As you graduate from high school and prepare to enter college, a question you’ll begin to hear is one well worth considering: are you going to study abroad?
It’s an important question, and one you haven’t really thought about during the rush of trying to get into college in the first place. And eventually you seriously ask yourself: should I study abroad? The answer is easy: Absolutely.
Most people study abroad for a semester or a full year during their junior year, with some opting to go abroad their sophomore year. Whether it’s learning another language or taking a course relevant to your major, living in another country is a fantastic experience and opportunity that, for the most part, only college offers.
Before I started college, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a gap year and study abroad. I must admit, when I first realized my gap year was definite, I wasn’t thrilled. I wanted to go off to college and begin the seemingly most important four years of my life. I didn’t want to be a year behind my graduating classmates, and I had no idea how I would spend all my newfound free time.
The possibilities were endless, and for high school graduates, where the world is, for the first time completely open to anything and everything, left too much up in the air. The possibilities seemed a little too broad, and a little overwhelming. Nonetheless, I was determined to make my year off a productive one, and looking back on it now, it was one of the most important and positive years of my life. Summarizing my year, I was able to study abroad in Seoul (South Korea), Beijing (China), and intern in Washington D.C.
Put perhaps a little too simply, my gap year changed my whole perspective on education, work, social relationships, and life - not to sound too cliche. I believe students and kids today are extremely rushed - in education, athletics, social lives, etc. We never get a break - a difficult challenge for young, hopefully excelling students. Studying abroad teaches you so much more on life than simply studying and spending time in classrooms. Don’t misunderstand me, education is important - but so is adjusting to life after and without school, and more scarily, becoming an adult.
On my travels, I was able to meet hundreds of incredibly interesting people, where I was exposed to multiple cultures, mindsets, and lifestyles. I went to exotic, unusual, and diverse places. I had adventures and experiences I never would’ve imagined. In essence, it felt like a year long vacation.
But this vacation also taught me more on living independently, to a much stronger extent than high school life. While I felt I was continuously growing throughout my travels, it never felt like I was growing up too much, or too fast. Without school, I grew up and learned in the real world on my own pace, my own time. And that led itself to its own rewards and satisfactions. I learned more about myself than I ever would have thought outside a school setting. And taking time off helped me realize how burned out I was after high school. It wasn’t until I was able to take a step back and look at the broad scope of everything that I realized how important the time off was. And by the end of it, I felt more prepared for college than ever.
If I would’ve gone straight to college after high school, all the new opportunities and classes all at once would’ve been extremely overwhelming. I would’ve never felt I’d taken advantage of all college has to offer, because how could I possibly do everything I wanted? But my gap year taught me how to live and work at my own pace, and helped me feel more relaxed going through it - and more importantly, not rushed. College goes by so fast. It’s hard to feel like you’ve taken advantage of everything. It will never feel perfect. So the best you can get is pretty close, and while I feel I was pretty close my freshman year, I know I can do even more, so I can’t imagine how I would’ve felt without the gap year. And I realized that everyone should be able to experience this. Everyone should be able to study abroad, to learn more about the world, and maybe most importantly, take a break from the endless, year after year grind of education.
College gives you the rare opportunity to travel internationally and study in another country. People aren’t lying when they say you only have this opportunity in school. I think you have to take it, as you’ll learn so much more than you think, and the things you learn cover so many different aspects of life. There’s so much of the world to see. Wherever it may be, there are other cultures, other nations for you to explore. So what's stopping you?
