# Studying abroad with IBS



## akulauper

Hi there,I'm an almost 20-year-old college student from the US, and I'm going to be studying abroad in Europe for three months next year. The program is based in London, but I think I'll have time to travel to several other cities (I'm hoping Dublin and Paris) as well. *Scary Thing #1*: We're not living on a university campus, so we get a weekly stipend for food that we can either spend in restaurants or use to buy and prepare food for ourselves. We'll be staying in a residential-type hostel, though, so I'm pretty sure there won't be much room for food storage. It's going to be challenging enough with keep myself IBS symptom-free when I'm dealing with the stress/anxiety of being on my own so far from home, but I'll also have to put together meals that 1) won't make me sick and 2) keep me from losing weight. Beyond the typical batch of cookies or pot of noodles, I've never really cooked for myself before. Has anyone else ever been in a similar situation? Any advice for dealing with this? Will I be able to eat while I'm there? I'll feel much better if I go in with a plan.*Scary Thing #2*: I have never had alcohol before, aside from a sip of champagne at a wedding once. I know I'll be of legal drinking age in every place I visit, and I think I might like to try it while I'm in Europe. Are there any types of drinks that don't aggravate IBS? I'm not planning to go crazy here...as a 108-lb female, I think one drink with dinner will be plenty. I'm not great with sodas or super sugary drinks. I was thinking wine, maybe? Would it matter what kind of wine it was? I figured I would ask here because IBS will make my first drinking situation a lot different than it was for my friends.Thanks in advance for your help!


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## Nikki

You might find that there is a communal fridge where you can keep food- where in London will you be? Eating out in restaurants your money won't get your far!You could get things like tinned tuna, and potatoes and have jacket potatoes with a bit of salad and tuna- you can even cook the potatoes in the microwave if you need to. Easy. Prick holes in it and shove it in. What about pasta? You just have to boil it for a few minutes until its soft. Add in a spoonful of green or red pesto and your done. Or add in anything you want! You'll be fine. Buy a couple of student cook books. Its much easier than you'd think. You could buy a small grill (like george forman) and you could grill your own chicken, and make yourself some veg (Carrots, anything!) and you're done. In terms of alcohol, I usually drink white wine. But its your taste really. Just experiment and see what you like. Don't over do it though or you'll be spending the night puking up with your head in a toilet!Nikki


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## Brian0003

akulauper said:


> Hi there,I'm an almost 20-year-old college student from the US, and I'm going to be studying abroad in Europe for three months next year. The program is based in London, but I think I'll have time to travel to several other cities (I'm hoping Dublin and Paris) as well.


Hello, I am also a college student who is 23 years old. I'd definitely recommend that you go on study abroad because it is a great opportunity. Once you graduate and go to graduate school and/or get a job it will be much harder to travel. Travel as much as you can while you are young







.I just recently went to New Zealand on study abroad for 5 months, and I've gone vacating in Europe with my family at around the age of sixteen- We went to Spain(Madrid), Italy(Venice), Ireland(Dublin), Norway, and Sweden in two separate trips. We also went to other cities that I couldn't remember unless I had the photos in front of me.Advice- While you go make sure you travel on the weekends. Don't worry too much about your grades. My GPA dropped from 3.75 to 2.4 when I went on study abroad. I tried to travel almost every weekend. I plan to go to graduate school and I know the low gpa will be a hinge but in retrospect I was much better off enjoying it as much as I possibly could.Also, the first three or four days I got into New Zealand I had really bad diarrhea. I was becoming very nervous, I even emailed my parents and screamed to come home because I was that afraid. Don't let this get to you.


> *Scary Thing #1*: We're not living on a university campus, so we get a weekly stipend for food that we can either spend in restaurants or use to buy and prepare food for ourselves. We'll be staying in a residential-type hostel, though, so I'm pretty sure there won't be much room for food storage.


I would advise you to make your own food. If you don't know how to cook, then you should invest your time right now and learn. I've lived in hostels for about three to four weeks(combining all the individual days). Are the Hostels in Europe similar to apartment-like accommodation in the US? You could store food in the refrigerators in the Hostels. But they are shared by everybody who lives in the Hostel and sometimes people steal.


> It's going to be challenging enough with keep myself IBS symptom-free when I'm dealing with the stress/anxiety of being on my own so far from home, but I'll also have to put together meals that 1) won't make me sick and 2) keep me from losing weight.


I didn't really know how to cook anything before I went on study abroad(I'd lived in the dormitories for almost 2 years, home for 1.5 years, and in an apartment for 4-5 months) but all I could cook was eggs and pasta and ramen noodles.Generally what I had every day while of study abroad was-In the morning 1 or 2 apples, a muffin, corn or rice cereal, chocolate milk, eggs, pancakes, and other kinds of fruit.In the afternoon I would usually make a sandwich(sesame seed bread, red basil pesto, lettuce sprouts, turkey, tomatoes, cheese) followed with an orange or pasta or curry.For dinner I would make pasta(Noodles, Onions, Carrots, Sauce, Cheese), Stir fry(White Rice, Peas, Carrots, Onions, and peppers), Curry( Korma or Butter Chicken Sauce, white rice, cut up chicken breast), Cook a Chicken in the oven, Make Chicken Burritos(Just Chicken and Cheese), and different meals that my roommates would make.Before I went on study abroad I was 5.8 and 135 lbs. Male. Rather SkinnyAt the end I was 5.8 and 156 lbs. My roommates had manipulated me into going to the gym weekly. Although this was healthy.As long as you eat and exercise you should gain weight. The hardest part was adjusting the first week to new food and a new environment. You are likely to get sick at first but I suppose this would be normal for anyone with IBS. I wouldn't recommend that you go out to eat that much unless your friends in Europe go out and eat a lot(It costs a lot of money, and you don't always know what is put into the food). If you find a group of friends that go out and eat lunch together then definitely go because on study abroad you will be placed in a different Country in which you will not have any friends. The easiest way to make new friends will be to get involved in clubs or sports, and go out and eat with the same people who are on the club or sports team. I'm extremely introverted, but I still made friends by this strategy.The bathroom probably quite frankly sucked. I tried to never go in my apartment because my stomach made loud noises whenever I would go. So I found a toilet in the Men's bathroom below the student center and with a high fan which would cover up noise. I memorized the location of thirteen different bathrooms on campus. When I traveled to different cities for some reason my stomach never become aggravated. I can't explain this- Whenever I was traveling my stomach was fine but whenever I was in the apartment and not traveling it would start to spasm.


> Beyond the typical batch of cookies or pot of noodles, I've never really cooked for myself before. Has anyone else ever been in a similar situation? Any advice for dealing with this? Will I be able to eat while I'm there? I'll feel much better if I go in with a plan.


I cannot yell at you enough- Learn how to cook right now. If you are at home and your mother or father cooks opt to make the family dinner and if you don't know how ask them to teach you.


> *Scary Thing #2*: I have never had alcohol before, aside from a sip of champagne at a wedding once. I know I'll be of legal drinking age in every place I visit, and I think I might like to try it while I'm in Europe. Are there any types of drinks that don't aggravate IBS? I'm not planning to go crazy here...as a 108-lb female, I think one drink with dinner will be plenty. I'm not great with sodas or super sugary drinks.


Um, I don't drink coffee or alcohol. Coffee gives me diarrhea so I never drink it. I think I did drink if for about a month when I was younger. I don't like the taste of alcohol, never have.If you have any questions feel free to ask me. my email is at [email protected]


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