Leaving home is scary, going abroad seems full of uncertainty and challenges, but believe me, it’s always worth it! To live abroad is to live a new life, and here are 10 reasons why I decided to go abroad when I was 15 and would do it again now!
- Learn a language
Learning a language is always a hard time, and there is actually no better way to learn than living among natives! Even if you start from scratch, just by living among people, you will learn eventually. You might not become fluent, but you won’t have to worry about communication anymore. Having an English accent while speaking another language is often the sexiest thing for natives, and coming back home with yet another skill is always a must!
2. Meet new people
By going abroad, you will obviously have to make new friends, meet new people and connect with people you would never have met at home. You’ll have to leave your routine behind and it will always be worth it as the people you meet abroad are often friends for life. Whether they’re other international like you are or natives, you will discover that the cultural and language barriers are not that much when it comes to bonding moments. Those people have so many things to teach you, and it’s a chance for them to meet you, and for you to meet them!
3. Discover new places
Living in another country is a great occasion to do intense tourism and travel around the location where you live. We often don’t realize how different landscapes can be, even cities and fields. Even the most common places become fantastic when they’re from another country. Grab your camera and take as many pictures! If you even want to start a blog, you’ll find yourself captivated by what places can say about people. You might learn so much just by hanging in there, looking around, and discovering countries, cities, places you had never even dreamt of!
4. Open your eyes and mind to new experiences
You cannot avoid the cultural shock when you go abroad, and it doesn’t matter that you choose to live in a Western country or on the other side of the world: every country has its own way of life and you will have to adapt to it. But that’s the fun part! By living abroad, you open your senses and mind to new things – and just the fact that you chose to go proves that you’re willing to learn from new experiences and expand your horizons. After this kind of experience, you will never be afraid to try new things and always be the first to break routine.
5. The Food
No offense to the United States, but I wouldn’t trust it to be the country with the most amazing food in the world. However, by going abroad, you’ll definitely experience another kind of kitchen, and another way of eating, too! Food is not only about the aliments you put on your plate but also about how you share your meals with others, how much time you spend at a table with your friends. Food is a complete social experience that will always be different from the one at home: you get to eat something different, with different people, and in a different way from home.
6. It always looks good on a CV
Now for more practical reasons: having lived abroad is always a good thing to write in your CV as it shows that you’re not afraid to take decisions and go through drastic changes in your life. A semester or a year abroad is a good means to show that you’re open-minded, and more often than not, that you’ve learned a language and are willing to open yourself up to different ideas. Employers look for this kind of asset as it is also a good topic of conversation, and you’d be surprised to see how many people actually do have experiences of life abroad they’re always happy to share!
7. You can start all over again
Ever wanted to ragequit everything and start your life from scratch all over again? Well, that’s how going abroad can feel if you want to. When you leave home for a place you’ve never been before, to live for a couple of months or even a year, in an unknown country with no strings attached, it can be a good opportunity to start everything again with the right foot. No one will have expectations nor previous relationships with you, and it’s up to you to display what you want to about yourself, set boundaries, and try new things. You can be a completely different person from home if you want to: they will never know!
8. The music
That’s not something we always think about, but if you’re interested in music, you’ll definitely have to look into that: every country has its own popular music, and yes, it’s not always American or British! Look for artists that will sing in another language, I can assure you it’s the funniest thing ever, and it can also help you learn a language!
9. The souvenirs and the stories
There is nothing like going to the other side of the world to build up new memories and live through things you will never get tired of talking about. You will most likely experience things that no one else in your circle of friends has, and you will want to talk about it all the time because you will hold everything close to your heart as you reflect on your time abroad. The need to share might be frustrating sometimes, but people are always very impressed when you can tell that you lived through this and survived!
10. Learn about yourself
Last but not least, going abroad is mostly about meeting yourself again. As we saw that you can start everything from scratch, it also allows you to take another, new, fresh, look at yourself. You might face situations you would have never expected, and find yourself with challenging times, but overcoming it and looking back at it, you will always grow from it and learn so many things about yourself and how you are actually very capable of handling your own life well. You might discover new personality traits about yourself or even change your way of thinking, and that’s perfectly okay! To grow as a person, going abroad is definitely one of the main reasons you should do it.
If you’re still not convinced, try asking the international students around your campus and make yourself your own opinion – or just go! And you’ll see what happens! (Spoiler: it’s great.)