The college experience -- one of the many overarching prospects of entering college is living like one. Similar to what we see on television, we hope to live out the dream of work hard, play hard, and succeed. We want to partake in all activities in-between and garner a myriad of stories for our friends back home. This time may as well be the pinnacle of our curiosity: a liminal state in which we are young enough to be bold, self-centered and shake off inhibitions and old enough to form our own opinions and deviate from our upbringings to comprehend the world around us on an intensely personal level. However, where does the study abroad/going abroad experience fall into place within this mix of exciting new experiences? I’ve been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to participate in similar programs over the years, to which some of my acquaintances say, "Wow, I wish I had those opportunities, too”.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? The truth is that you do not have to be able to afford these trips; what it takes is some time and diligent research, because there are many programs floating around for people like you and me to snatch up for ourselves. Even if there needs to be money, there are many, many grants available for students to apply for. I believe that experiencing time abroad is core to one’s understanding of the greater world, not to mention it is quite addicting. Once you’ve been abroad yourself once, you become infected with the travel bug, and it truly lives within you from then on...and it is so worth the work.

#wanderlust

So, here’s a list of five programs for you all: these are some programs that I know you all can bookmark for this coming season's applications!

1. Youth for Understanding

In fact, I participated in this during my high school years - six weeks in Osaka, to be exact. This program basically serves as a portal between you and the many scholarships offered by big companies like Kikkoman, Toyota, etc. Of course, these are just for the Japanese programs (as far as my knowledge goes), but there are many programs that offer trips to Europe, South America, and other parts of Asia! What’s really exciting is that in the past few years, YFU has expanded its demographic to include college+ students, which translates into more opportunities for more people. I had a great experience with my host family, and the program’s emphasis on cultural immersion helped me come to realize that being part of a culture is not just knowing the language, but being like those who speak it.

2. CEA Study Abroad

I haven’t experienced this one yet, but I did come across this one during my research a few years back. With an extensive list of affiliations and accreditations, it does come off as pretty impressive. The interesting characteristic about CEA is that the program also offers possible internships abroad, which might satiate some of you guys’ resume appetites. Of course, regarding money, there are many scholarships and grants that are open! If anyone decides to do this, I’d actually love to hear a review!

3. National Security Language Initiative for Youth program (NSLI-Y to save our tongues the work...)

When I was seeking to be a candidate for a YFU program, many of my peers applied for this opportunity in conjunction with YFU. Even though this is a high school program, I’m compelled to share this because it is a government-funded program. This study abroad focuses on language acquisition paired with cultural immersion and truly sounds like an amazing experience. Did I already mention it’s government-funded? In other words, paid for!

4. IES Abroad (in which the acronyms start getting a little excessive...)

If you happen to be worried about quality of the programs, here’s something I found on this organization’s website:

“We are committed to placing the interests of our students first, to the delivery of superior academic programs, and to providing excellent service to our students and educational partners around the world. These are our highest priorities.We believe transparency, best practices, and maintaining the integrity of our business principles are in the best interests of our students, our global academic partners, and our organization. The governance structure of IES Abroad features a system of oversight characterized by consortium member and third party driven checks and balances.”

All the information you would possibly need to know about a study abroad is listed for you on its site, which is incredibly helpful, especially for those who haven’t participated in such a program before! IES Abroad is definitely amateur-friendly and engaging; just take time and do the research!

5. Those programs at Harvard, Yale, Princeton (other colleges, etc....)

I am sure there are a plethora of schools that have similar programs, but given the fact that I go to Princeton, I’m mostly confined to knowledge of opportunities relating to Princeton. Princeton actually offers many summer study abroad programs for college students looking to gain credits, so you are able to kick some requirement butt AND have a great time in another country. I participated in a program called “Princeton in Ishikawa” studying (you guessed it) Japanese, in which I was able to receive a year’s worth of language credit, all completed within eight weeks. It was an eye-opening experience in that this time around, I was able to travel to a different part of Japan and see its unique diversity. I digress, but these sort of programs are open to students who go to other universities. Please don’t be intimidated: in that Japanese program I participated in, 19 of the 42 students attended Princeton, we were all from different years, so I think there’s a shot worth taking! Harvard Summer School and Yale Summer Session offer similar programs (and many others, I am sure!), and I recommend them as a worthwhile summer experience that really comes close (maybe even beat) an internship!

Get on out there, travel bugs! I hope this helped some of you in deciding what to do!