From the day you get accepted in the program, to the day you fly back home, exchange is an amazing experience. You get to spend six to 12 months of your life in a completely new environment, head out on awesome trips and meet tonnes of new people. There’s nothing quite like it.

There are six stages of feels that every exchange student experiences on their program.

#1 The Initial Excitement

This usually kicks off once you get formally accepted into your program and host university. You start to plan your accommodation, book flights, research what facilities or clubs there are on campus, and even brush up on the local lingo.

You even start to write down what you want to do on exchange and the goals you want to achieve. The excitement will last until you get to the airport and the trip of a lifetime actually begins.

#2 The Dawn Of The Unknown

When you’re on the plane, you start to feel anxious and scared of the unknown. This probably cropped up in the initial excitement phase, but now it’s really ramped up.

You start racing through different scenarios in your head. What happens if no one likes me? Have I done enough language study so I can speak Polish like a pro? What happens if I get there and nothing is confirmed?

Don’t stress too much. The worry will subside once you get to your accommodation and start your first week of classes.

#3 Finding Your Tribe

This is one of the most challenging feels. While meeting new people seems easy back at home, now it’s a challenge.

There might be language barriers or a difference in culture. People might not understand you when you throw out some Aussie slang, and might think you speak a strange, ancient language.

Once you do find your tribe of exchange friends, you won’t look back.

#4 “Am I Doing This Right? I Think So!”

When you’re trying to pack everything you want to do in your time abroad, you start questioning if you’re really having the time of your life. You start comparing your exchange with other people’s experiences and start to develop a serious case of FOMO.

But, hang on. Slow down. If you go back to your initial excitement stage and remember all the plans and goals you wanted to achieve, you start to feel more optimistic. You realise you’re having the time of your life and comparing your experience to others’ is silly.

#5 Coming To Terms With Leaving

It’s getting to the stage of the final count down. You think a month will go by so slowly, but that last month turns into the last two weeks, then one week, and then your final two days.

You’ll feel sad that your squad is going back to their home countries and realise that due to long distances and different schedules, it might be quite a while before you’re reunited again.

As I told my Japanese friends while on exchange, “It’s not a goodbye, it’s just a see you later.” There’ll be people who you won’t see or talk to ever again, but you know you’ve made some friends for life.

#6 Post-Exchange Blues

Once you land back home, it’s time to accept that it’s all over and you’re back to regular life. You’ll go through reverse culture shock and some adjusting, but you accept that you spent an amazing period of your life overseas and won’t trade it for anything.

You’ll have weekly Skype calls and Facebook chat groups with your squad which will make it feel like you’re still overseas. Nothing has changed, it’s just a different time zone. You start to become hopeful that you’ll see them again.

—

Sinead Simpkins studies Master of Arts at University of New England. When she’s not studying, she’s still waiting for her Hogwarts letter.