I

t all started March 8 when I found out I was one of the two lucky students from Erasmus University Rotterdam who would spend a whole semester at San Diego State. We were sitting in a lecture hall as our exchange coordinators handed out name badges with the location covered by a sticky note. I remember my coordinator coming toward me, handing me my badge and saying, “I want to see your face when you take the Post-it off.”

I guess I looked really funny because I reacted like a little kid getting a very anticipated present for Christmas.

Nine months later, my exchange is at its end. It is bittersweet, especially because I still remember my long flight to San Diego and my first few days here. I’m returning to Europe soon, where I’m going to start an internship at a magazine and finish my bachelor’s degree. Even though I’m happy that I’m getting my degree soon, I wish I could stay in San Diego a bit longer.

Every year, many international and American students decide to go abroad. I would strongly recommend it because it brings so many benefits and experiences to a person’s life.

As an exchange student, you experience a new culture. Even though Europe is full of American products, coming to study in the U.S. adds a totally new perspective. Having American roommates and being surrounded by American students on a daily basis helped extend my understanding of American customs and habits. For instance, it was a great experience to be in the U.S. for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Until studying in the U.S., I had only heard about these important days from friends or seen them celebrated on TV. However, after experiencing a crazy Black Friday surrounded by thousands of people running around frantically to get the best deals, I realized how powerful consumerism is nowadays. Also, spending Thanksgiving with an American family is something absolutely different than in Europe. Back home I was never asked to say out loud what I’m thankful for in front of other people because we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Europe. When I had to do it, I honestly felt strange because I felt like what we are thankful for is something personal. One thing, is crystal clear, though: It’s always best to experience something firsthand.

These four months in San Diego also opened my eyes in a more academic sense. As an exchange student, I experimented with class schedules. This means even though I’m a journalism major, I still took a few psychology classes. When I come to San Diego, my main academic goal was to see if I could write for a newspaper. I have been fortunate enough to become a writer for The Daily Aztec. This experience gave me a lot of new knowledge and made me realize I really want to be a journalist after I’m done with school.

Often, people think of an exchange as a break from studying and a time for parties. However, I think it’s important to balance both—exchanges aren’t only about the number of parties we attend.

It also wouldn’t be a proper exchange without traveling. Being able to visit cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, San Francisco and Chicago in a four-month period is something I will never forget. No matter where a person chooses to study abroad, I highly recommend traveling. This is the time in a person’s life with the most opportunities to visit new places and they should not waste the experience.

Finally, my exchange brought many new people into my life, whether it’s my new American friends who helped me during my stay in San Diego or my international friends who are also here on exchange. These are people who I will always share memories with because we spent four months living together in the same place. These are the valuable bonds that I hope won’t disappear once we leave back to our home countries or how I like to call it, back to reality.