As any college student who has ever walked into a meeting or info-session about Study Abroad programs, I heard time and time again, one phrase: "Everyone I know who studied abroad loved it, and everyone who didn't regretted not going."
As a freshman, eager to dive into classes for my major and join as many clubs as I could cram into my schedule, the only thing I could think after hearing this was, "Well, I'm not like everyone else. I don't need to travel to do what I want to do and get where I want to go in life." I never considered what it might be like to live in another country, or why I might want to spend a semester doing anything other than pursuing my major. I had gone to the information sessions at the request of my parents, and for no other reason. When I heard that my major could only study in Salzburg, Austria, I lost whatever little interest there might've beenburied at the back of my brain. I thought, "If I decided to take the time out of my busy course schedule to find a semester that I could go abroad, why on Earth would I waste that by going to Austria, of all places?"
I think it's safe to say that the freshman version of myself was an ignorant, stubborn girl.
So how did I wind up studying abroad after all, you ask? Well, the short, and not so complex answer is one person: my mother. Like many kind, caring, loving mothers, mine only wants the best for her children. And much to my chagrin, she is usually very correct when it comes to knowing what is best for us. I say to my chagrin because I am a particularly stubborn and independent individual, and at the time of my freshman year, I, like many other 18 year-olds, thoroughly believed that I knew what was best for myself. My mother begged, multiple times, that I simply apply for the Study Abroad program, regardless of my disinterest or complaints at how the application was a waste of my time. After about four different phone calls in which she begged me to apply, I finally gave in in late October and applied. Granted, it was after the initial deadline, but applications were still being accepted, so I figured that I wouldn't get a spot in the program based off of how late my application was. Well, little did I know, the deadline did not matter to the coordinator half as much as the contents of the application. After getting called in to have a meeting with the coordinator for my specific school and the specific semester program that I was applying to, I was told that there were nine slots to be filled, and nine applicants already chosen. The coordinator then continued, telling me how he wants the Study Abroad Director to add more spots to the program, since there are more beds at the center where the students stay than there were students that were currently accepted. I left his office thinking that I had both pleased my mother by applying, and also avoided the possibility of having to leave home campus and take courses that wouldn't directly benefit my major.
Fast forward about three months. I get an email informing me that I've been accepted to the University of Portland's Salzburg Spring 2017 semester program. At first, I was thrilled. Then, I was slightly confused. After reading through the whole email, I saw that I needed to set up another meeting with the coordinator before the school year was done. I went through several stages of, "Do I really want to go?" And "This is awesome! I'll get to study in Europe for a semester! Why wouldn't I go?!" After having one more meeting with the coordinator about courses and preparation, and a couple of phone calls with my parents, it was decided by March of my freshman year of college that I would be studying abroad. And that was the beginning of the biggest, not-so-big decision of my life...
So what am I trying to get at here? Well, ironically, the message I hope you take away from my story is the same message that opens up this story in the first place. Regardless of what you hear from other people, or how you think your personality may play into how much you may or may not benefit from studying abroad, I can tell you one thing with utter certainty: You will never regret making the decision (if it is really a decision to make at all) to study in another country. As the brilliant Lewis Carroll once said, "In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take."
