Though I don’t know first-hand yet, I’ve heard that going abroad can be life-changing. When I think about it, everyone I know and their mother have gone abroad, and not one has said that they didn’t have a rewarding or amazing experience. When you go abroad, you get to travel the world. There is no better time in your life to have a culturally enriching experience and to travel all over the world than when you’re 21. At 21, you’re poor enough, resilient enough and crazy enough to enjoy every experience. When you do study abroad, you also meet people that you’d never think you’d come across in your entire life. You very well may run into an old camp friend or a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend.
My sister went abroad to Florence last year and I can wholeheartedly say that she is a different person because of it. She is much more aware of her surroundings and definitely appreciates all that life has to offer a little bit more.
Studying abroad makes you grateful for what you have because you’re able to travel and see that not everyone has the same things as you, or can, for that matter. Going abroad also pushes you to grow up and learn life skills at the perfect age. At 21, you are desperate to go off and do your own thing, however, you are also often scared to go into the real world alone. Going abroad makes you take care of yourself. You have to visit a foreign pharmacy when you are sick, you must be responsible for your work with no one there to watch you and you have to force yourself to step out of your comfort zone.
I never thought my sister would ever go skydiving, and just when I thought she wouldn’t be able to surprise my family anymore, she did. After skydiving, my sister said that it was a life-changing experience that she wishes everyone would do, and she was so glad that she actually pushed herself and went through with it.
Though there is a big population of students at Muhlenberg who go “Abroad in Allentown”, I truly believe that going abroad to a new country is imperative for a full college experience.