Going on Erasmus+ is worth it, but here’s what to be aware of. (2024)

Back in September 2018, in the final year of my master’s studies, I moved for five months to France within the EU programme Erasmus+, Europe’s most popular way of studying abroad. Does the idea of studying in a foreign country sound cool but frightening at the same time? You’re definitely not the only one who’s uncomfortable with the idea of moving alone to a distant country, leaving your friends and family behind. The paperwork can be discouraging as well. I get you, I’ve been there and all the things to do were making me anxious. As I went through it all, I prepared a short series about my Erasmus+ stay, so that you get an insight and see that it’s all easier than it seems.

To be honest, I didn’t want to go. I was scared of all sorts of things — I’ll have to submit tons of papers. I won’t find a nice accommodation. I won’t go on well with my classmates. Simply said, I was scared of a big step into the unknown. That’s completely normal. Eventually, the papers were not such a deal, I found my accommodation in one afternoon and practically all of my classmates were really nice and helpful. Don’t worry. It will all get sorted out.

So what was my motivation to leave despite all these (eventually false) reasons? My parents always encouraged me to go abroad to learn new things and gain experience. Secondly, let’s be a bit pragmatic, Erasmus+ stay looks good in a CV. It can be the one thing that gives you a competitive advantage over other job applicants. Not just because of studying abroad — by undergoing Erasmus+, you prove to your employer you are able to live in a foreign country for several months with all the challenges. And finally, I like traveling (who doesn’t, right?) and discovering new places really fulfills me.

The choice was pretty simple. I studied French at a bilingual high school, so luckily enough, I was used to lessons in French, I have a good vocabulary basis and I wanted to make use of all that. Usually, if you choose a country with a less spoken language, the universities create a special curriculum in English just for the Erasmus+ students, which has a different structure and you don’t get in touch with the locals so much. Besides, if you apply for a school with a different teaching language than English there may be a bigger chance of getting accepted to the Erasmus+ programme.
My school had only two francophone contracts in my field — Lille (France) and Leuven (Belgium) so I wasn’t torn between too many options. Finally, I decided to go to Lille, because it has an excellent starting position for many trips. The one million metropole is situated on the very north of France, just on the borders with Belgium. By train, it takes 1 hour to Paris, 35 minutes to Brussels, 160 minutes to Amsterdam, 80 minutes to London and 1 hour to the coast.

Let me start with one big pro. If you get accepted, the EU provides a monthly scholarship, which covers usually 1/3 to ½ of the expenses. Sure, sometimes it’s not enough to even pay the rent, but still, I find this really encourages people to try out this adventure. Currently, you may receive from 480 to 750 € per month depending on the destination. Back in 2018/19 when I went to France, I got 450 €. I’ll describe the costs further in another article.

Erasmus+ has different assets for every student. It can be either the experience of living in a different country, finding lots of new friends or learning a new language. Erasmus+ is usually presented as one big party, but what I appreciate the most is that I could travel to so many different places. I went to the French coast, to Paris, I explored other towns in northern France, I also went to Belgium, Netherlands and as a cherry on the cake, I spent a couple of days in London.

I’m also grateful I could experience the French education system, which was sometimes challenging, I admit, but I was happy I could participate in kind of seminars and workshops that don’t exist in my school.

Sure, there were plenty of cons as well. I was 1000 km away from home, so it would be quite demanding financially and timewise to go back for a weekend or a short holiday. And at the same time I wanted to make the most out of my time in France, so I returned home only for Christmas. Even though I am quite introverted and I like to be on my own, the loneliness was probably the hardest aspect of the whole thing. The first day, when I finally arrived at my accommodation, I remember I just sat on the bed and I started crying. I felt like a repotted plant with no prospect of seeing my family and friends any time soon. During the five months, my mom and my partner came to visit me, but it was really challenging to cope with the fact they were not with me on days when I felt like no one in school understood my point of view.

That’s another thing, that can happen — you come from a certain educational background and you may have a different approach or mindset in your field. I was looking forward to gaining a new refreshing angle, but in one subject, my way of thinking totally collided with the opinion of the rest of the team and I failed to explain to them that their solution had a lot of fundamental flaws. For a while, I felt really down and misunderstood, but luckily one other person shared my perspective, we formed a sort of subteam and we managed to work separately from the others. Thanks, Louise ❤

So yes, sometimes there can be a cultural shock or a personality clash that would probably never happen back home. And despite the possibility of calling anyone anytime thanks to the internet, it’s difficult to be separated from your loved ones. Nevertheless, it’s worth going! If you have the means, it would be a pity not to go, in 10 years latest, you’d regret it. For me, it was almost imperative, as I’m from a post-communist country and my parents didn’t have an opportunity in their early twenties.

BTW, you don’t have to choose Erasmus+, that’s just the most known study stay programme, but there are many more options — you can on a stay from one week to several years! But we will talk about that another time…

And what about you, have you ever been on international study stay? What was your experience? Or if you’d like to go, what are your expectations?
I’d love to hear your stories in the comments!