As a freshman in college it seems like you must plan out the rest of your life right now and everything around you is moving at the speed of light. You must plan for next semester, figure out living situations, start thinking about internships, passing classes, and study abroad if you want. Study abroad is an amazing opportunity the we can take where we can study in another country for an extended period of time. Being able to have this experience gives you so many things, you learn about a new place, you learn a new way of life, and you are thinking about more than just yourself. There are so many different places you could go and visit, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, China, just to name a few. When people think about study abroad there are many variables to consider both good and bad.
In class we read a book called “Waiting to be Heard” by Amanda Knox. This book touched upon some of scary realities of studying abroad. She talked about how it was scary being in a new place and not knowing anyone and having to learn a new place without anyone telling you where to go, how to act, or what to say. When you are in a new country in this way you completely immerse yourself in not only their culture but also their lifestyles and way of life. In the book she ends up getting arrested for a crime she did not commit. One of the differences between where she went, and America is that you are guilty until proven innocent which is the opposite of what we believe. It is also scary because you may not really know anyone. A major component of studying abroad is the cost. Since we are all already college students, we are all spending a lot of money just on going to a school in the United States so paying extra to go to another country is not always an option because it can get very pricey.
After talking about all the bad and scary parts of studying abroad there are some amazing things. To start of although it can cost more money many schools offer scholarships that help pay for some or all of the trip, so that way it is cheaper for you and more people are able to get the experience. Another reason it is something everyone should try to do at some point is because it gives you life experience that you don’t get from just traveling around the United States. You get to learn about new food, new ways of living, and different views on life.
For our last project this semester we worked in a group to create a poster all about a study abroad trip the is being run by Bloomsburg University. To complete this project, we went and talked to the head of study abroad trips and was able to ask him all about the little things that go into planning, preparing, and deciding to study abroad. He brought up certain things that we did not even think about how there are different types of study abroad. You can do a semester, or just a couple weeks, or even a full year, or you can do an exchange program where you basically trade places with a student from another school. There was also the fact that you would have to look at classes that are in English or they had a translator, unless you speak the language fluently enough. When putting together we also looked at other factors like currency because most other countries do not use dollars and cents like we do, and they are also not worth the same amount.
Being able to see how all of this works and how you can apply to get money made me want to study abroad even more. In my opinion if you can study abroad, I would take full advantage of it because you may not be able to get this type of experience anywhere else.
Jessica's Blog 