Submitted by Anna Reynolds on the 2022 spring semester program in London, England…
This past week was midterm week which can be stressful under any circumstances, but being abroad and dealing with midterms became more stressful than I originally anticipated. One of the things that I have noticed about classes here is that there are not many assessments before midterms, so you don’t have any quizzes or tests before your midterm to sort of gauge how your professor might make the exam. This put a lot of extra pressure on me as I wanted to do well in my classes, but not knowing how my professors grade and give exams ended up heightening my stress around the whole process. While most of the week went well for me, the final day of exams proved to be a little more stressful than I had anticipated. While I was prepared for my exams, my usual morning commute didn’t go as planned. I got on the wrong train by accident and started going in the wrong direction. What began as a 35-minute commute to class ended up being about an hour commute. Getting to the CAPA Center, I immediately asked for help as I was so overwhelmed by how my morning had gone, and the CAPA staff could not have been more amazing in that type of situation. Not only did they bring me to a room where I could calm down, but they also brought in their mental health team to discuss options for how I can manage stress in the future, and they talked to my professor for me about how to proceed with taking my exam. While on a break from the class, my professor came to talk with me and made sure that I was okay before allowing me to take my exam in a private room with a proctor once I calmed down. This is a perfect example of how accommodating the CAPA staff is when a student struggles. Knowing that I had an entire staff of people supporting me when my usual support system was still at home made me feel so much more comfortable after a hard morning. That afternoon, I was able to take my other exam as planned. The CAPA staff reached out to me to follow up with how I felt. They have also planned to do informal check-ins with me to manage any anxiety I might have in the future. So, if you are thinking about going abroad, but are scared not to have your normal support system, the staff of whichever program you are going into has seen this before and will help you get the support you need.
