International student studying Finance in Marseille, France

Personal challenges

Finding an apartment in a foreign country seemed at first problematic, especially getting a good central location, without any help from the host institution. Eventually I managed to find what I was looking for, however upon arrival I had to realize that the place I agreed to rent out was in a district with by far the highest crime rate (but in the center, I thought to myself). Erasmus Exchange is often connected with heavy partying or to say the least, most students consider the available party opportunities when weighing the pros and cons of participating in an international exchange. With this preconception in mind, I was a bit afraid of being left out, because I am not that outgoing and sociable person. That is further connected with the potential problem of how I was going to spend my free time abroad. I had been playing tennis for a while back home, but on my exchange semester I had no one to play with, and that left major hole on my timetable – and personality, or at least I perceived it that way.

Personal takeaways

The manager of my student residence turned out to be a very helpful person. She helped me out during my first days with adapting to the new place (and new reality) and she connected me with fellow international students so I had some company. Living in “danger zone” also proved to be less problematic than expected, however the pile of dirt on the streets, rats were aching reminders of the fact that I did not collect more information on the district where I was going to live for months. At least it was safe, rent and food were the cheapest in the city, so I can’t complain about that. I recommend future international students to do a thorough research about where they will live and be suspicious: if it is much cheaper than the average rent price in the city, think about why is that. For instance it can easily be a false advertisement, a crime abundant district, no furniture, agency fee or deposit included (yet)! About the social fears: I made friends with a few people and we spent most of our time together during the whole exchange period: we explored the city and surroundings. Although I did not play tennis for 4 months, traveling with newly made friends seemed to be a satisfying alternative. Also, I started training in the local beach, that was a decent substitute to preserve my shape. As a modest compensation for not playing tennis abroad, I went to Paris for a weekend to see the semifinals and the final of the ATP tournament. Seeing tennis stars playing (Djokovic and Murray) was an amazing moment in my life abroad!

Academic challenges

I left my home university in the final year of my master degree, so during my semester abroad I had to write my thesis and at the end of the exchange I had to pass my final exams back home. I knew it was going to be a possible difficulty, but I deemed that studying abroad was worth the pain. Another academic concern was that in Poland I was studying in Polish the whole time (except for 1-2 English courses), so I was unsure about how I was going to cope with business English.

Academic takeaways

I passed every exam after coming back from my exchange, because I managed to collect all notes from friends from my home university. Business English proved to be less challenging on the courses I took - I even accredited one course that I passed in France – that was a huge relief. On the other hand, thesis writing abroad turned out to be a lot harder. As a matter of fact I didn’t even try to start it during my exchange in France: even when I would have had the time to do so, I simply decided to spend my time differently. I realized that it was a one-time experience, so I shouldn’t waste my time on reading through case studies, when I had so much to explore abroad. I dealt with my thesis when I got back home. Everyone can decide what is more important for him or her, but my advice is that you should not be afraid to change plans if you realize what is best for you. I could have picked harder, more demanding courses. That way I would have had more challenges, though surely I would have spent more time in the library. Maybe I should have done that, but all things considered, I wouldn’t trade my exchange experience for anything.