Three Reasons to Study Abroad

In this episode (my first!) of the In My Travels podcasts, I look at three life-changing reasons to study in a foreign country.

Transcript

Felicia Shelton: Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of In My Travels, I am your host, Felicia Shelton.

Today we’re going to talk about your why. Why should you study abroad? I’m going to introduce three really good reasons why you should study abroad and what you will gain from doing so. Now what makes me an authority on study abroad? Well, I’ve studied abroad. My junior year at university I decided to study abroad for one full year.

I was a French major minoring in international relations and so I have something to say and I want to share I’m going to share my experience with you and give you some really great reasons, three reasons today, why you too should study abroad.

Reason number one, timing. You do not have children yet. You don’t have a husband or a wife. And you are not in your career yet. You haven’t taken that first opportunity, that first job in your chosen career. Study abroad is the perfect thing you can do in order to make yourself marketable after graduation. We’ll come back to that point a little bit later, but this is the time you’re free. You don’t have any obligations other than to focus on yourself and the skills that you’re acquiring.

In college or university, this time where you’re free and you don’t have the obligations of the world on your shoulders, you don’t have a house, you don’t have a mortgage. This is the time for you to take advantage of your freedom. And the best thing about studying abroad is your ability to pick up and go wherever in the world you want to go.

This is not going to come around. Um. Later, after you graduate and you start applying for those positions in your chosen sector. So, take advantage. Go into that international education office on your campus. Begin to speak to education abroad or study abroad coordinators and say, Hey, I want to be more marketable, not only here in the U.

S. or whatever country you happen to be listening to me right now. I want to be marketable no matter where in the world I find myself, and I heard that study abroad is a great chance to do so. This is the time, this is the moment, dream big. You have this opportunity to go anywhere in the world that you want.

You can study anywhere. Learning takes place all over the world, no matter where you are. At university, you have the opportunity to actually go abroad for a summer, a semester, or even a year. That’s what I did. I decided that my junior year was going to be spent in France. Remember, I was a French major.

What better way than to totally immerse myself in another culture, learn the language, perfect my French, and then come back, graduate, and then be on my way with all of these amazing skills and experiences. My language skills through the roof. I basically became. I would say fluent in French because of that, and that definitely catapulted me into my years of working in France.

If I had not taken advantage of that year abroad, I don’t think I would have been able to work in France. No one would have taken me seriously because studying abroad for that year, I improved my French tenfold. So, dream. Think about all of these wonderful locations, any location that you’ve thought about, that you’re interested in.

Perhaps you’re into a manga, uh, culture, which would be Japan. Perhaps you’re a francophone that could take you to France or Senegal or Belgium. Maybe you are into, you know, German food or whatever. Whatever it is, think about it now. This is the time because you are so free. You can study anywhere in the world.

Dream big. Right now, study abroad is doable. It’s affordable. It’s accessible to almost everyone. So, in my situation, I paid my home university, that’s my university where I was studying, I paid my home university as if I was still at my home university, but I was abroad in France. I received all of my benefits that I would have received if I remained on my campus here in the USA.

So here I was in France. in a university along with other French students as well as students from elsewhere in the world who wanted to take advantage of that study abroad opportunity. We were all learning, we were all immersed in French culture, in a real French university. That is priceless. Today, study abroad is not going to disrupt your learning.

It’s going to enhance your learning as it enhances your opportunities after graduation. It can be a seamless part of your learning while you are at university. It’s so easy today to take part in this wonderful, wonderful thing called study abroad because your university, depending on your university’s rules and regulations.

It’s very easy for you to be able to study abroad. It can be a summer program, like I mentioned before. It can be a semester or it can even be a year. Your university already has systems set up to help make this process as seamless as possible. Universities today want you to go abroad. It makes them look better.

So why not take advantage of this opportunity? Just go. I don’t care where you go. I Don’t care what you do, but just go it will change your life personally, and of course Professionally, just go. Now, let’s talk about reason number two Total immersion. If you’re learning French or German, I don’t know any better way Then to actually learn that language in that country.

That’s what I did. I said, all right, junior year, I’m going to go abroad because I know that by immersing myself completely in that culture, going to that country, I’m going to be forced every single minute of the day to speak French. And that’s exactly what I did. So then. When I came back, oh, I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Total immersion. As a study abroad student in a foreign university, you’re going to be forced every day to communicate in that language. Going, you know, catching the bus, going to the post office, taking money out. You might have to open a bank account. I’m pretty sure you will have to open a bank account and of course, speaking and communicating with your professors and fellow classmates, you’re going to have to speak that language.

