As the carpet of the academic year begins to roll further and further to an end, I have been speaking to quite a few students about their plans for the coming summer and fall semesters. Many students seem to have their eyes on sights a bit farther from home and, as deadlines for applications are looming, here are a few thoughts on why you might choose to study abroad.
There’s no one reason that I can pinpoint in my persuading, but I can advise you to think of the positives. There are a hundred excuses to stay within your comfort zone – believe me, I tried them all out on myself before taking off to the deep South. “I don’t have the money,” and “I won’t understand how to fill out the paperwork,” and even “It’s easier to stick with the familiar rather than having to start over somewhere new.” But none of these excuses were really enough to stop me making the decision to study abroad.
In reality, it’s an opportunity I knew I would never have again. First of all, this is the only time in your life you will have the help and resources of your home university to help you organize your time abroad and to guide you in getting together the financial and legal requirements needed. There’s no way – with my idealistic and creative mind – that I would have had the ability to realize this trip without the help of both my home and abroad institutions. So take advantage.
Secondly, financially, there is so much support out there. Scholarships are offered for almost anything these days and as long as you are looking in the right places, studying abroad doesn’t have to cost the earth (if you will excuse the pun). To me, and as I’m sure it is to many others, this was one of the biggest hurdles to my decision, until I sat down and looked into all the different kinds of support I could take advantage of. It just takes time.
That’s the material side. But the more personal side of it all needs a little consideration. Experience is the best way to learn, and so for as long as you can be moving forward in as many directions as possible, I would say do it – this means in terms of academia and the world outside the library. Studying abroad covers both these aspects. And, despite a few lonely hours and a newly required state of independence, moving in new social circles and settling in (after a few weeks of severe culture shock) is never as daunting as it first seems. In fact, you learn just as much about yourself in those first few weeks as you do about your new surroundings.
It is never an easy decision, and some people arrive at a college or university with the intent to study abroad. Others – like me – grow into the decision over the first few semesters. To me, it’s something to take away on top of my degree, not just as part of it. It’s an individual journey, but you’re never alone in making it. I suppose what I am trying to say is, do it if you can. And then when you are there, in the experience, do everything you can to make the most of it.
Lucy Cheseldine is an English international student studying English literature. Her column runs weekly on Tuesdays.
Leading in today’s Crimson White:
Forensic Council to hold showcase before competition
