Every year, almost 200,000 students from the U.S. study abroad. Traveling to every corner of the globe, they study everything from law to engineering to education. Many of them hail from one university or another, but some are from U.S. high schools, like Bishop Noll. This year, BNI boasts three students who are venturing out of the country during the summer time: Carissa Cuellar, Elena Sobilo, and Chloe Burton. These students will be traveling to France for the annual exchange program where they will study, make new friends, and explore the city of love. But for the other 507 of you who can’t make it this year, here’s what traveling abroad is really like.
Ask anyone who’s ever studied abroad about his or her experience, and chances are, you’ll get an earful. Most of the time, experiences abroad are positive, and students revel in the chance to experience different cultures and points of view. “You’re kind of forced to put yourself in the shoes of other people,” says Diane Wilson, the Bishop Noll French teacher who organizes the annual excursion. “It creates a better basis for thoughts and things you want to do because you have more comparisons.”
Students who study abroad become more mature and more independent, form lasting friendships, and become more accepting of other cultures, as well as their own values. They get a unique experience, something valued by future employers, and they get to tour famous places that they may previously have only read about. “There’s nothing like going to see things in person,” Wilson says.
However, for all of you cynics out there, there are some drawbacks as well. Some courses of study are not recommended for study overseas. You don’t want to study English in a place where you’ll obviously be the supreme authority on the subject. In addition, some schools are held in higher esteem than others from the same country or even from the U.S. Some employers see time spent overseas as vacation time, and don’t take the benefits of studying abroad seriously. Most high school study abroad programs take place during vacation times though, so going to France with Bishop Noll’s French program can hardly be seen as taking some time off from “real” school.
The new, foreign climate presents some adjustment problems as well, from things like food, to routine, to language. For students whose favorite place is their sofas, these things can make acclimation hard. “If you’re not adventurous, or if you kind of like a routine, then sometimes studying abroad can be difficult,” admits Wilson.
“But if you’re open to new and different things, and if you like a little adventure, then studying abroad is what you should look into.”
Thankfully, safety, which can prove an issue in other countries, is not much of a problem for Bishop Noll French students. “You have to watch out for the same things you’d watch out for in any big city,” Wilson says. “Ladies have to watch their purses, guys don’t want to get pick-pocketed, things like that.”
Cost is not a problem for Bishop Noll students either, since the French trip is offered at almost half the cost that other schools offer similar trips for. Studying abroad can often be very expensive, but the French program gives a student meals, transportation, and special excursions all for the same cost. Waiting until college can also affect the price – and therefore the overall experience – of a student’s trip.
Overall, studying abroad can have an extremely positive impact on a student’s life. Students learn to become more self-reliant, form friendships and connections for their futures, and step out of their cultural, social, and personal comfort zones. Though this last factor can be a scary prospect for some teens, studying abroad provides opportunities for students to improve their second language skills and even explore their heritage, depending on from where their family hails. Most importantly, students who study abroad learn how to communicate with different cultures, and form bonds in spite of these barriers. Since the world is growing increasingly smaller with the invention of new technologies and expanding at the same time to fit different viewpoints, this last benefit of studying abroad can be a very good thing.
“Whenever we have new experiences, it helps us in our creativity and in all kinds of ways,” says Wilson. “You get to compare what you do with what people elsewhere are doing, and this helps broaden your vision both of the world and of its people.”