A lot of times looking at people's adventures abroad, it is easy to get sucked into how much fun it looks or how happy they look to be "living their best life". Trust me, I do the same thing. I post on social media and it is often a highlight reel of my life. I am so grateful to be living in Copenhagen, I am happy most of the time, and looking back I know many of these experiences have already proven to be invaluable. However, I also think it is important to write about the hard times that come with studying abroad: culture shock, home sickness and mental health.
When first arriving in Copenhagen, everything was so new I hardly had time to process. I was so excited! But after that initial excitement, came the feeling of what did I just do? Everything that was different started glaring down at me and I was beside myself. The differences started piling up, and I often found myself feeling out of place. After taking some moments to take it all in again and when school started and I was more busy this shock started to fade away. The grocery stores and the area felt more normal and because of it, I felt more comfortable.
The next wave came with home sickness. The weather started to get a little colder and rainier and I would find myself day dreaming about being in the warmth or going to the beach/on hikes. I missed my family, friends and my dogs. This feeling again started to become overwhelming and was definitely not a highlight.
It was after this second wave that I knew I had to pay more attention to my mental health and try to look towards ways of growing personally. To do this I took the advice of a friend and started journaling. Everyone has different ways of working towards positive mental health but if you need a recommendation, journaling has helped me tremendously. Something about writing down my thoughts to reflect on them and figure out more about why I am feeling the way I do has really helped. Another thing that helped me, was talking to others about how I was feeling. I learned a lot of my friends here were going through the same problems I was and it felt good for all of us to be able to relate to and support each other.
Comments