There’s no better way to improve your language skills than to be totally immersed in that culture. Not only will you learn to speak the language, you’re going to learn how to think in that language. This is what happens a lot when you go abroad and you you begin to really learn the language when you are there in the culture.

You’re still probably going to translate in your head from, in my case, English to French or French to English. You’re going to get to a point And when you’re done with being immersed, that you’re going to actually stop thinking and translating from your mother tongue into the target language, you’re going to begin to think like French people in the way that they speak.

So if you’ve never been outside of the US, I’m using myself as an example, you’re not just learning new words. Okay. For cat. The word is this for dog. The word is that you’re learning a new way of communicating a new way of thinking a new way of expressing yourself. And this instantly reminds me of the fact that I’m a different person when I speak French, you take on a new personality and. It might sound really strange, you’re like, what? You become a different person when you speak another language. Yes, you do. Because you are, at a certain point when you’re really fluent in that language, you are expressing yourself as a French person would in this language in whatever context.

Because by speaking a foreign language, you develop a new way of thinking. So you adapt. to that culture and that way of thinking you’re still going to be the person that you are you’re still going to Have your own Personality your what whatever it is that makes you unique how I express myself in French is Different from the way that I express myself in English.

I’m a different person. I express myself differently in French and when I speak Swedish I don’t have my French thinking cap on, I don’t have my American thinking cap on, or my English, uh, cap on. I am expressing myself in Swedish, so I have my Swedish personality. You know, I’m still Felicia. But I’m speaking in the way that a Swedish person would speak and communicate in whatever Context that I’m in.

You develop new personalities And that’s another thing that I love about learning new languages. It might sound strange to you right now Don’t worry about that. The only way to know is to experience it yourself. All right, let’s talk about reason number three What is reason number three? Marketability.

So now after spending that year abroad or that semester abroad, or maybe that summer abroad, you now have new skills. You have been immersed in the culture. You are now bringing those skills to the workforce. It could be here in the U.S. or you could very well turn back around and say, Hey, I really want to spend more time.

And now I have those language skills that will allow me to not only work abroad, but to perhaps build a life abroad. But let’s go back into the workforce. When you have studied abroad, you have built skills, marketable skills. They could be language skills. Multicultural skills, you have built connections either with your professors and also with those classmates, you know, those classmates that you studied with and form study groups with and actually form real friendships with.

Those are potential connections for the future. You’re back in the US or you’re back in your home country, your study abroad experience makes you stand out regardless of whether you’re thinking of having an international career, whether you’re going to use the language, you know, here in your home country, wherever that is, it makes you stand out.

And that’s what you’re going to have to do when you enter the workforce, whether that’s here at home or elsewhere. Studying abroad and having that experience on your CV or your resume sends a message. What message does it send? It sends the message to future employers that you are bold, that you are not afraid to attempt new things.

Being able to leave your country to study a new language to be immersed in an unfamiliar environment makes you a stronger candidate for your future employer. They want people who can solve problems. What problems will you be solving for your future employer? And by studying abroad, even though you’re not in the workforce, you’re beginning to learn how to collaborate, communicate in different ways with people who are not familiar or who do not come from your particular culture.

This is the world that we live in today. It is a global society. You are a global citizen, you’re a global citizen without even stepping outside of the US or whatever your home country is right now. As soon as you begin to think of yourself as a global citizen, even before you take the next step, which is study abroad, you’re doing yourself a great, great service.

You’re going to acquire new skills abroad. You’re going to acquire new connections abroad. You as a future employee, perhaps it can create a new lane for yourself. Maybe you will become an entrepreneur and those connections that you made abroad as a student, those people can be your first clients. You don’t know.

The sooner you think of yourself as a global citizen, it will become self-evident that you have to study abroad. It’s not a, hmm, should I study abroad? It’s, no, I need to study abroad. Go into that office on your campus and begin the conversation. This is something that is now affordable, it’s accessible, it’s inclusive, so why not take the opportunity, explore your options.

You have options, I don’t care where you come from, what your socioeconomic situation is, if you are enrolled as a student on campus, you can study abroad. So, to recap. The best reasons for study abroad, I have three, timing. There is no better timing than right now. You’re a student, you are free. You don’t have any mortgages, husband, wife, none of that, no children.

You’re free to go and to do whatever you need to do. Number two, total immersion. Totally immersing yourself in another culture can only be a good thing. Reason number three, it makes you more marketable. Employers are looking for unique employees. They are looking for people who can solve problems in new ways.

Studying abroad helps you to do that. Like nothing that I know Thank you so much again for tuning in for another episode of in my travels I hope that I provided value for you today If you have a comment or a question, please go to my website in my travels. com And I will respond as soon as possible Thank you.

And until next time or as we say en francais, “À la prochaine.” Ciao!