Why I Encourage Other Students to Study Abroad

Recently I was asked this very simple question, “Why do you encourage students to study abroad?”  I could talk about this for hours and hours to be completely honest.  I find myself doing just that when I get together with my friends who also went abroad.  We all go into it with an anticipation of how we will change from this experience.  Until you go through it first hand, you really don’t know the full impact it will have, and let me tell yeah, I was shocked.

For me, It really changed the person I was.  In my opinion, I’d say it’s for the better.  Even as cliche as it might seem, I feel like a completely different person than who I was last September.  My goals, thoughts, and overall motivations in life have shifted. I no longer focus on things that have little significance in my life or things I can’t control.  Because let’s be real, life is just too short to be anything but happy, as cheesy as it sounds. I also have an open-mindedness that I wish I had before. I came back more confused than ever about what I wanted in my future, but that’s because now I have the confidence to do what I really want, instead of following what everyone else does.

So many people do the exact same thing once they graduate college.  Jump straight into the real world, focus on getting a good job and making money.  I am not putting this down in the slightest.  That’s how I thought of my future before going abroad.  But once I returned, I realized that’s not the only option I have.  In fact, doing what makes me happy should be my main priority.

Personally, I know exactly what that is, and as of right now I fully intend to do just that.  I realized more than anything how young I really was, and how I still have so much life to live.  Now I am not running away from any type of obligations like a career or anything like that, but I know that if I wanted to go abroad again before diving into corporate America, that is not an unrealistic goal.

So with that being said, you can see why I fully support this kind of experience. For some college students, this decision might be a lot harder, especially if they have never traveled before. Now that I have reflected on the outcome from my year, here is my two cents on why I encourage other students to go abroad. This next entry came directly from an essay question for my university back in California.

“By the young age of 15, I knew without any hesitation that I wanted to participate in a study abroad program. Visiting foreign countries, learning different customs and cultures, and meeting people from around the world have always sparked an interest in me. I signed up to study abroad for a full year with some uncertainty. I knew if it wasn’t everything I had hoped and dreamed, I’d have no other choice but to stick with my decision for the next nine months of my life, which seemed like a heavy commitment.

Now that I have returned, I can say with every fiber of my body that going abroad for a year of my life was the most positive and influential decision I have ever made. I can think open-mindedly and also have a willingness to learn about the world we live in. Going abroad has pushed me into situations where I was forced to go outside of my comfort zone, but it always left me with an invaluable lesson. I saw the world from a new perspective and now I wake up every morning with a different outlook on life.

The lessons I learned from studying abroad will guide me throughout my lifetime. But I will also say, these lessons and experiences just cannot be learned in a classroom. In my opinion, these teachings don’t expand on your academic knowledge, but rather in an individual’s character, drive, and understanding of our place in the world. If more people could see life through other’s perspective, like traveling has done for me, then individuals would be more accepting of others and would be more driven in life to find their own true happiness.

That is why I am a firm believer that all college students should travel abroad. In my personal experience, I have grown so much as an individual from the last year I spent traveling in Europe. Being immersed in a culture other than your own is such an eye opening experience and just cannot be obtained while staying in your home country.

Students are at the perfect time in their life to embark on this kind of journey. This is a very crucial time in a student’s life that can influence the path they choose for the rest of their lives. That is why it is important to have this experience while still in college. It is fascinating to hear the opinions of professors and fellow students who come from different countries from around the world. This kind of exposure should really be valued while acquiring an education.

Ever since I have come back from my studies abroad, I have made it my goal to encourage others to participate in this kind of experience. These crucial and vital lessons that I gained while studying abroad has completely molded me into a better version of myself that I truly believe could not have been obtained any other way.”