Nearly everyone today has or has had some dream involving traveling the world and experiencing anything outside of their hometown. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to study abroad through my university and experience this once in a lifetime opportunity. When I decided I wanted to study abroad for a semester, I instantly second guessed my decision. How was I gonna handle being away from all my friends and family for well over four months? How bad would my fear of missing out on my college experience be? There were so many things that I thought I would be missing out on. Whether that was my sisters first year of college, recruitment for my sorority, homecoming, or even Halloween; it gave me anxiety not being there to experience what I felt were important events. Even with all of these worries in my mind, I decided to stick to my decision. By doing so, I was able to learn that studying abroad was the greatest choice I could have made in my college career.
You will probably never get this opportunity again.
When they say that this is a once in a lifetime experience, they are absolutely right. Let's be real: when we graduate college, we all typically go right to our permanent future careers and never get the chance to take months of vacation time just to travel the world. By studying abroad, you not only get to keep up with school and graduating on time, but you also get to vacation the entire time. You get to take weekend trips with both old and new friends to cities and countries that you have only been able to see in pictures and movies. The one place I have always dreamed of going to was one of those little colorful cities right off of the sea, where I could swim in the beautiful waters. By studying abroad, I was able to see one of those cities and hang out on its beach one of the first weekends I was here. You get the freedom to see whatever your heart desires, and that is the true beauty of studying abroad.
You get to learn a completely new culture.
When you first arrive to where you chose to study, you will either fall in love with the culture or hate it but gradually accept its beauty. For example, I hated how everyone spoke a different language than me when I came to Italy and hardly anyone understood what I was saying because many did not speak English. When you start to transition though, you learn to understand and almost blend in with the way that they live. Not everybody lives the way that Americans do, and that is perfectly fine. They may eat at different times of the day than you are used to or even dress in a completely different style than the people at home, but that is the beauty of studying in a different country. You get to learn a new way to living life, and in the long run, it will help build you as a person.
You will become a better person.
Studying abroad will broaden your horizons and truly expand who you are as a person. Being able to learn that not everyone in the world lives the same way that you do is probably the greatest possible lesson of all. When you get home from being abroad, you will have a new view of the different cultures that surround you in every day life. This will truly show who you have become as a person. You will begin to no longer take all of the opportunities that you receive at home for granted. Trust me, appliances such as microwaves and dryers are delicacies in most countries. Coming home to these items after hanging all my wet clothes up on a drying rack and only heating foods up on the stove for months felt like the greatest gift of all. You will also learn so many things about yourself that you never knew before. By studying abroad, you get to understand who you really are when put in a completely new area with new situations and to me, that is the best lesson of all.
If you get the chance to study abroad, TAKE IT.
Do not let anything hold you back if you ever get the opportunity to study abroad. Not your family, your significant other, your friends, and most importantly not yourself. You will never regret taking the chance to go to school while getting to travel the world at the same time. Trust me, I almost went home from studying abroad after the first week. In the end, I decided to stick it out and I wouldn't change my decision for anything.
I promise you this: if you ever get the chance to experience something as amazing as studying abroad, you will not regret it.
