student life

5 reasons Erasmus is the best

Erasmus is a great thing from start to end, it gives you the chance to boast about your time abroad even a month after you arrive home from it. The thought of anyone given this opportunity and turning it down is doing it all wrong. My time abroad in the beautiful country of Malta was the best of my life so far, and I’m so sad I’m back in miserable England. Here’s a few reasons why Erasmus is the ‘bomb’.

Friends for life

Yeah, blah blah friends for life. People say that all the time, like when you leave school at the age of 16, start university and graduate. But before Erasmus, I never really knew what friends for life was until I knew the moment I waved goodbye to the amazing people I lived with for six months. I met a lot of people while in Malta as we all lived in the university’s halls of residence, but the people in my flat made my experience extra special. It also makes leaving a lot harder when you fly back to England and you know your best friends will be flying back to Canada and America. It’s so hard trying to speak to them when some of them are 10 hours behind you. But cherish the friends you make while studying abroad, you’ll have a lot of crazily good memories with them!

 

Travelling becomes more acceptable 

Who said travelling was only for uni holidays? While on Erasmus, you can hop on a plane on a Friday and be back on a Monday ready for your week at uni. Also, the lecturers in Malta weren’t half as strict as those back in Sheffield, allowing for so many of us to travel to Italy and other countries so easily, flights are also super cheap! What more could you want? days off uni, exploring a new country with your best friends and really living that Erasmus life.

Leaving the house isn’t a chore

Depending on where you study, leaving the house isn’t a chore at all. (Well it shouldn’t be no matter where you go as you won’t be in miserable rainy England. In Malta, the temperature in January was around 16 degrees, so even then it was a pleasure to be outside knowing my friends and family back home were in temperatures just above freezing. Knowing that you’re not going to be living in your chosen country forever somewhat sets some frenzy on you, thinking that you always need to go outside and explore! Take in the beauty of the country!

Money 

I’m not 100% sure if this will be the case in a few years time once we leave the European Union, Erasmus allows you to receive money from the government and the EU just for going to live and study abroad! How cool is that? It depends on where you go etc, but it should be around 1000 euros, could be more, could be less. This is there to support your time living abroad, so for a student who has student finance, it’s an opportunity to go out and have as much fun during your time abroad! Spend it wisely and make sure you capture some amazing memories.

The memories 

You chose to study abroad, make the most of it! Culture shock will kick in very quickly and you’ll probably feel down for quite a while, but it’s worth it and you learn to fight through it. Your time abroad will be something very hard for words to describe, I still struggle to write or even say what my experience was like as it was so life changing and I still get super emotional talking about it as I miss the Malta days so much. It comes to something when you have to skip certain songs on your spotify as they remind you too much of beach and boat parties in Malta. Studying abroad and Erasmus are amazing!

 

Think twice before you think of turning down an offer to study abroad, it’s such a life changing experience and something I’ll always look back on and wish I could spend just one more week of the best six months of my life.

Studied abroad through Erasmus or thinking about it? Let us know in the comments below!