College is a time in every young adult’s life where ups are downs, rights are left, and things overall don’t make sense. I mean, what about thousands of teens living together in a small city makes sense? In all of this confusing turmoil, why have I applied to study abroad? And why should you?
Don’t get me wrong, so many people write about studying abroad. It’s not uncommon, and a lot of students go into college knowing they want to! But as someone who was on the fence in freshman year, and did a complete 180, I want to tell you why simply applying has been the best decision of my life.
1. STUDY ABROAD IS A CHANCE AT CHANGE
As a current sophomore at UConn, I always pictured myself in a big city with bustling crowds. Boston, New York…anywhere but small town Storrs, CT. However, plans changed, and I ended up in a rural cow town. While I wouldn’t change my last one-and-a-half years here for the world, I’m looking to change my future. After almost two years on the same campus, life gets pretty monotonous. I walk to the same classes every day, I listen to the same music, and I work out at the same gym. My food options are limited, with dining halls I know and love (or hate), and places that are too far to get to without a car. In a way, I’m landlocked. As a wannabe city girl, that realization was almost nightmarish. That was until I realized studying abroad was an option for me. Scared at first, I didn’t want to research. The idea of going to a different country, with a different language, was a lot to process. It wasn’t until one slow weekend that I realized maybe scary change is what I need. Now, I can enjoy my time at UConn more, because I don’t feel as stuck. I have this prospect of city living in my future, and Florence is my current goal. A place that’s new, with restaurants at every corner, great club culture, and beautiful walkable streets. Going will give me a break from here, an amazing experience, and a chance to learn a new culture. When I come back, I can relish in UConn being new again!
2. STUDY ABROAD IS A NEW AND DIFFERENT EDUCATION
I am a Fine Arts student at the University of Connecticut. Niche, I know, but time-consuming nonetheless. The education I have received here has been stellar. My art has progressed, as have my confidence in my abilities and my memorization skills when taking Art History classes. However, art, and all forms of education, are taught differently depending on where it is you live in the world. Art here is what I’ve learned for years! It is what I know and love: American teaching. To become a great artist though, I have to expand my education. The art history classes I’ve taken have taught me one important thing. Florence, as the birthplace of the Renaissance, is where you want to be when you’re an art enthusiast. The invention of modern perspective, the home base of artists like Michelangelo, and DaVinci, as well as only an hour and a half away from the beautiful Sistine Chapel, all means that this Italian education of art will offer me a new and complex form of teaching that is impossible to achieve without being in Florence. I will be taking Drawing (figural, perspectival, still life, you name it), Photography, Italian, and Art History. All of these classes can be taken here in Connecticut, or anywhere in the United States. But they won’t offer me the historical context of living in Florence and learning from the masters. I can only do that if I’m there.
3. STUDY ABROAD MAKES RELATIONSHIPS THAT LAST FOR LIFE
I am a social person. I love forming connections, meeting new people, and I thrive off of the thrill of making new friends. Recently, I felt a bit defeated when it came to socializing at college. After nearly two years, I hadn’t made as many connections as I had hoped to. I have amazing friends who are the best support, yet my social nature made it feel like I was missing something: that big group feeling, with new people who all love to travel just like me, and who love art just like me! After applying, I didn’t know anyone else who was going to go. This was a small application pool, a study abroad program in Florence meant for the studio arts department. This meant around 10-13 people would go, all in the art school. Before this, I knew practically no one else in my major! Then one meeting changed it all, as 7 of us who wanted to go went to an info meeting with the professor, and learned about our shared passion and the ease we had talking to each other. Now, I have 10 amazing new connections and friends who I will have with me when I tackle Florence. I am no longer doing it alone, but with an amazing group of girls who I’ll have every class with, travel with, and live with. And when we all come back to UConn after that semester, I know it will be amazing all the same. When you’re thrust into a situation outside of your cultural norm, you’re forced to make friends with people, bonds that run incredibly deep. I am so excited for you, and you should be too!
I hope my reasons for applying to study abroad have pushed you to apply, or even think about the idea. It could be the best decision of your life! You’ll meet new people, go to new places, and overall have an experience you can never recreate. If you’re considering it even a little bit then I recommend checking out UConn’s study abroad office. Hopefully, I’ll be writing a part two to this article, where I’ll write to you from Florence!