As a senior in high school, as I began applying to colleges, one of my top requirements was a school with a study abroad program. Then, as year after year began to pass me by, I continued to find reasons that it wouldn’t work out: it was too expensive, it would set me behind my planned graduation date, I’m not brave enough to go to a foreign country on my own, I can’t speak the language well enough, probably some other reason I made up. The list just went on. But as I got closer to the end of my college career, I realized I was running out of time and remembered my senior high school self who made study abroad a priority when applying to universities. So, I applied to study abroad for a summer program in Paris, France and didn’t have a single regret (besides maybe leaving Europe to come back to the states and go back to school). And now here I am, writing to you, about why YOU should study abroad too.
See the World
First and foremost, if it was self-explanatory enough, you get to see the world. No matter where you choose to study, you will get to experience a completely new way of life. If you study abroad in Europe or Asia, it’s super easy to hop on a train and visit approximately as many countries as you have time for. (Seriously, why is the North American transportation not that easy?) So why not start crossing off those places on your bucket list now!
Grow
Besides seeing the world, you will go through immense personal growth. Thought you had become as awesome as you already could? Wrong. As you experience new cultures, displacing you from your comfort zone, you will have to adapt. In turn, you be a more well-rounded and worldly you. In addition, you will grow educationally, which brings me to reason número tres.
Learn
Obviously, it’s called STUDY abroad. You will be learning in a completely new environment from international professors who may teach you much more than our UH professors. But more than that, you will learn outside of the classroom. You will have a whole new perspective, learning about new cultures, traditions, languages, and más.
Meet New People
I met people from all over the world: Spain, Finland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Mexico, Columbia, India, and Kazakhstan (I honestly didn’t even know this was a country before this summer). And that’s only the beginning. It was amazing to see everyone in my program—international students of different races and cultures, completely different backgrounds—working together, disregarding country stereotypes without any sort of bias toward each other. Now will Nicolás from Spain and I be lifetime bffs? No, but I will continue to comment on his Instagram stories telling him how bougie he is.
It’s NOT Impossible
It’s a common misconception that study abroad is WAY more expensive than it actually is. I mean if you choose to study abroad over the summer, like I did, then yeah oc it’s more expensive because you’re paying for a summer session you wouldn’t normally be paying for. HOWEVER, with that being said, the UHM Study Abroad Center website lists tuition price comparisons for all of their semester programs. You can apply for scholarships (check out the ASUH Study Abroad Scholarship) and financial aid to help with costs. The advisors in the SAC are also great and lots of help when it comes to this.
ALSO. Aside from costs, language barriers aren’t impossible to break either. I studied Spanish in school, not French. So, I promise once you get over any culture shock, you’ll be able to order food in no time. No seriously, you have to eat, so you’ll have to figure it out eventually. And speaking of food…
New food
If these reasons weren’t enough to convince you, maybe food will be. You get to try tons of new food you’d never try at home. ‘Nuff said.
I could go on and on with more reasons. But ultimately, the moral of the story: why tf not study abroad? I’ve given you enough reasons. There are no excuses now. 12/10 people recommend. Just do it. Stop reading and go apply already! Still not convinced? Just listen to Shia LaBeouf.