Tips and tricks for a better work-life balance amid the hustle and bustle

Greetings from the land of tea, crumpets and the ever-present drizzle (although the weather here has been quite great and there haven’t been too many run-ins with the rain… yet). We’re back with the second installment of our transatlantic adventures.

This past week, classes picked up and we both have been thrown into the full swing of things. Unlike classes at home, we only have a few large assignments to complete throughout the semester. Sure this seems like a great thing (less homework? Sign us up), but on the London program we only take classes for seven weeks instead of a full 14—the second half of the semester is filled with an international internship.

This means that an entire semester of work needs to fit into half the time. For obvious reasons, it’s also been a challenge to designate time for school in a city with literally thousands of things to do every second.

We, like many of you, already considered ourselves seasoned professionals at juggling college life, but studying abroad has been a wake-up call that forced us to adjust yet again. So, this week, we are running through our best tips for getting your life in order when your attention is split between school, sports, friends and, in our case, a city of almost nine million people.

Studying abroad, just like college, is endlessly entertaining, but it can also slow your motivation to get things done. A change of scenery is probably in order if you’re going stir crazy looking at textbooks.

We have found that London has tons of great places to offer, many of which have cozy seats, yummy drinks and (usually) free Wi-Fi. Some local museums also have study spaces among the galleries available to the public. Going to these places after class has been our key to getting work done and exploring at the same time.

At CSB+SJU, there are lots of places to be productive that are available to you besides your dorm room. Try the Local Blend, the libraries, Brother Willie’s Pub and common spaces.

Next, set some mini goals for yourself. We both will be the first to admit that we tend to dive in and overwork ourselves. This can lead to losing sight of what you are trying to accomplish. When you set these smaller goals and allow yourself to achieve them, you can reward yourself with a little study break.

It’s also important to remember that your goals don’t just have to be academic related. Maybe you have a goal to learn a new skill, hit a new PR in the gym or paint a masterpiece.

If you prefer to set some bigger goals, we’re all for that too. We spent last Friday on a tour of the Buckingham Palace state rooms, where Kayla took one look at the throne room and decided to set a new goal of becoming royalty… it’s a work in progress.

Another thing we have quickly come to realize is that the fear of –missing out can be a real killer. Trust us, the nagging feeling that you’re skipping something amazing while you are typing away essays or just trying to catch up on sleep is even more intense when you’re abroad.

Give yourself permission to choose what is best for you. If staying in and finishing your next presentation will save you a week of stress later, do it. If you need an afternoon out shopping with your friends instead, do it. Your responsibilities are important, but your mental health is too.

We mentioned this last week, but creating experiences to look forward to gets you through the 14 different assignments you’re thinking about every second. Plan something fun for yourself in the middle of all the noise. It doesn’t need to be a big production, it just needs to be enjoyable for you.

In our case, this means when we’re not sitting down to write essays, we’re sitting down to book flights and Airbnbs for weekend trips (if you’ve studied abroad or spent a few weeks country-hopping before, you know the brainpower that is needed).

We miss the days of getting in a car and improvising plans in St. Joe for a weekend, but for this semester we’re not in the business of wasting our proximity to brand new places and we have trips lined up that maximize every second of free time. Don’t worry, some of them have time for relaxing pre-scheduled in. We need it, and so do you.

To that end, by the time you read this Kayla will be on a flight to Valencia, Spain, with Summer heading to Salzburg, Austria, the next day. Extensive planning and staying on top of our assignments will be worth it for a new stamp in the passport!

We’ll see you on the other side, with some new (and hopefully more exciting) stories for you. Someone please tell the monks and nuns to pray for no canceled flights and safe travels.