Studying abroad is an amazing and life-changing opportunity that if you are fortunate enough to experience, will alter the way you see the world and yourself -- forever. After your trip you will be different.
What's easy to forget amidst all the excitement and dreaming surrounding study abroad is the fact that you actually have to study.
Yeah I said it.
You are enrolled in classes while abroad, at an actual university. They don't just send you away to Europe or Australia and let you live your life, amongst hip and cultured foreigners. No, you actually have to go to class -- and study -- and take tests.
In my preparation for my semester abroad in Rome, I didn't even really think about my classes. No time was devoted to if they would be challenging or time-consuming. All I thought about was Rome. The food and the people and the sites I would get to see.
Everyone forgets about school while abroad, it's so hard not to, when your daily activities have the opportunity to take you winding through small cobblestone streets and ruins. Studying abroad allows you to live in a foreign country and thrive there, to struggle there, and to learn there. The world becomes the classroom more than anything.
Nothing teaches you more about yourself, than trying to live somewhere where your native language isn't spoken and the very basic forms of communication become alien to you.
I happen to enjoy the classes I am taking abroad, but my real classroom has become the city of Rome. You can always learn about the history of a place from a textbook, but having the opportunity to go and visit that place in person and see it for yourself is something different. Being greeted by the presence of history, and seeing it for yourself is breathtaking.
People forget about school when they think about studying abroad. School takes a back seat to the countless life experiences one gains while living abroad. Obviously you still need to go to class and take notes and try your hardest in your classes -- but -- open yourself up to the education you will receive on your own in the real world.
You can learn something new every single day while being abroad. Let the amazing opportunity that is living in another country teach you about yourself and the world.
The world is your classroom. Let it teach you.
