UCLL Leuven, Belgium

In today's post I will start with an incredibly strong and valuable concept - friendship. Thanks to my semester abroad I could and was allowed to once again experience very intensively what friendship means and how important friendship is to feel comfortable and safe. 

Living abroad can be a big challenge for a few people. Fortunately, I was able to cope with all the changes and new impressions right from the start, and yet every now and then one struggles with big and small things. My experience in retrospect: Friends are the key to success here. Because friends make everything easier - because they take you by the hand and let you float. You never know what awaits you on this exciting journey. That's why I recommend to all Erasmus students to invest in a good network right at the beginning. This way you can make sure that you will be able to cope with the down phases, which are part of it (just because you now are living abroad doesn't mean that your life will be free of problems for half a year ;-)), will be mastered well. Friends will help you. And even if everyone is feeling lost, at least you can relate. Believe me, this is much less bad from a psychological perspective than feeling lost on your own. Always remember, especially when you make friends with other internationals - you are all sitting in the same boat.

My experience in retrospect: Friends are the key to success here. Because friends make everything easier - because they take you by the hand and let you float.

To give you an insight into how it all turned out for me, let's rewind to February, even though no one wants to think about missing the sun right now. My lucky break was the International Welcome Days! 

From the moment you have decided that you want to go to one of the Erasmus countries, keep your eyes open! Keep your eyes open for ESN. ESN stands for Erasmus Student Network and is one of the largest student organizations in Europe. In over 40 countries, local organizations are working hard making your exchange as diverse, adventurous, and memorable as possible. First and foremost, make contacts, find friends, and create memories together. The Welcome Days were organized by our university in cooperation with ESN. In addition, many other student initiatives offered a program, which is why it was possible to network directly with them in order to stay up-to-date for further events. Our Welcome Days took place one week before the official start of the semester from February 6 to 12. As you move from one program item to another, you may not even realize it right away, but my future self can now say that this week was the best start ever. As valuable as Welcome Days are, they can quickly overwhelm and exhaust. So always have a spare social battery with you in case one runs out.

Long story short: Welcome events are a warm recommendation to get to know the companions of your further journey. So, when choosing your country, keep an eye out to see if your university offers such events and if you can count on an active local ESN organization. Tip at this point: There is an ESN-card that you can have issued and thus get all the discounts and benefits.

If you have the opportunity, it is of course cool to have both international friends and locals. My experience with the latter is that it tends to be a bit more difficult to make contacts because they are already in existing friend groups and simply don't need to rely on them, compared to the Erasmus students. Even though I have a lot of contact with my Belgian roommates, the bond with my Erasmus friendships is stronger. The bond that holds together this beautiful, colorful bouquet of nationalities. Among them is Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Croatia, Italy and France. A true enrichment, because... true friends have the ability to give you a home anywhere in the world.

With that being said, why not say "thank you" to all your dear friends, for a home, wherever you are. And with this I say goodbye to you from my thought paradise and say...

... Tschöwen aus Löwen!