Is Study Abroad Right For You?

Ever since you were applying for colleges, you probably heard from a massive amount of people all the things that you should do while you are in college: Join a sorority, try out new classes in order to find yourself, join a club, explore, but how many people actually tell you to study abroad? How many people tell you to go outside of your comfort zone completely and leave everything you know behind in order to discover different parts of yourself? How many people tell you that they studied abroad and that getting lost was the best way they found themselves? I am completely biased about study abroad because I am currently studying abroad in London at Regent’s University in Regent’s Park. *Our landlady is the Queen, a little fun fact.* I will tell you a little story about myself, some things I have learned while studying abroad, and what I think about being on the other side of the world and you will tell me at the end of this whether or not you think that study abroad is right for you if you have been considering it.

So let’s back track shall we? When I was eight years old, my grandmother told me that we were going to London for a week in August in the summer of 2001 or 2002. This is a trip that changed me forever. I remember going to see Big Ben, Tower of London, riding on a double-decker bus, seeing the telephone booths, Harry Potter, and just overall falling in love with the city. I knew from that moment on, I have always wanted to come back and just explore this side of the world. Fast forward to getting older and going away to college: I realized that I wanted to study abroad more than anything. I wanted to leave everything I knew behind and go explore another side of the world. I wanted to meet new people and just do everything I could accomplish on my bucket list. I applied for study abroad in the Fall of 2014 and I got accepted. I was on top of the world! I arrived in London on 14 January 2015 on my own and I have loved it ever since.

Study abroad is not for everyone. I know people who came here for a week and then left because of financial reasons, missing home, or just simply did not want to be here anymore. Trust me, at first, I missed home. I missed my friends. I hated being away from my comfort zone more than anything but I realized that I had to do this. I absolutely had to do this because there would be no other time for me to do this.

Now, leaving is such a sad thing to even consider right now. While I have been here, I have experience so many different cultures including the English culture. I have been saying ‘mate,’ ‘toilet,’ ‘the pub,’ ‘the Tube,’ ‘mum,’ ‘jumper,’ ‘Cheers,’ putting ‘xs’ at the end of sentences, and loving fish and chips more than I realized I would. The atmosphere is much more relaxed than I imagined but the love for soccer/football, rugby, and cricket (which I still don’t understand but am trying to) is so intense that the movie, Green Street Hooligans, is probably based on a true story. Also, cursing over here is so open. I heard someone cuss out one of the Tube machines for a solid two minutes and saw no one bat an eyelash.

Traveling to London has been one of the adventurous trips I have ever done in my short (almost) 22 years of life. Seeing sights that bring people from all over the world together is a pretty amazing thing to realize while you are in a study abroad program. Everything over here is so much more different but you learn to love it. At university, you learn how to get around on your own and find new cool spots that you would probably not find in states. You learn how to not be afraid to go places alone. I have explored a lot of London on my own. Traveling is one of the biggest things you learn to love. Some people who study abroad strictly have gotten a passport just get over here. For some reason, traveling within Europe is cheaper than traveling in the states. Take full advantage of that. I know people who have gone to at least ten places since they got here and some have only been a two or three. Either way, study abroad is for yourself. So you have to discover the real reason why you are leaving your comfort zone. Whatever you decide, I just strongly advise that you make a bucket list and tell yourself that you will not leave your area without any regrets.

Let’s go back to last semester: I was in a pitiful state. I was depressed. I was anxious. I hated my major. I was working what felt like so hard but I felt like I accomplishing nothing towards my future or any of the goals I set for myself. I wanted to leave more than anything but to where I had no idea. I did not know what to do anymore with my life. I was so scared. Now, I am currently sitting outside on a bench in Regent’s Park in London, England, writing this article, with my new friends from Germany, London, and other places.

I am telling of all of you who are reading this that study abroad was the best decision I ever made. While I have been here, I have traveled Greece, Scotland, Spain, Czech Republic, France, and the Netherlands. I am traveling to Germany and Ireland as my final destinations. That’s nine countries in 4 months. I did not get to everywhere that I wanted to such as Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and other places, but I would not take back those trips for anything. I do not have a single regret and if you have gathered almost nothing from this article, I am urging all of you to study abroad. Prove to yourself that you can leave everything behind and throw yourself in a new culture. Meet new people. Travel. Learn things that you wouldn’t learn in a classroom. Fall in love with cities. Fall in love with people you never dreamed you would meet. Dance in the streets. Eat yourself into a food coma from too many macrons or gyros or haggis or too much gelato. Learn to love yourself all over again. Prove to yourself that you can do it. You will miss your friends, you will miss home, you will miss everything about the American culture but this is worth it. I came to this side of the world with no one from my school, not knowing how to prepare myself for this amazing adventure, but I did it. You can too! Getting lost was the best way that I found myself.

“Die with memories, not with dreams.”