for this by thinking things like, “Yeah, but they’re not me. This will be a breeze.” But then a month ago, I hit the slump!
During this phase most people, myself included, experience very high levels of happiness and fall in love with their new home. Everything I saw in Vienna was amazing! The people I met were fantastic and the food, of course, was out of this world. I was doing everything I could to see as much of the city as possible with new friends and try every new food in sight. School hadn’t really started yet, so I had a lot of free time on my hands for these adventures and to plan upcoming ones. I couldn’t imagine loving my experience more or coming to the point where I might dislike this beautiful city.
At the end of October, my boyfriend came to visit me in Vienna for a week. It was right at the end of the two-month mark for me, so I hadn’t yet come to the three-month "slump" that everyone kept warning me about. It was great to have him here and we were able to do a lot of sight seeing in both Vienna and Cracow. It was really great, but the week flew by so fast and then I found myself back in the airport watching him head back to Canada.
Once he left Vienna, I found myself in the slump. I was homesick and I had a hard time going out with friends because all I wanted to do was sit in my room, eat junk food, and watch How I Met Your Mother. I didn’t feel happy going to school, visiting friends or really anything else that I loved doing before the visit. I wasn’t sure how to go back to loving Vienna.
I wasn’t really sure what to do to get over the slump until I spoke with a few friends about how I was feeling. As it turns out, they were going through the same thing! Their boyfriends had also visited them recently, so they were going through the slump too. We were able to really open up to each other and decided that the best way to get through this was to do it together! We had low-key hangouts where we would make pancakes and watch a movie. It really helped having others around who were going through the same thing as me.
My recommendation to anyone who is going abroad (or is already abroad) is to take your time getting through it all and open up to some of the friends you’ve made because they are probably going through the same thing! By surrounding yourself with friends in a similar situation, you will be helping each other and will begin to love being abroad again! Of course, you’ve earned a few days to relax with junk food and movies, but too long and it will only make the slump longer and harder to get through.
I’ve been living in Vienna for over three months now and the slump is no where in sight! I can’t believe that it’s December and I’m already over a quarter of the way through my year abroad. I’m loving living here again and I’m back to going out with friends to pubs, cafes, and to the many Christmas markets that Vienna has to offer!