If you’ve ever discussed traveling abroad, you’ve undoubtedly heard about culture shock. Adjusting to a new culture, new foods, new language or slang– new everything, really– can be extremely difficult. The more different the cultures, the more of a shock you get when you travel. For example, when I first went to the UK, the differences were fairly small, so […]
Reverse Culture Shock: The Adjustment They Don’t Prepare You For
Could’ve Used a Christmas Miracle
I’ve mentioned in other posts that something goes wrong on every single one of the trips I make. Sometimes it’s just little things like traffic delays or train maintenance. Other times, it’s much, much worse. And when you’re traveling internationally– especially solo– you really don’t want to deal with that. I’d hoped that my first solo trip would go well. […]
The Little Things That Add Up
Culture shock can absolutely ruin a trip, or at least the beginning of it. It can make moving to a new culture difficult, and it takes time to overcome. Some places will be easier to adjust to than others. It just depends on how similar the cultures are. Coming from the U.S., the UK wasn’t much of a culture shock. […]
An Anxious Passenger’s Guide to British Public Transport
One big difference between the U.S. and the UK is the use of public transport. In the U.S., we really don’t use public transport that much. Maybe in some parts of the country, but not as a whole. In my experience, using public transport seems to require driving to said transport, and at that point, you might as well just […]
Beauty by the Sea: How to Spend a Trip to Aberystwyth, Wales
While I admit I haven’t been to many parts of the world yet, I don’t imagine how many places could be more beautiful than Aberystwyth, Wales. I know, big, scary Welsh word. It’s pronounced (Ah–burr–rist–with), and it means ‘Mouth of the River Ystwyth’, one of the rivers in town. Aberystwyth is a town in mid-Wales, along the coast. It’s absolutely […]
An American Student’s Guide to UCAS
If, as an American student, you decide to study in the UK, you will almost undoubtedly encounter the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) application. It’s essentially the British version of the Common App. It’s pretty straightforward, but it’s not written for international students. Differences in terminology and some parts of the application can make the UCAS difficult and confusing […]
Omani Weddings
Oman is a beautiful country full of amazing, funny, hospitable people. I was able to spend a month there with a friend (regrettably, it was over the summer and during a heat wave), and I loved it. On the flip side, if you’re coming from the West (and/or you don’t speak Arabic), it can be really anxiety inducing. As great […]
The First Nightmare
Sometimes trips go wrong. Mine go like this… I’ve been making international trips since I started uni (college, for my fellow Americans) a year and a half ago. It’s always really anxiety-provoking, and I get super stressed out. It doesn’t help that something has gone wrong on every single one of my trips. Whether it be getting stranded in an […]
Why Study Abroad?
It’s a big decision and bigger adventure. Is it for you? Where do you want to go to college? This question probably isn’t new for most American students. What comes to mind when you hear it? An Ivy League school? A state college? A military college? A party school? Or maybe just the cheapest college you can find? […]