Why you should join a club during your year abroad

Going on a year abroad can be a very lonely experience. It’s difficult to make friends as it is, without the added language barrier. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Most universities offer clubs and societies that aren’t just for the native students, and, having joined clubs myself, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about joining one and why it’s one of the best choices you’ll make.

We’ll start with an obvious one: it’s a great way to practice your language skills

You’ve come abroad to improve your language knowledge, but that shouldn’t be limited to the classroom. You’ll learn more conversational, everyday language used by people your age. Instead of having to talk like you’re writing your final year dissertation when you’re in a nightclub or out for coffee with friends, you’ll be able to speak normally! I don’t know about you, but a big fear I had when moving abroad was I wouldn’t know how to just chat to someone or order something in a restaurant, and this is a great place to start. Aside from conversation skills, you’ll learn a new subject of vocabulary to add to your mental (or physical) list. For example, who knows when you might need to say “shuttlecock”, “net” and “pitch”, and you’ll have the vocab!

Meeting new people

I get it, you’re not going to immediately become best friends with everyone just because they have the same hobbies as you, but it’s a great place to start because you already have one thing in common. Even better, these people won’t be on your course, so it’s a completely new group of friends to spend time with.

A new way to spend your time

I know that personally I thrive on spending my time productively, but more than that, I always need to be doing something. If you’re anything like me, even getting out of the house for an hour a week can be that distraction you need to relieve you of stress, homesickness or just plain boredom. If you’ve never really been in to clubs before it can seem like a bit of a waste of time, why would I spend my time *insert hobby here* when I have 3 essays to write, a weeks’ worth of vocabulary to learn and 5 books to read? Well, let me give you some shocking advice. If you’ve been working on these essays or books all day, by the time it gets to the evening, you will definitely need a break to clear your head and relieve some stress. This actually makes you more productive in the long run! Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself.

Having an end goal, making the time pass by quicker

Whether it’s that final concert in summer or beating your personal time swimming lengths, having a big goal to focus on can stop you from counting down the days and before you know it, you’ll be almost at the end of term and with the added bonus of having learnt a new skill.

In my second semester I joined the Italian for learners theatre group, and although it was a terrifying first step and has been a testing experience, looking back on it now it was one of the best decisions I made for myself and my brain health. I’ll be writing a whole blog post dedicated to that once we’ve done our final show on Thursday, telling you about my part, and my experience in general!

Rebeka