Study Abroad Stories: Sarah in Lausanne, Switzerland
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This week, Sarah from Borders & Bucket Lists is sharing her Study Abroad Story from her two semesters spent in Lausanne, Switzerland! Keep reading for more about her experiences studying and traveling through Europe as well as her advice for anyone considering studying abroad.
About Me!
Hello! My name is Sarah, and I am the writer behind the Hawaii-centric travel blog, Borders & Bucket Lists! While I am a Hawaii local through and through, I did temporarily leave the islands and head to the mainland (a.k.a. the continental U.S.) for college, where I majored in English Writing & Rhetoric and minored in Intercultural Studies – a pretty perfect combination for an aspiring travel writer, don’t you think?
Why Did I Choose to Study Abroad?
I always knew that I wanted to study abroad during my time in college. To be honest, that was one of the main reasons I chose the university that I did. It had such a unique study abroad program, and I knew it was something I wanted to do. The difficulty was choosing where I would study abroad.
Where Did I Choose to Study Abroad?
My university had seven abroad campuses across the globe – from Shanghai to Buenos Aires to London. My first thought was that I would study in Florence, Italy. I’d always loved Italy – I mean, the food was fantastic, the people were fun, and there seemed to be a cool find around every corner. But the details to study abroad there didn’t seem to line up, particularly the fact that the classes I needed weren’t offered at that location.
So I started looking at the other campuses and eliminating them one by one. Some cities my parents would never let me go to. The one in London didn’t require that I take a foreign language, and I didn’t want to be an uneducated American if I had the opportunity not to be. I actually eliminated the one in Germany because of my hatred of potatoes and sausage. I mean, that’s a decent part of the diet there, and I didn’t want to constantly be eating foods that I hated! I was left with one: Lausanne, Switzerland. And I was soon to find out that I couldn’t have made a better choice for my sophomore year.
The “Study” Part of Study Abroad
During my eight months in Switzerland from Fall 2016 to Spring 2017, I did a lot of traveling – but also a decent amount of studying. After all, it was a study abroad program. Due to the way the university set up its abroad programs, the campus only offered General Education courses. So I wasn’t making any progress in major courses, but that was fine by me because I didn’t declare a major until a month before leaving Switzerland. We also were required to take French, because we were living in the francophone portion of Switzerland, and, well, we needed to communicate with the locals.
A Couple of My Adventures
But don’t get me wrong. It definitely wasn’t all studying. There was still a ton of adventuring and traveling.
One of my favorite memories from my time in Switzerland specifically was from my final week abroad. I had been in Switzerland for almost a full eight months, and I still hadn’t seen the Matterhorn. So in the middle of finals week, I hopped on a train to Zermatt by myself to see it. I got there, and I didn’t like the crowds of tourists AT ALL. So I wandered off of the main street and found a stream with benches alongside it – and guess what else? A perfect view of the Matterhorn. Almost instinctively, I whipped out my humanities notebook (I was studying during the train ride over) and a pen and started drawing the Matterhorn. Was it planned? No. Was it well-timed? No. Was it perfect? Yes.
Another one of my favorite abroad memories actually didn’t happen in Switzerland. Because of how the school system was set up, there would be three-day weekends every week and the occasional week where we didn’t have class.
During one of those weeks, the entire Lausanne study abroad crew of 70 people traveled to Morocco. I know, it was crazy. For one of the nights, we planned to camp in the Sahara Desert. Unluckily for us, a sandstorm was rolling in. So all 70 of us were in these “tents” (think of cubes constructed of thin, torn red and green blankets with unsecured door flaps) during a bright orange sandstorm, trying to sleep. Oh, and it was freezing. I was wearing everything I’d brought to Morocco, and I was still very cold.
So you might be thinking, Sarah, why the heck is this one of your favorite memories? It sounds awful! And you’re right. It was. But when you preface the good with a little bit of bad, in my opinion, the good gets even better.
The next morning, we all woke up early – partially because we had to, partially because we were already awake from the cold and the sand – and we each hopped on a camel of our own. So there was a caravan of seventy camels amidst the bright orange Moroccan sand dunes.
Just picture it. Pretty breathtaking, right? Just wait. It gets better.
We were riding to the biggest dune in sight. Why? To see the sunrise over the dunes. And let me tell you, it was magical. The sandstorm had subsided quite a bit, so we hopped off our camels, laid down our colorful scarves, and sat as we watched the bright white sun come over the orange sand dunes and into the stunning blue sky. I had never seen anything like it before, and I’m not sure if I ever will again.
(P.S. I found bright orange sand in my clothes three weeks after this night in the desert.)
Wow, This Sounds Like So Much Fun! But What About the Money?
The money situation that comes with studying abroad may be one of the hardest parts. I’ll be honest with you, even though a good chunk of my tuition was covered by scholarships. I still had a small chunk of that to pay for in addition to housing, food, and of course adventures – and the little money I was making with my university-approved note-taking job and the savings from my cashier summer job wasn’t going to cut it.
So my parents stepped in to help me out. Yes, I know that makes me sound entitled. My parents helped me pay for my gallivanting around Europe (and that week in Morocco). But I was a 19-year-old who tried to do her part and didn’t have everything quite figured out yet. I mean the word “teen” was still attached to the end of my age! So I think that’s okay for a few months.
How My Time Abroad Changed How I Travel Now
Ever since I studied abroad in Switzerland, my approach to traveling has changed quite a bit. I used to want to have a list of must-dos and must-sees, but I realized pretty early on during my time abroad that some of my best memories would come about during activities that weren’t planned and that no one would ever recommend. Like sleeping in the desert during a sandstorm! If someone ever told me to do that, I’d think they were crazy. I mean, I did it, and I still wouldn’t recommend it! But it gave me some amazing memories! And it was followed by an amazing caravan and sunrise experience! So now I’m more of a go-with-the-flow traveler.
One of my favorite things to do on trips now is to just walk around for hours. Maybe I’ll come across a blooming park, a trendy shop, or a delicious food nook that I never would’ve come across if I was concerned with the must-dos and must-sees. Sometimes when I do want to have a solid plan for one reason or another (say meeting up with someone), I always ask a local friend or refer to a local guide – after all, they know the place best!
Finally, Any Advice?
For those who are considering studying abroad and are not quite sure, I say do it! When else in your life will you have the opportunity to live in a country for a while without having to figure out a ton of complicated details? In the future, you’ll have to sort out employment and housing on your own in a different country, but when you study abroad, those are likely things you won’t have to worry about!
I would also like to give a tip to those who are currently studying abroad or those who have recently come back from study abroad: don’t forget the hard parts of your time abroad too. It’s easy to romanticize your adventure-filled time in a different country, but if you remember it as perfect, it’ll make you resent the rest of your life – or at least the part that’s not in a different country. But if you remember the hard parts of abroad, you’ll keep in mind that all stages of life have their ups and downs. No part is perfect, but they all can be pretty awesome if you let them be.
About the Author: Hello! My name is Sarah, and I was born, raised, and currently live on the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii. While I absolutely love to travel around the world, I also love sharing some of the local sites and adventures of the island. I hope to try to encourage visitors to the islands to take part in some aspects of the beautiful local culture, rather than living in the artificial tourist bubble that can sometimes seem so tempting. Follow more of my Hawaiian Island adventures on my blog, “Borders and Bucket Lists,” and my Pinterest profile.
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Did you study abroad during your time at university? I want to hear from you!
If you’re interested in sharing your study abroad experience to be posted as a Study Abroad story, send me an email at sydney@aworldinreach.com or send me a message here!
