Study Abroad Series: 1. Why the answer to "Should I study abroad?" is always "Yes!"

(This is Part One of an eventual five part series on studying abroad. Check back later for tips on overcoming roadblocks to studying abroad, packing for your semester abroad, and how to craft the perfect study abroad experience!)

Photo I took at a Tuscan vineyard

Not everyone wants to study abroad. A lot of people don’t ever even consider it. So, first things first, this post is my answer to the simple question: Why should I study abroad? 

Not only does studying abroad look great on a resume (Michelle Obama agrees with me on this!), but it is a once in a lifetime experience. Now, I say this with a grain of salt because I myself studied abroad twice, which is rare at my school but perhaps not at yours. And not studying abroad in college doesn’t necessarily mean you will never get to study abroad again, and definitely doesn’t mean you will never get to work or live abroad on your own.

         That being said, I cringe when people tell me that the reason they choose not to study abroad is because they know they will have the chance to see the world in the future. To those who think studying abroad in college is an opportunity they can afford to pass up, here are my two reasons to think twice:

1. Traveling somewhere is one thing, living there is another.

I didn't travel much growing up. I think I had been on a plane around four times in the first 15 years of my life, and never internationally. It all changed when I was selected as an exchange participant through my town's Sister City program and got to spend a month of my summer living with a family in Taiwan.

Since then, I've been to China, Korea, Thailand, and various countries throughout Europe, all in the past 6 years. What I learned from those experiences is that there is a huge difference between traveling to a country and living in a country. And that's why I am writing this article. 

You might have the chance to travel the world but I promise you that being a tourist and being a resident, even if only for four months, yield entirely different experiences.

Living in a foreign city means you get to know the area really well. You see the beautiful backstreets that you wouldn't typically see as a tourist!

2. Studying abroad might be better than working abroad.

            Waiting to graduate from college and hoping to work in another country to get your ‘abroad experience’ is not a bad idea by any means. In fact, I plan to move abroad after I finish up my last year of college. But working abroad and studying abroad are two different ball games.
         While this isn’t true for every academic institution, in general, study abroad programs tend to be a bit easier than your typical home institution coursework. In Korea, where academics are taken really seriously, I was both integrated into normal university classes as well as enrolled in courses specifically for exchange students. In Italy, I took classes at an institution that was designed specifically for study abroad students. In both cases, although in different ways, my semesters abroad were less intense than my semesters at my home university.

         For this reason, studying abroad allows you more time to travel, to explore the town or city you live in, to meet up with friends, to have fun. You have fall break, or spring break, and you are surrounded by other students who want to go out drinking and traveling, too. When you move abroad to work, a lot of those things disappear.

Also, college is one of the easiest times to get to experience living like a local in a foreign country. You have the support of your school, it's easier to get a student visa than a work visa, and you have a built in social circuit in your fellow classmates. Plus, you likely don't have to/can't worry about working while abroad so you have much more time to travel and enjoy the country. 

Just something to consider before you decide to save “living abroad” until later in life.

Studying abroad also means great new food!
(Gusta Pizza in Florence, Italy...they made mine into a heart! Awww :') )

If you can't tell already, I have strong bias on this matter. If you're considering studying abroad, my advice to you is to do it. Will everyone enjoy studying abroad? No. But will you learn something that you would never have the chance to by staying at home? Yes. Without a doubt. 

The choice is up to you, but just remember that being a student learner living in a foreign country is something different from other abroad experiences. A lot of the hesitations that people have about studying abroad are also solvable/avoidable, so don’t let one road block (cost, fear of being away from home, language barrier) deter you.

If you think you can’t study abroad but want to, read my next post. I’ll try to address some of people’s greatest hesitations about studying abroad.

Thanks for reading and happy travels! ;)

-A

P.S. If you have any hesitations about studying abroad that you want addressed in my next post, leave a comment below and I’ll try to help!

Missing Florence...

It's no secret that I'm a compulsive traveler.

I was lucky enough to have studied abroad not once, but TWICE, in college. My first study abroad was in Seoul, South Korea in 2013. The following year, this year, I got to go abroad again. This time to Florence, Italy.

Il Fiume Arno in Florence, Italy

I had traveled quite a bit before throughout Asia, but this was my first time setting foot in Europe. I was warned that my study abroad experience in Florence would be nothing like my time spent in Seoul. I took the heads up, packed my one large suitcase, and boarded a flight to Italy on my own.

I was scared, I didn't know a single person in Florence and I wasn't completely confident in my ability to meet people and make friends. My first time abroad I went with my best friend. Sure, we made friends, I even met my ex-boyfriend there, but I always knew that I had someone there who I knew, and who knew me, to go through everything with me. The culture shock, making new friends, navigating a new city. I always had a sidekick.

Tiny Tim aka Michelangelo's "David" (wink wink wink)

When I arrived in Florence, I was more than just a little nervous. I had a full on panic attack the first couple days, doubting whether my housemates and I would get along, wondering what I had gotten myself into. I had the same meltdown my first night in Seoul. It's normal, it's natural, but that doesn't mean it's not still nerve-wracking. 

After seven months apart, my then boyfriend flew in from France to see me my second weekend there. I thought it would be a huge comfort, but in the end it really just made me extremely homesick after he left. I had gotten to spend the weekend with a familiar face when I was still fresh in Florence, and his departure felt like I was starting from scratch in Florence.

