Don’t be scared of challenging yourself!

“Of course! Go! It will be a great experience for you”, everyone I confided my
desire to go to Erasmus told me enthusiastically. Despite the fact that several times during the
process of arranging everything, I felt like cancelling and putting it all behind me…I’m here.
283 miles away from home, learning what it’s like to live alone in a foreign country. I had
originally applied to university in Lithuania, but circumstances have changed things and I’ve
been shuttling between the Croatian towns of Varaždin and Koprivnica for a month now. I’ve
swapped the north of Europe for the north of Croatia and therefore University North. North as
North.

But what is this Erasmus? Specifically, Erasmus+ is an international programme providing
students, teachers, athletes and researchers with the opportunity to study abroad on a paid
basis. This opportunity is only available to students from European Union member states plus
the following six countries: Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and
Turkey. I personally came across this programme when I was a student in primary school. Not
that I took advantage of it then, I had just heard about it. To tell you the truth, I really liked the
idea of going abroad to study. Even back then, I dreamed of traveling the world and
experiencing many countries firsthand once I was “big”. However, my traveling shoes weren’t
used very often, so I put everything off until I was an adult. Now I am at university. Suddenly
everything started to turn for the better and I started to look for those traveling shoes again.

Before I applied for Erasmus myself, I had heard quite a bit about it from my friends who had
already been there. I learned from a friend who was on Erasmus in Spain, that some schools
require knowledge of their language in order for a student to study there. She was also
familiar with the teaching in Spanish and the exams at her home university. Honestly, this is
one of those intimidating examples. Why should the school “punish” me with more exams
when I chose to do more for my studies than my classmates who stayed at home? I have
found that there are many universities that do not give students credit for courses taken at the
visiting university, even if they are properly graded for them, and in short, they have to
complete the exams on alternate dates when they get home. I have heard a lot about students
being given problems by the teachers themselves in these make-up exams, and often students
have had their studies at their home university extended because of Erasmus.

Students with a similar experience understandably began to regret going anywhere at all because it made their studies more difficult. Personally, I was quite worried about this when filling in the application form. I found it pointless to spend half a year in a foreign country, far from home, going to school there, even learning subjects in a foreign language, when then I still have to catch up on exams in subjects I’ve never been to. I think this is the main problem why many universities are calling for more students to apply for Erasmus+. However, it is very much up to the university how it organizes the running of the programme. Recognition of courses and effective promotion of Erasmus is also key.

After filling out the online application, we received an email with a schedule for individual
interviews. It was a selection process, where they assessed the level of English language skills
and the reasons why they should choose us. Basically, it was a very short interview with two
members of the selection committee and our faculty Erasmus coordinator. Each of the
applicants had to introduce themselves, say something about themselves and then the
committee asked why we wanted to use the Erasmus+ programme and some more questions.
Of course, the whole interview was in English. About two weeks later we were sent the
results of who was selected for Erasmus, who was selected as an alternate and who did not
meet the conditions. I was selected as an alternate for the university in Lithuania. This meant
that I would only be approached to go to Lithuania if a place became available. However, at
the same time I was offered an alternative. As I fulfilled the criteria, I could choose from
universities that were not fully or not at all occupied. The list was already much smaller and I
had to consider that the school would teach my field of study. In the end, University North in
Koprivnica, Croatia, appealed to me the most. I had never been to Croatia before and I told
myself that: „Why not?“ Maybe it isn’t next to the sea but north of Croatia, inland, could be
also very nice. There was one more bonus when choosing the destination. Croatian is one of
the Slavic languages, so I thought that maybe I would be able to understand at least a little bit
of people who didn’t know English. Last but not least, I wanted to finally travel and I actually
kind of didn’t care where I was going. Once I was accepted, it would be a shame not to take
the chance.

Another thing that nobody told me before is that all the subjects are in Croatian. Luckily, I
will take my exams in English, but it’s still a shame that I won’t take much away from the
classical lectures. I’ve been told that I don’t really need to go to the lectures, as I don’t
understand the language they are given in. But some days I do go. For subjects where I need
to learn practical skills in order to be able to do the work to pass the course at all. Actually,
this has given me the space to explore the city and the country, which I try to take advantage
of, but I take my responsibilities to universities, both visiting and home, very responsibly.

I’ve heard of people who come to Erasmus primarily just to have fun. However, going to parties
and sport drinking alcohol is not my thing, and I actually enjoy my time spent academically at
university. I also try to do different activities to keep my body and mind occupied.

In addition to feelings of loneliness, students have to deal with several obligations to the
country they have come to once they arrive at Erasmus. These obligations are probably
different in each country, but speaking from personal experience, it was an interesting process.
First I needed to go to the office to get my personal number, which here in Croatia is called
OIB. Then I needed to get a student card and the next day I had to take some documents to the
police to be registered as a temporary Croatian citizen. This step would not have been
necessary if I had not stayed here for more than three months. The Erasmus coordinator from
the host university introduced me to the whole procedure and I am very grateful for her help.
In the end, all the paperwork wasn’t as terrible as I had feared, and I was left with nothing but
a sense of pride in myself for having handled it so well. It’s only been a month since I’ve been
here, but I already know that there are definitely more pros than cons to this placement. I will
improve my English language skills, even the Croatian ones, I will get to know a new country,
the culture, how people live here and most importantly I will learn a lot. I don’t just mean
knowledge from school, but also how to live on my own, to rely on myself and not to depend
on others. That was more or less my intention. To make my own regimen for life, to take care
of myself, to finally organize my thoughts about what I want to achieve in life, how, and
decide what is important to me. Another big bonus is that students receive grants, so this
semester abroad trip won’t hurt my parents’ wallet, and students don’t have to worry about
having to take a part-time job in a foreign country either. So people! Travel, learn, explore,
try and enjoy the present moment.

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