Doing an internship abroad or any international experience for that matter will take you through a few processes that may change you as a person. During my foundation year, studying in Amsterdam, I followed a course called Cross Cultural Analysis. In these first few lectures we discussed some phases you experience when going abroad for a longer period.
Phase one: Adapting.
Entering a complete new world, most probably alone, and not knowing what to expect is interesting enough. During the first few days you feel isolated and you do not spend much time interacting with people. You do not have an understanding of the culture plus you miss friends and family so in comparison to your old life, all of a sudden you do not have much to do.
All of this are
symptoms of a silent killer that goes by the name of “Homesickness”.
There is just one remedy for this and that is possessing the
characteristic of endurance. You just need to sit this one out,
that’s all, and everything will get better!
Phase
two: Settled.
At a specific point in
time, depending on the kind of person, you will start making friends.
From this point forward
your world lighten up and against feelings you had at the beginning
you are having fun. In this the phase you will stay the longest and
that is the beauty of the international experience. Gaining a better
understanding of another person's culture, making more friends,
improving your language skills, and becoming more independent will let
you realize that you have seen so little of the world.
The moment that you have to say goodbye to the place you like so much now. Having to leave but the fact is, you do not want to. Of course it is great to go back home and to see the people you had to miss for such a long time but your feelings have become controversial...
When going home you definitely will be a different person with an experience that no one can take away from you!
At this moment I am in the settled phase and I say follow my blog to find out how I experience all of this!
To be continued...