View of Florence from 'up the hill'. Florence is much prettier from above.

The first month or so was a bit painful for me. I hadn't found anyone I truly clicked with, and since I only had a semester there, I was afraid that I would go through my whole semester without having made any true friends. Everyone was solidifying their friend groups and booking their trips for the whole semester, and I felt a bit....lonely.

But a few weeks before spring break, I met someone in one of my classes who would eventually become my favorite travel partner. Right after spring break, I met a couple more girls who I spent almost every night out with. What began as a sort of bleak experience blossomed into a seriously self-affirming one. 

I did something I thought I was incapable of. I went to a foreign country alone and came out of it with some of the best experiences and people who I know will be lifelong friends.

Florence, Italy at sunset.

I miss Florence. But not in the way you'd think. While I loved my time abroad, Florence never became my city. It never felt like a second home and it isn't a place that I feel I will find my way back to.

And yet, I have such a strong connection to the city. It taught me how to be a good traveler and that I can make friends. It taught me that it is possible to escape home and find yourself in an even more ill-fitted place. It taught me that having a good experience isn't about loving where you are, but about learning something about yourself.

I learned a lot about myself in those four months, and for that, I will always love Florence.

-A

Sound Off: Have any of you studied abroad? Lived abroad? From another country? I'm planning on moving out of the U.S. after I graduate from college and would love to hear about any of your stories. Maybe you'll inspire me to move to your favorite country! Let me know in the comments below.

Craving Permanency...

I've spent most of the past three years of my life away from home. And yet, I haven't really built a home anywhere else.

I'm from the Pacific Northwest, go to school in California, and studied abroad, twice. Once in Seoul, South Korea, and once in Florence, Italy. It's an awesome life, I'm totally aware. I've had the chance to live in four amazing and different places in the past few years and I now have friends and stories from all over the world. That's not what I'm complaining about. But yes, I am complaining.

Because as awesome as it is to lead the life of a wanderer, to feel nomadic and like the whole world is my home, it also feels sort of...transient? Intangible? Unreal? I haven't spent enough time in one place so the past few years of my life have resulted in a sort of collection of many acquaintances. What I now realize I'm lacking is a home base. There is nowhere that I feel like I have a strong sense of community. You're part of a GLOBAL community. Don't be ungrateful. 

From Where I Stand: London's Princess Diana Memorial Walk

Ah, yes. I understand. And I don't mean to be all #firstworldproblems up in here (hurr*). But the truth of the matter is, humans aren't really meant to be alone. We aren't lone wolves, we are people who are meant to live in communities and form meaningful relationships with others.

I love my life. I love traveling and I actually have plans to continue traveling for the next few years at least. But there are always pros and cons and one huge con to constantly moving your life around is that it is really hard to maintain your relationships.

We're lucky to have Skype, Facebook, iMessage, Myspace (throwback reference), but they will NEVER be sufficient replacements for face-to-face contact, and I can say that with confidence after a year-long long distance relationship. Technology cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, be a replacement for the real deal (another topic for another day).

So while I am lucky to have met everyone in my life that I have, at the end of the day, there are only a couple people I can call up in any one city to actually hang out with. And while it's difficult, but not impossible, to maintain relationships with such a nomadic lifestyle, it's  basically out of the question to try to form any romantic relationships. Why bother when I know I will be picking up and moving in a year or so?

I believe I'm a traveler at heart, inflicted by wanderlust and destined to roam at least mentally, if not physically, for life. I've gotten to meet people from all over the country and all over the world. But at the end of the day, I'm kind of lonely. In high school, I detested being stuck in one city my whole life. 

Now, sometimes I crave the feeling of permanency. 

Indulging in Big Dreams

Kids with big dreams are encouraged. Adults with big dreams are scoffed at. 

When you're a kid and you say you want to be the president, an astronaut, even Superman, teachers and parents and adults smile big and tell you with complete sincerity, "If you believe it, you can achieve it."

But when you're about to graduate from college and tell people about your big dreams, suddenly they're not inspiring, they're impractical. When are you going to start thinking about your career? Don't you want to do something practical and stable? It's not a viable option unless you can make money. Forget about having your big dreams supported as an adult if they're not sensible. It was cute when you were five but, when are you going to start growing up?

Taken in Notting Hill, London

It really bothers me that the question I get from everybody now that I'm a senior in college is, "So what do you want to do?" 

What do I want to do? I don't know. I guess I want to travel, I want to see the world, I want to take advantage of being young and go out to clubs before I get too old to be there. I want to fall in love over and over with different people and I want to take up cooking, no painting, no bartending. 

But that's not what you meant, is it? You mean what am I going to do as a post-grad to start building a "real" life for myself. What am I going to do as a career. What am I going to do to be a sensible, full-fledged adult. 

I know what you mean, but that's not how I will answer your question. What do I want to do? I want to live. I want to move abroad for a few years and teach English in another country. No, it won't help me build my career. No, I won't be making bank. But since when is that the most valuable thing in life?

My senior year of high school, I would hate going to family functions because I would inevitably get all the questions about which colleges I had gotten into and what I would major in. As a future film student, telling people that I would be majoring in film was not exactly "practical". And now, as a college senior without any clue as to what I want to do career wise, I find myself placed in the same situation. 

STOP. ASKING. ME. 

Not because I am ashamed of my answer, but because you will be ashamed for me. 

-A