Did you know that you can have a second home, people that you can call family and have the greatest time of your life so easily? Erasmus is probably an answer to all of your identity crises. It may feel scary at first to live in a totally different country with people you don’t know, it happened to me too. In fact, I was crying and begging my parents not to go. But the excited and enthusiastic girl in me wanted to finally get out of my comfort zone and experience things I can maybe never experience any other time in my life. That’s how I found myself at a small city called Szczecin in Poland!
It was a huge shock to me being in an environment with so many confused young adults came here to accomplish somethings in their life. Meeting them and hearing their stories broadened my perspective of the world. I learned about so many problems of the world that I didn’t even have a clue about. I learned cultures so colourful that brought some light to my life. I had friendships that will last for a lifetime. It was very interesting to live with bunch of people from different countries and have a dinner night while everyone was bringing their own kind of food and cultures. I’m sure you can imagine the laughter and fun. I can say that I truly learnt what humanity is. When you are stuck at something and can’t find your way through certain issues, a French girl that you just met at an ESN event the other day, will help you. Or you help an Italian boy with his school work. Or you dance through the night with a couple of Greek friends and they show you what having fun is. Or when you get sick at Poland and don’t know anybody, your Polish buddy will help you through your sickness. The friendships are solid and true in Erasmus. It may be my favorite part of Erasmus. The people unite through everything.
I had a fear of everything. Doing daily chores and running errands were a big struggle for me. But in Erasmus you have to grind through the fears and live. My social anxiety went away because nobody even cares if you make a mistake! I started talking to people and doing my work relaxed. I had so many friends that I traveled through Europe with, which would’nt happen if Erasmus didn’t raise my confidence up. I adapted into a different education system and succeeded. I truly felt free, strong and happy. I built network around the world and had some of my questions about the future cleared. There is immaculate amount of pros of Erasmus that I can write about hours but I think you got the point.
Whether you want to see other worlds, learn new things, or you are just there to have an experience and have some fun. Erasmus is your path. Erasmus is the path.
Written by Duru Sepçi
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