I finally made it through mid terms this week! I ended up having exams in every one of my classes which made this week a lot more overwhelming than others however I'm happy to report that I think I did quite well and am currently in Spain enjoying the beach for my break! With that said, there are certainly a lot of overwhelming moments being this far from home and I thought it would be nice to talk about 9 ways I've been getting through stressful moments during my time abroad!
1. Lots of Walks
One of the most wonderful things about Florence is it's very easy to get lost in considering how small it is. Every time I go for walks without GPS I can easily run into the Duomo or Ponte Vecchio and find my way back. There have been so many times when I've gotten home from classes, noticed an empty apartment, and decided to wander around Florence and see what I can find.
2. Mini Vacations
The thing about being abroad in Europe, as most people know, is that 15 euro trains are available to so many places and this can be so nice for escaping every day stresses. So far we've been to Cinque Terre a few times as well as Rome and Pisa and I've really loved these mini escapes from homework and general stress to go try on another city! Even though this isn't necessarily the greatest solution to being overwhelmed it's usually much needed and deserved and I'm grateful to have roommates equally excited about the idea of travelling.
3. Sleeping and Eating
This may seem obvious, but it can get really easy to forget to prioritize something as simple as sleep when you're, for example, going to Rome for 3 days and feeling incredibly exhausted. There are definitely times when my roommates and I have to check in on each other and make sure we're remembering to prioritize the simplest of things in order to stay happy and healthy.
4. To Do Lists
When I was feeling overwhelmed or confused for midterms one of the things that really helped was narrowing in and prioritizing different things - that includes everything from budgeting to grocery shopping to things for my midterms.
5. Asking for Help
What's difficult about being an art major abroad is that interpretations of what professor are looking for can be radically different than that from home and it's also very difficult to find the supplies necessary to create a lot of projects. By now I've learned my professors have a lot more information to give us then we may realize and a lot of times it's really just asking for sources to do further research or for help finding stores in the area that will have obscure products for my installation projects.
6. Ice Cream and Chocolate Breaks
Obviously Italy is quite well known for it's fantastic food and frankly this is still true for its donuts, ice cream, and chocolate as well. Even though sometimes incentives can get out of control, there are so many times whens I've told myself if I complete a certain assignment or after something goes well I can go to a pastry shop and buy something there.
7. Movie Nights with my Roommates
At least once a week my roommates and I will try do movie nights together in order to relax, usually involving one of my roommates' projectors and some junk food but it's really nice to have that to look forward to!
8. Breathing
This is another simple one but it's so important for me sometimes. When things get a little overwhelming in class or outside of it it's really important for me to remember deep breaths can always do much more than you expect.
9. Planning a Fall Break Trip to Beautiful Beaches
To be fair, this kind of fits into planning mini vacations but definitely having a trip to Spain helps when it comes to feeling overwhelmed during mid terms. Knowing this entire week that I was going to be visiting my brother this week and visiting the city I studied abroad in in High School definitely helped make me more eager to get work done!
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