My grandma always said “traveling to a different country is one of the best experiences a person can have.” One of the opportunities colleges and Universities offer all around the world is studying abroad. A large majority of students take advantage of this since this is their chance to learn and grow in a new country. Each college offers different opportunities abroad and for different lengths of time. At my college, Furman University, they offer MayX’s, summer, and Semesters abroad. This provides students the options of studying away for either an entire academic semester or just going away for the month of May. There are countless faculty led programs and affiliate programs to choose from in a variety of countries. Some of the affiliate programs colleges partner with are: College Year in Athens, IES, DIS, etc. I personally studied abroad for an entire year in Athens, Greece through the affiliate program College Year in Athens, or CYA for short. This was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a great deal about myself, others, culture, and Greece. My peers who have also studied abroad have said similar things regarding their own experiences and miss it dearly. The benefits of studying abroad are endless and while there are some difficulties along the way, they make you stronger and help you grow as a person.
The benefits of studying abroad are endless. There are different depths to what you learn and gain from it as well. Personally, you will become more self-reliant and more confident in your skills being independent. You are most likely in a large time difference from friends and family and while that may seem daunting at first, you learn to adapt and communicate even better with various schedules and conflicts. This time difference does help you become more self-reliant though since there are fewer opportunities to text and call people back home. This also helps you get to know the people in your abroad program better though and the community you have recently entered! With the time to learn about other people, cultures, and ways of life, you will find introspection on how you want to live your life and who you personally want to be.
Besides personal growth, you will also form connections all over the world! I have stayed in contact with friends from Finland, Denmark, and Greece. These connections might help one day down the road if I ever want to travel abroad again and want to stay with them or vice versa. Friendship is honestly a huge benefit of studying abroad. You are with students all in the same age range as you and are all nervous for this big life change. You will likely spend each day with these people and live with some of them. Friendships are formed nearly automatically just from living with a bunch of people and then you all already have one commonality: traveling. These friendships will be very close since you will all be together for so long. My closest friends from my abroad program and I still talk everyday and have had reunions since we returned to America. Friendships are crucial in life in my opinion and learning what these deeper connections provide you establishes an understanding of why you should never settle for surface-level friendships. The image below is of my closest friends abroad at our reunion in Indiana a few weeks ago.
Besides personal growth and connections, you will also benefit from learning more about the world itself and the different cultures. These help you understand the importance of different backgrounds and how different lives are all around the world. Even the classes I took expanded my mind and I was able to take courses particular to Greece and how to communicate across cultures. The classes are more unique than the ones at universities in America and can count as some major requirements as well. Learning about other places, traditions, and cultures benefits you because you learn to appreciate what makes other places and people unique. The growth from this is immense and will benefit you through the years as you meet new people, move to different places, and experience new things. Keeping an open mind and learning about what you normally wouldn’t is an opportunity like no other and if it is presented to you, I highly recommend you take advantage of it. There are very few times you will be presented with this opportunity again. Don’t miss out on the experience to grow as a person, establish close connections, experience a different way of life, and gain a unique education abroad.
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