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| Budapest, Hungary |
(BACKGROUND INFO: ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I MADE THE DECISION TO STUDY ABROAD. HERE IS A PEEK INTO THE 6 MONTHS OF MY LIFE THAT I SPENT IN GERMANY, AND SOME LESSONS THAT I LEARNED ALONG THE WAY.)
STUDYING ABROAD COMES WITH MANY QUESTIONS, AND HERE IS MY BEST SHOT AT ANSWERING A COUPLE OF THEM FOR YOU.
STUDYING ABROAD COMES WITH MANY QUESTIONS, AND HERE IS MY BEST SHOT AT ANSWERING A COUPLE OF THEM FOR YOU.
1. WHO SHOULD STUDY ABROAD?
Not me, surely not me. This was my initial thought when I first heard about studying abroad early my freshman year of college. See, I used to be the type of person whose worst fear was to pack up my whole life and move, especially across the world. I had spent all of my life in the tiny corner of the world called North West Arkansas. Over the past 6 months, however, I have realized that I am exactly the person that needs to study abroad.
Not me, surely not me. This was my initial thought when I first heard about studying abroad early my freshman year of college. See, I used to be the type of person whose worst fear was to pack up my whole life and move, especially across the world. I had spent all of my life in the tiny corner of the world called North West Arkansas. Over the past 6 months, however, I have realized that I am exactly the person that needs to study abroad.
Here’s why: Perspective.
Those of us that have spent all of our lives in one place are especially the type of people who must go abroad. As with most people, I had only experienced other places and cultures through vacation. The fact of the matter is, that without living in another place, you begin to believe that your little world is the entire world. Reading about German car companies in the Economist is a little different than hearing leaders of these companies give guest lectures in class. As I found out, it is simply not enough to read about these places and the happenings in them. At some point, you just have to pack up your suitcase and dive into the adventure. Studying abroad is a beautifully humbling experience where you realize just how small you are and how big the world really is.
(Really cheesy, I know, but doesn’t make it any less true!!)
Those of us that have spent all of our lives in one place are especially the type of people who must go abroad. As with most people, I had only experienced other places and cultures through vacation. The fact of the matter is, that without living in another place, you begin to believe that your little world is the entire world. Reading about German car companies in the Economist is a little different than hearing leaders of these companies give guest lectures in class. As I found out, it is simply not enough to read about these places and the happenings in them. At some point, you just have to pack up your suitcase and dive into the adventure. Studying abroad is a beautifully humbling experience where you realize just how small you are and how big the world really is.
(Really cheesy, I know, but doesn’t make it any less true!!)
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| My first look at WHU, my exchange university! |
2. WHEN DO YOU GO?
Now. Ok…maybe not now, but make the decision to go, and do it soon. If you keep putting something like this off, you will never go. That’s just the way these types of things work. But this is probably not news to you. So, plan ahead. The earlier that you decide to go, the more of an advantage you have in planning. Here is where you may be able to learn a bit from my mistakes. I paid for an entire semester of rent for an apartment that I never lived in. Had I known that I was going to study abroad earlier, I obviously would have taken a different lease, or sub-leased my apartment to someone else. I also bought subscriptions and memberships for 12 months that I only used for 6. By planning ahead it is super easy to avoid losing this money. Put simply: decide what you want now, and put the plan to action soon.
Another aspect of the “when” is: What year in college? I did my exchange program in the second semester of my junior year. Personally, I think that this is the perfect time. Had I gone any earlier, I don’t think that it would be the same fulfilling experience simply because my maturity level was not there in my earlier college years. An exchange is a very independent process where you have few, if any, people from your university that are traveling with you. There are many other options for earlier in college where you can study abroad with faculty and peers. Also with maturity, I found an independence. This helped me greatly when traveling in big cities. I can’t imagine little college freshman me navigating alone through London and Paris with the fierceness and confidence that I had this spring. By junior year, you are pretty far enough in your college career that you (a) may need a little break to remind yourself how much you love your university or/and (b) have taken enough classes to know that you are a little ahead and can afford a semester away. This might have just been my case, but maybe some others can relate. At the beginning of college, most people are just finding out who they really are. When going abroad it is a bit easier to make friends when you have a foundation of who you are apart from circumstances. While study abroad does help further develop this foundation, it is important for it to somewhat be there in the first place.
Now. Ok…maybe not now, but make the decision to go, and do it soon. If you keep putting something like this off, you will never go. That’s just the way these types of things work. But this is probably not news to you. So, plan ahead. The earlier that you decide to go, the more of an advantage you have in planning. Here is where you may be able to learn a bit from my mistakes. I paid for an entire semester of rent for an apartment that I never lived in. Had I known that I was going to study abroad earlier, I obviously would have taken a different lease, or sub-leased my apartment to someone else. I also bought subscriptions and memberships for 12 months that I only used for 6. By planning ahead it is super easy to avoid losing this money. Put simply: decide what you want now, and put the plan to action soon.
