Even the Erasmus can fail!

Erasmus.
This word sounds like magic.
It doesn't matter the country, the field of study or the purpose of the experience: just mention the word Erasmus and everything will be perfect!

Unfortunately, sometimes something can go wrong and even the Erasmus, like all the experiences of your life, can fail.

Let's start with a positive thought: what are the ingredients of a perfect Erasmus? For me:

1. You reached your academic goals: Erasmus = party but don't forget that its main aim is *to study* (such a bad word eh?).
2. You had a lot of fun!
3. You improved yourself: more independence, more open minded.
4. You started to share the phrase: "the diversity is beauty".
5. You are still alive and alcohol didn't kill you :D.

But what are the reasons that can make the Erasmus dream a nightmare? Why sometimes there are students that last minute decide to stay at home? Here are some:

1. Money: try to be realistic about your budget (especially if is the first time that you live with your own money). Life can be expensive especially in a country like Uk or Denmark. Before choosing the destination, search about the cost of life: food, accommodation, etc etc and ask yourself if you can really pay everything.
2. Hard integration: the first 1/2 weeks can be a tragedy especially if you don't speak properly the required language. Don't worry, everything will improve soon, but sometimes some people feel that this is a huge problem that they can't solve and they decide to come back home
3. Fear: some students can be scared about the fact that everything will be different (and you will leave in you home country all friends and the partner). This reason is really common in my university and because of it some students can decide to stay at home.
4. Inability to complete exams or placement: I'm not talking about being drunk a mess every night  and consequently too tired the next morning for the classes XD. I want to talk about the unexpected situations. The secret to avoiding this kind of problems is looking for as much information as possible! If you want to make exams during you Erasmus, look for information on the website of the university: 
1. Maybe there are some rules that don't exist in your home institution
2. The exams could be completely different from what you are used to
3. Check the level of difficulty: be sure that the exams will not be too hard for you
In my home university in Italy, for example, we don't need to enrol the courses in which we are interested. In many international universities can be required, but the Erasmus students don't know, don't enrol anything and they realise (once arrived) that they can't follow any class. If you want to make a thesis or a placement try to communicate with your abroad supervisor before the departure. Try to understand if he/she really has some interesting topic for you or just want to make contacts with you home university :). It's really sad to realise, once you arrived, that there are unexpected problems that will ruin everything.

I have to admit that, in most of the cases, Erasmus it's a really nice experience, so don't worry: you will enjoy it!!!

If also your Erasmus failed for some reason share you experience! You will help other people, thanks!