Everyone remembers watching The Lizzie McGuire Movie and dreaming about going to the Trevi Fountain or watching The Suite Life on Deck just to dream about traveling the globe to study. A lot of students choose to study abroad for the experience of seeing another culture or country. It’s a great opportunity that I highly advise anyone to take.
I’m on track to go abroad in the fall. I plan to travel through CEA to Westminster University in London. My family travels a lot and I’ve never traveled alone. Frankly, the idea of it is rather terrifying. I took my first solo flight to Florida in December as a sort of preface for the eight hours flight to London. I felt that studying abroad was a good way to solo travel because you’re never really without a plan. I’ll still have classes and I have friends nearby in England. My parents are very encouraging for me to go (especially my mother, we went to Europe last spring together, read about it here).
The process isn’t easy and the cost isn’t either. When I began the process I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be and how much paperwork would be involved. There’s also a good handful of people you have to stay in frequent contact with- from both CEA and my home university. For starters, I have to apply through my university website and through CEAs website. It involves submitting information about insurance, transcripts, down payments; as well as a million other things.
You also have to get approved to take classes at your international university. For this process, you must find their syllabi from their class catalog. You then have to go to the head of your major department and then your advisor. When they approve the classes, you have to have it signed by the department head, your advisor and final registrar before you can actually enroll in those classes.
There are a lot of costs too. You have to pay a pre-decision fee, a tuition fee, a plane ticket, and then you have to pay to get a student visa. This is definitely a financial commitment.
It seems like a lot but I can’t wait to go! My parents, the faculty, and the people from CEA are all very helpful throughout the entire process. I’m very excited to go and all the opportunities that’ll come with it. Don’t let the work scare you off!