Every feeling you’ll have when your year abroad comes to an end

Months of sitting in the sun, soaking up new culture and not really doing an work. It’s not like it counts towards your degree. But the best things always come to an end, and a year abroad will be one of the greatest experiences of your life.

As my year in Italy comes to a close, here are the realisations I’m having about returning to real life.

Having to actually eat like a student again

Let’s be honest, you’ve more than likely indulged this year and ended up spending half of your Erasmus grant on food alone. You’ve gained a few extra pounds, but it was all worth it.

Treat yo self

Say goodbye to the cheap and wonderful meals you’ve been feasting on, and hello to unhealthy amounts of beans on toast or kebabs.

This works two ways though. They don’t have garlic mayo in Italy and that’s something all of us missed.

Where the garlic mayo at?

The realisation that next year, you will have to actually work

As you make your module choices, it dawns on you that next year actually counts for quite a bit of your degree. Not only have you completely forgotten how to write an essay because it’s been that long, but your command of the English language has gotten worse since being in a foreign country.

But hey, at least you’ll have some idea of what’s going on in your lectures.

Nights out will get expensive again

Gone are the days where you can buy a litre of Prosecco for €3.50. Yes, you’ve missed the sweet taste of Tropical VKs, but your nights out will no longer cost less than €10.

Returning to Selly Oak (or your other terrible student neighbourhood) 

There were 150 crimes reported in Selly Oak during March 2016 alone.

Need I say more?

Who needs Tuscan hills when Aldi is just a stones throw away?

That you’ve not miraculously become fluent in the space of a year

People are going to expect bilingualism from you. It just hasn’t happened.

The truth is all your friends are Brits and you’ve relied heavily on the fact that every Erasmus student speaks perfect English (among the other seven languages they’re fluent in).

Word Reference and Google Translate have been your saviours this year, and you’re not ashamed to admit it.

Waving goodbye to those new friends you made

#squadgoals

As if it wasn’t bad enough, all your uni mates have graduated and left you. Who are you going to danger FAB with?

Oh, and good luck if you’ve found a boyfriend/girlfriend on your year abroad – next year should be fun. But it’s not all doom and gloom, more than one million babies come from the Erasmus programme.

Relating everything back to your year abroad

Every story you tell from now on will inevitably start with “when I was on my year abroad”, and people will hate you for it.

“This one time on my year abroad…”

You’ll be on par with those “gap yah” freshers who constantly reminded everyone how they found themselves in the depths of Cambodia.

At least we’ll never run out of #TBTs for some cheap likes on Instagram.

Desperately rushing to see everything while you still can

You accept the harsh reality that weekend trips to places like Rome, Venice and Florence will be a thing of the past.

No more spontaneous trips for you

Instead, you’ll be spending the weekends at Grand Central or Digbeth Dining Club wondering where it all went wrong.

The weather

For the past year you’ve religiously been checking the weather app to see just how cold it is back home as you bask in the glorious sunshine.

A good majority of your Snapchat stories have included the temperature, smugly swiping left to see 28˚ whilst everyone back at uni is arguing with their housemates over how long the radiators have been on.

How the tables have turned.

We look forward to many a hot water bottle next year.