So, ten days since my last post, I guess I need to write about something, but I am all out of ideas.
Let's see...... since two weekends ago, I have had class, went on a field trip, and been tired. Oh yeah, I also was sick the past few days, so there went a few of the days as well.....
Ideas, ideas...... Oh yeah! This was not the first time I made myself sick studying abroad, so I might as well talk about it - Study Abroad Burnout.
So what is Study Abroad Burnout? From my experience, Study Abroad Burnout is an extended period of tiredness usually paired with being sick with something simple like a cold or sore throat due to extended periods of over-engagement due to Studying Abroad.
Now I think many of you will ask the question: "If you know that you are overextending yourself, why don't you simply take a break?" My answer is that the solution to this is not a simple as taking a random break, as many times people studying abroad will have to make a choice between resting or going to a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with the latter of course being the answer the majority of us will choose. The sad truth of the matter is, those of us travelling are just as human as everyone else, and we can't spend all of our free time experiencing something new in the culture we are exploring, as much as we wish we can. For example, I had to miss an Imoni lunch gather with my lab because I was sick this week.
Sadly, the best solution I can give to this problem will be to plan ahead when you will take a break. If you want to go on a trip to some remote section of the country one weekend, maybe you should reserve the weekend before and after that trip in order to rest and properly prepare and debrief from the experience, as during the week we are still students and have all the responsibilities and duties every student has.
That being said, I think that rather than limiting the amount of experience we all attempt to attain while we are abroad, we should instead look to ways to get the best quality rest whenever we can to allow us to push harder to gain all of these experiences. The foremost way in which you can increase quality of rest is with the sleep you get every night. Always make sure that you are getting the recommended 8 to 10 hours of sleep a day. I prefer 9 hours myself. I have had many experiences abroad when I would sleep less than this amount multiple nights in a row and cause myself large amounts of anguish at the end when I really wanted to go to an event or festival.
Another way to stay well rested abroad is to become proactive about your duties while abroad. While you are a student and do need to study classes that will keep you on track for your plan of study, you should work to minimize these requirements while abroad to both allow you to take fun classes that you can only take abroad and minimize the amount of effort you need to put forward for your student responsibilities. This doesn't mean to fail class, but to minimize the amount of effort your "waste" on classes during your time abroad to give you time to be explore the amazing place you traveled to along with getting the sleep needed to keep you going.
The last way I know to keep you going while abroad is to make friends with people from where you come from abroad. This might seem strange for me to say so, but a lot of the burnout you experience comes from culture shock in some portion, and having friends who came from a similar culture you came from and understand the experiences you are obtaining really helps to alleviate a large amount of the stress you experience while abroad.
Well, five paragraphs of writing done. I really need to get all of the pictures I have taken while I am here. Thus, I will elect to go quiet the next week or so to get everything cleaned and posted.