Studying abroad is expensive. It’s a cruel fact. I went to a country that has a slightly favorable exchange rate ($1 = $1.10-1.18AU, it depends on the day) and it’s still sucking me dry. Beer at a decent bar $6-8AU. Pretty bad.
Although you could say that’s an extreme example since alcohol and tobacco are taxed much more harshly than in the states. A pack of smokes will run you about $15AU, according to a friend who has not coincidentally quit smoking recently. Oh, and the cigarettes are kept in cabinets behind convenience and liquor (same thing to some) store counters, locked, and reading only “Smoking Kills: Call the Quitline at…” It’s just tobacco.
I am in a city and it’s reasonable to expect things to be pricier here than in the country. Nothing is cheap in New York City, why would Sydney be any different? Want a decent meal? $10AU at least. There are little quirks here and there though. One example that makes me a little bitter is how bus passes work. If you need to get around the city without a car (any real human being), you need to take the bus. The best bang for your buck is a “Travelten” pass which is exactly what it sounds like. You get ten bus rides per pass. Normally, these cost $26AU, which seems like a lot to me. University students get 50% off though, so $13AU. Awesome, right? Well, not unless you’re a study abroad student, because the discount doesn’t apply to you. Your student ID requires some sort of sticker to actually qualify for the discount. You can lie to a lazier convenience store clerk and probably get the discount but if your caught by a bus inspector, it’s a $200AU fine. Although even seeing a bus inspector is supposed to be a mythical or non event. Still, we’re students in an Australian university. C’mon.
Want to go to the gym? $65AU per month for a bronze membership. $170AU for 3 months. Oh, bronze doesn’t allow you to use the pool or take any of the fitness classes. $220AU if you want the pool and the classes, I think. you might have to pay more to get those, the website is unclear. If you get both of those with silver, I have no idea what you get if you buy gold. I imagine steroids or a kangaroo to box with. Back in Redlands there’s a gym (that may actually be slightly nicer) that’s free. Just walk in with a student ID. That’s it.
Then you have the costs associated with being a study abroad student. Traveling around to all those cool sites can get pricey. My bank account KNOWS I’m going to New Zealand. I am excited.
Even the internet costs money per megabyte sent/received. Youtube and Skype will destroy your internet credit. It’s destroyed mine. Granted, I could wander to McDonald’s for free internet, but free is better.
It’s all worth it. It’s a major life experience, how could you argue with that? Life isn’t about always about money, and there’s still more to pay.
Culture shock is a psychological disorder. It’s in the DSM. Seriously. My study abroad program orientation presented us with a graph that I cannot track down on Google images so I have to explain it. 10 is awesome, 0 is terrible, that’ll be the scale. You fly in at 9, drop to 8 while you get used to things and then shoot up to 10 once you get past the jetlag Everything is new and amazing. Then the novelty fades. You drop to 3. Then you climb back to 8 or 9 as you get the hang of things. Then you drop again to 1 or 2. Then you climb back to 9 and then 10 right before you leave because you’re excited to see all of those people you miss and visit your favorite fast food place. Nobody expects the return culture shock, which is often worse than the initial culture shock. Life is funny like that. You drop to 3 again before returning to whatever you normally are in life. If you study abroad, you better be ready to cope when you bottom out and know how to ride those highs as long as you can.
I’m fortunate that I chose Australia because almost half of my time here is during my summer break (a con is that your summer is cut short, but it gets made up to you. Promise.), meaning, I get back in November and can harass my friends at school while I’m on an extended winter break. You see, when I’m at home in America, I live within driving distance of my university so I can just pop in and bother my friends at my leisure. Still, I’m not seeing those people for a long time and a lot of things can change. Not can, will. The end of my freshman year was way different from the start of my sophomore year, and that was just a summer break. Nothing is static they say. Will my group of friends hold together, fall apart, fragment, transform, or some combination of those things? Will I be able to fit back in or will I have to start over, maybe from scratch? Time will tell. I know the life I had a little more than two months ago is dead. Gone. It’s never gonna be like that again. Ever. No matter what. That isn’t to say things will be bad, they’ll work out well enough. Some things will just be different.
I read somewhere (who can remember where?) that the things that are the same can be devastating. You’ve had a major life experience. You’ve changed. Some people (I imagine my parents when I think about this aspect of study abroad) will be exactly the same. They’ve been plugging away at the same old things while you’ve been gone, and they’re gonna keep on plugging away once you get back. Point being, you’ll be different so it doesn’t really matter if the people you care about are or not. You being different is a common denominator and you’ll probably have to relearn how to interact with some of those people. I’m pretty sure I will.
Finally, good luck to those studying abroad with a love interest back home. It would be stupid to go abroad with a girlfriend. I never said I was a smart person. I don’t want to get all self-indulgent here about how much I miss this girl. We didn’t date for that long before I skipped town, which probably means I’m dumber than I previously thought. That’s what I’d think of someone who told me they were gonna do what I’m doing. You have to prepare for the talks.
I left the country in an “open relationship” meaning I couldn’t get in trouble for drunken make outs (she couldn’t get in trouble for them either). A week or two goes by and it’s time to reevaluate. Things don’t feel too “open” and we both feel a sort of “pressure” which could potentially destroy the relationship. We want to be together when I get back. We’re compatible. That’s not something I can say about the vast majority of the girls I’ve met. A friend of mine said we should’ve waited until I got back, which is extraordinarily reasonable. I think we (the girl and I) had some doubts about that working out though. Or maybe just I did. We need some kind of tether so we don’t drift apart. A lot can change. Like I said, we reevaluate. Switch gears from “open relationship that doesn’t feel open” to “dating but not exclusively,” meaning, we’re together but we can see other people and do essentially anything we want without repercussions (probably). I tend to be an all or nothing kind of guy so this was all very new and strange to me. Sometimes unsettling. I get used to it after an emotional day or two. We have some amazing conversations and despite the fact that we can’t hold hands or watch a movie together or anything but talk, we still feel close. The arrangement doesn’t feel nearly as open as it originally did, but we’re okay because we’re happy we have the other person. Ideally that’ll last.
There are a few ways this could all go. Things work out, no one feels guilty, and I come back home to a great girl who’s closer to me now than when I left and everything is peachy. There could be a fight or guilt or a misunderstanding but we get through it and everything is peachy. We could get into a fight, cut our ties a bit and see how it goes when I get back. We could fight and hate each other forever. We could become trapped in long distance relationship, not knowing how to interact face to face any more. All those compliments in those love notes have to be verbalized daily instead of written out and the spoken word might be cheaper than the written word. There are probably a million other possibilities, good and bad. I’m gonna end up with one of them. Was that indulgent enough?
This blog makes study abroad sound pretty rough. It is. You’re uprooting your life and starting fresh in a place you don’t really understand. That’s the point. It’s still fun and amazing, I’ve just written this as a reminder. You’ll get a lot out of studying abroad, but there’ll be some cost to you, financial and otherwise.
