Exchange is not a 6 month holiday
Before I embarked on exchange, I was always pretty skeptical about the "learning journey" that everyone raves and writes lengthy notes about after exchange; I didn't think that I'd accumulate enough "cheem-spiration" to do one anyway. Besides, I'm not a good writer, and I know it. But as I approach the end of my 5 month long escapade, there's this burning urge to simply just share my two cents worth of the "exchange experience" that I believe is all too familiar to many of us, and if you bothered to read this, hopefully you will find it worth your 5-10 minutes of Facebook newsfeed scrolling time.
"Wah, you're on exchange now right? Shiok hor, 6 month holiday, just pon lessons and keep travelling only right!"
In a nutshell, this encapsulates the conversations I have with my friends when I tell them I'm on exchange. Well, in my humble opinion, exchange ISN'T a "shiok 5-6 month holiday". Of course, I'm not saying its not shiok. The opportunity to live and study overseas for a semester is definitely a privilege, and is an experience that I am extremely thankful to have been able to embark on, and would not miss for anything. Sure, it's nice to take a break from the rat race in Singapore, escape from the humidity (and haze), and let your travel bug loose. But what I'm saying is that it isn't all gelatos, churros and basilicos, and what we often see on social media definitely does not reflect the full exchange experience (as with most situations on social media).
On the day I made my way to Aarhus from Copenhagen, I hopped onto a wrong train and ended up in the northern suburbs of Denmark. Lugging my 25kg luggage, an 8kg backpack and a sling bag, I was lost, alone and practically helpless without 3G. By the time I finally made it to my dormitory, with no bed linen and a cold, stale 8SGD pasta from 7 eleven, I was so overwhelmed by the fatigue, unfamiliarity and bareness of the place that I broke down in tears, wondering how I was going to survive the next 5 months alone.
Travelling within Europe/UK is definitely one of the highlights or even the main activity of exchange life for any exchange student. I don't deny that my travels have been an awesome experience, but behind every trip that I go on is weeks of itinerary planning, researching and coordinating with friends, finding the most budget-efficient deals and accommodating school timetables. Hauling my 27kg luggage up 5 flights of stairs, walking long distances just to save on bus/train fares, eating digestives and bread for all our meals because it's the cheapest option, running for trains, having our air bnb bookings cancelled the night before the trip, freezing to death trying to sleep overnight in a car in 0 degree weather, being caught for not buying/buying the wrong tickets, travelling student-budget style is definitely no Chan brothers tour.
Many travel nightmares have occurred along the way, including not having any of the winter clothing I packed (long story that involved my mum accidentally shipping it to Holland hahaha) to little things like figuring out how to use the laundry system at the dorm and finding an internet LAN cable that was not ridiculously overpriced (thank god for amazon), I was constantly having to deal with hiccups on my own and it hit me that the only person who was going to get things done for me in this foreign land 12000km away from home, was me.
No one was going to rub ru yi you on your tummy or cook porridge for you when you fell sick, lightbulbs weren't going to change themselves and toilet paper was certainly not a resource to be taken for granted. Perhaps some were lucky enough to have went with friends or are simply very independent to begin with, but for me, the decision to go on exchange on my own was certainly one that I questioned myself many times along the way. Fast forward 5 months, dealing with the everyday matters that I was so initially overwhelmed by, has become all too familiar and easy. Picking up *important* Danish words (like TILBUD=discount, KYLLING=chicken, Skåll=cheers), knowing which supermarket to get the cheapest deals, and having explored most of the city that is merely 1/8th the size of Singapore. Its funny how that just as you slip into a comfortable routine, you're already approaching the end of exchange life.
The Danes have a word "hygge" (pronounced hue-gah) which is often difficult to translate as it refers to a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary everyday things simply extraordinary. Living in Aarhus has definitely made me enjoy even the simplest of activities like grocery shopping (which is actually my all time favourite activity in Aarhus).In Singapore, we're always so busy doing..things and there's an abundance of cheap food 24/7. But in Denmark, cooking all my meals was a big part of daily life. Taking my time to browse the isles, deciding the the menu for the week, and indulging in auntie conversations with fellow singaporeans about where we got the cheapest toilet paper or discounted salmon- I never thought I'd stoop to such auntie levels.
I've certainly had my fair share of ups and downs these 5 months, but that being said, the highs definitely made up for the lows and I count my blessings to have made it safe and sound, and to have met so many wonderful people and learnt so so so much about the world and myself on this journey. So after 18 cities, 133 days, 45172km , 8 seasons of greys anatomy later, and perhaps a few kilos heavier, it was a helluva 5 months I would never forget.
