by Kaylie Padgett, Knox College
If, at any time in the six months
before I left to study abroad, someone asked me if I was nervous, I replied,
yes, of course (because hello, everything about this is anxiety-producing, but
not always bad nerves). And then, when they inevitably asked, “What’re you most
nervous about?”, nine out of ten times I probably said, “Money.”
Because studying abroad is not
inexpensive. There are ways to ease the financial strain and make it as
manageable as possible, yes, but the nature of the entire endeavor costs money.
Flights cost money. School costs money. Groceries for a new apartment and
transportation for a new city cost money.
First off - I am so, so lucky.
Privileged, to have a family (and mother - my mom is the MVP in all of this)
who support my efforts as much as possible, and to have a school that works to
make studying abroad as relatively painless as I can. I am also thankful for
the gratitude of family friends, strangers, past-teachers - everyone who helped
support my time abroad.
Even with all of that, I worked
really, really hard to make this possible. I worked two pretty-much fulltime
jobs this summer, gave up holidays with my family, and was the person who
declined invites out to dinner because I didn’t want to spend the money on
so-so Chinese. There were times, with certain circumstances, that I thought it
wasn't going to happen. Where I came out of a meeting with the business office
of my school and cried, because I felt defeated and frustrated. I am a first
generation college student - the first person in my family to go to college,
let alone to study abroad. Navigating all of the forms and deadlines and prices
was a stressful process.
And now, almost done with my time
here, I would do it all again, because it was completely worth it.
I worried about the money
constantly, and in the end, it didn’t matter nearly as much as I thought it
would. Because the experiences were worth it, because the places I have been
are amazing, because, as one of my professors told us, when someone lamented
the price of a flight: “That’s what money’s for, isn’t it?”
There are ways to cut costs to make
the strain easier, too. Before even getting to Dublin, I applied for multiple
study abroad grants, both those through my school and those unaffiliated. Now
that I'm here, I’m a sworn Lidl-convert shopper, because I can get a week’s
worth of groceries for under 20 euro (and it also doesn’t hurt that Lidl is
literally underneath my apartment building). I’ve pledged to walk anywhere that
is under an hour, because even though the 2,50 bus fare doesn’t seem
significant, it adds up. All of the Dublin museums worth visiting are free.
There are still times, of course,
when the stress (and sometimes even shame) attached with financial strain get
to me. Recently, many of my classmates have had their family and friends visit
in Dublin, and there’s definitely envy that I’ve had to deal with. Getting me
to Dublin was hard enough, let alone considering my family travelling as well.
Regardless, all of this boils down
to: it all works out; eventually, somehow. I wish I could tell my December self
to stop worrying so much, that the money problems would fade away in the
backdrop that is the rest of this city. I can’t, but I can tell any prospective
study abroad students. If we are in the same boat, if the money is tight and
just keeps getting tighter, if you are working long hours and squirreling away
every dollar you can: I am so proud of you, and it is going to be so worth it.
I have cried (overwhelming, happy
cries) in corners all around Europe, and my bank account is shrinking, and the
past two years of savings are gone, but I’m not worried about it.
It’s worth it.
--
See more on the IESAbroad blog
If you need help getting started with study abroad, take a
look at the first steps: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/getting-started/first-steps.php.
For scholarships for study abroad, please check out http://studyabroad.uark.edu/funding.