Another aspect of the “when” is: What year in college? I did my exchange program in the second semester of my junior year. Personally, I think that this is the perfect time. Had I gone any earlier, I don’t think that it would be the same fulfilling experience simply because my maturity level was not there in my earlier college years. An exchange is a very independent process where you have few, if any, people from your university that are traveling with you. There are many other options for earlier in college where you can study abroad with faculty and peers. Also with maturity, I found an independence. This helped me greatly when traveling in big cities. I can’t imagine little college freshman me navigating alone through London and Paris with the fierceness and confidence that I had this spring. By junior year, you are pretty far enough in your college career that you (a) may need a little break to remind yourself how much you love your university or/and (b) have taken enough classes to know that you are a little ahead and can afford a semester away. This might have just been my case, but maybe some others can relate. At the beginning of college, most people are just finding out who they really are. When going abroad it is a bit easier to make friends when you have a foundation of who you are apart from circumstances. While study abroad does help further develop this foundation, it is important for it to somewhat be there in the first place.
3. WHERE SHOULD YOU GO?
What country / school to go and where to travel once you are there are the two “Where” questions that I will address. Since I studied in Europe, this will mostly be speaking to places there.
When I first sat down in my new little apartment with the intention to plan some trips around Europe, it felt like the world was at my fingertips. Every noteworthy landmark and piece of art that I had dreamed of for years, was just a 50€ (Or less) plane ride away, and I had a whole six months to take advantage of this opportunity. Sure enough, I spend a decent amount of time at first visiting these famous places.
I went to the Eiffel Tower,
visited Buckingham Palace,
I saw Mona Lisa,
and basically every other place you can think of,
When I first sat down in my new little apartment with the intention to plan some trips around Europe, it felt like the world was at my fingertips. Every noteworthy landmark and piece of art that I had dreamed of for years, was just a 50€ (Or less) plane ride away, and I had a whole six months to take advantage of this opportunity. Sure enough, I spend a decent amount of time at first visiting these famous places.
I went to the Eiffel Tower,
visited Buckingham Palace,
I saw Mona Lisa,
and basically every other place you can think of,
but these were not the places where I fell in love. About two months into the study abroad, I decided to slow down.
The Rhine at sunset,
The Rhine at sunset,
the little markets in Poland,
the flowers in the trees in Spain,
the Italian seaside,
these are the moments that I loved most.
In these moments I was given perspective. When you stand in the middle of a place in which you cannot understand a single word spoken around you, yet you still feel the beauty of the place, this is perspective. This is a gift. I encourage you to not just go places for the things that you may see there, but go places for the way that the environment feels as a whole. With each trip, give yourself time to truly know the city. This cannot be done with the tourist, consumer mindset. It won’t always be the biggest and famous cities that you will connect with most, and this goes for anywhere, even beyond just a study abroad to Europe.
Where you go, in terms of school is another story completely. I know that the power is not completely in your hands, as there is usually some sort of application process with each study abroad. Do your research, and make sure that you are culturally compatible with the country that you are studying abroad in. That is, if you want a super easy transition, like I had. (On the other hand, it may be fun to be indulged in a completely different culture, I just have no experience with this to speak to.) For me, it was extremely beneficial to study in Germany because I found myself very at home with the culture. On weekends that I would travel to places that were very different, I found a bit of peace every time that I got to return to my little German village, Vallendar.
If you have made it this far, I thank you for reading and taking interest in my journey. This is just a small piece of the whole that I may be expanding on in later posts, but thank you for sharing this moment with me to read.
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| Kraków, Poland |
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| Santiago de Compostela, Spain |
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| Cavallino-Treporti, Italy |
In these moments I was given perspective. When you stand in the middle of a place in which you cannot understand a single word spoken around you, yet you still feel the beauty of the place, this is perspective. This is a gift. I encourage you to not just go places for the things that you may see there, but go places for the way that the environment feels as a whole. With each trip, give yourself time to truly know the city. This cannot be done with the tourist, consumer mindset. It won’t always be the biggest and famous cities that you will connect with most, and this goes for anywhere, even beyond just a study abroad to Europe.
Where you go, in terms of school is another story completely. I know that the power is not completely in your hands, as there is usually some sort of application process with each study abroad. Do your research, and make sure that you are culturally compatible with the country that you are studying abroad in. That is, if you want a super easy transition, like I had. (On the other hand, it may be fun to be indulged in a completely different culture, I just have no experience with this to speak to.) For me, it was extremely beneficial to study in Germany because I found myself very at home with the culture. On weekends that I would travel to places that were very different, I found a bit of peace every time that I got to return to my little German village, Vallendar.
If you have made it this far, I thank you for reading and taking interest in my journey. This is just a small piece of the whole that I may be expanding on in later posts, but thank you for sharing this moment with me to read.
Accounting major Sophia Storkov spent the spring 2018 semester in Germany with our U of A Exchange program at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management.
Read more from Sophia at https://sophiastorkov.wordpress.com/
Don't wait. Make plans for your semester or year abroad today! Find your program today at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
