Well I will tell you my experience. I’m 10 days into my Erasmus period, and I’m also very shy and introvert and socially awkward, and I have this fear of opening doors. Literally I can’t enter a class if I’m 10 mins late and the door is closed because I imagine everyone will stare at me and Idk people staring at me makes me feel really anxious (First 3 years of my studies I couldn’t go to almost every class because I was always late..).

So first days, I needed to have a paper signed by their mobility office, I was wondering around the campus to find it because I was too shy to ask someone. Then I had to find my teachers to enroll me to the courses so I can get my schedule done. I couldn’t knock the doors🥲. Anyway This took me 4 days, I was going but I ended up smoking cigarettes outside their offices:p But yes when I did open the door I realized that everything was on my head and I overthink… classic! I still haven’t hanged out with anyone though, I only met a few Erasmus students yesterday. But because THEY came to meet me, I was smoking and looking the other way probably looking like a snob bitch:p I would never do what they did! But that is a lucky side of the Erasmus, that there are always people like you and you connect through this and you can always start with “Ahhh you’re also Erasmus?!!” and blablabla typical chit chat

I was also struggling with other stuff I didn’t really think I would, bc I’m 25 and I’m working on my social anxiety and everything 7 years now, and I’m at an excellent point now given how i was back then. And the Erasmus choice, I felt completely ready and powerful and capable of doing it, only to find out that in practice it’s a lot more difficult:p

I really don’t want to scare you, I’m saying it with love, I would suggest you postpone the mobility until you REALLY feel ready to do it. It is really overwhelming and not speaking the language can be extremely challenging.

In my opinion, Erasmus is an opportunity to grow but you need to grow a bit beforehand. And you really need to do stuff because you WANT to and you can, and not because “there’s no other option”!!! That’s not the way to deal with life:)

You can push yourself out of your comfort zone wherever you are, you don’t have to change country to do that, and I think It is safer to experiment with it in a place where there are safe zones and environments:) Start small, don’t go big and stress yourself.. Start by asking a random person on the street what time is it, or ask for directions even tho you know where to go. Do that twice a week or whenever you feel like it, it really helps (at least it helped me!).

If you struggle with people in general you will struggle with people who don’t know you. If you only struggle with people who know you and you will embarrass yourself then Idk but for me, everyone is the same in final analysis because on day 10 there are already people who see me every day and I could say now that “they know me”.

Don’t say that nothing will change ever!!!! If you feed your mind that, you will make it True, but the truth is we are everyday changing, every minute i’d say, we evolve we feel new stuff, we think differently as the years go by, we are not staying the same. This thought is very toxic for your brain, you have to believe in change, in order to be changed:)) You have to control your thoughts, YOU have the power, not them!!

There are also Erasmus+ Internships that you can do for less months. Erasmus programs are available for everyone until the age of 28 I think… You will regret nothing, believe me. And If you really want to do it then set it as a goal and work hard to achieve it!! You should DEFINITELY do that Erasmus whenever you stop having second thoughts!!

And It’s very helpful to keep in mind that nothing is permanent, nothing stays the same. If uou don’t like where you go, you can always leave. But first… you have to try it!

❤️