Erasmus - A blessing or a curse? It’s up to you!

Erasmus - A blessing or a curse?

It’s up to you!

 

Erasmus is a trap.

Young, innocent, with a pocket full of dreams. Being in your 20’s is amazing but so damn dangerous sometimes. Dreaming big and living our life at its fullest – that’s what we all want in our 20’s. And when most of us remain only with a pocket full of dreams, there are others like us – the Erasmus generation of each generation – that seem to have it all in a glimpse, once that email pops in: ‘’Congratulations, you have been accepted to…’’. Now it’s official, you’re in your 20’s with a pocket full of dreams and 3000 $ to make them true. Earlier than you know it, you’re counting clouds up in the air and already landed for the biggest adventure of your life.

So I was. Young, naive, with a pocket full of dreams, 3000$ to make them true, and first time away from home for so long – 6 months.

The Malta experience:

On 7th of May 2014 the way I look at life started to change completely.

On that exact day I went on a trip to Malta with some people, some Erasmus, some not and it started to be amazing. Since that moment on I started meeting people, going out, getting to know more about their culture and make true those dreams I had hidden in my pocket for so long.

In the end it was like being pulled out of my limited reality into the Italian version of an American movie. Nights out, beach parties, people from all over the world, learning languages and trying new types of food. It got me addicted to a lifestyle I never knew I could have and in the same time, I got addicted to a kind of life that wasn’t really mine. When I left it wasn’t only hard, it was awful.

But as I said in the beginning…

Erasmus is a trap, the biggest one ever made. But why?

In your 20’s you’re not an adult yet. At least not all of us. You’re still in your years of formation, still unstable, with an unclear direction in life, not really knowing what you want, but still with a degree to obtain ahead of you and thinking the world is yours and awaits for you to conquer it. So easy for someone to make you change your mind if their option sounds better than yours.

Going back to the end of my Erasmus experience…as I said, it wasn’t hard, it was awful. So awful I returned next year for another six months to do my Thesis. And after I graduated, I went on an internship through another European program.

So yes, Erasmus is a trap. One that questions the love for your national belonging and proofs you how strong you are. Are you strong enough to come back and re-integrate yourself in the life you lived before or are you week enough to believe that life in another country it’s much easier? After all you won’t always have 3000$ at your disposal. Life is only easy when you have financial security, and most of us don’t have it by our 30’s.

For those who are more balanced and more stable emotionally the world of international exchanges it is not a way of living some sort of American dream that never ends. But more a way to build themselves up and become a better version of themselves: more certain, more independent, more courageous when confronting the issues of life. I was lucky to become aware of both sides at some point. I was living what I like to call my Italian version of an American dream but in the same time I confronted my fears, I learned more about who I am as a human being and last but not least I used this experiences as stepping stones towards building up my future: a thesis in English, a recommendation letter, small things that in time add up and say a lot about what I can do from an academic point of view. After all, I went there to study not just to have fun.

So, I went abroad, who am I now - A better version of myself. Less fearful, with an open door towards the world.

Would I live and work in another country - Definitely.

If Erasmus is a trap, is the best trap ever and I don’t regret a single moment for falling willingly into it. After all, once Erasmus, always Erasmus.