How to Study Abroad and Travel

People are always willing to give you advice on how to get better your life. Whether it be going to an ivy league school, working out more, getting a job or how to save money.

Being a college student is pretty hard work. Yes, adulting is probably a thousand times harder but being at this intersection is beyond chaotic.

Regardless if you attend school close to home or hundreds of miles away studying abroad is the best decision you will ever make. You gain a whole lot more than you lose. Even if you’re scared of taking out those loans, or are dreading working everyday for a whole summer, it is totally worth it. Going abroad taught me valuable lessons that I wouldn’t have been able to learn home on my own. Since I studied abroad for my whole spring semester I figured I’d write a post on how the whole goes and why it was worth it.

OH the places you'll go!

Where do you want to spend your semester or year? Think about how it can benefit you both academically and emotionally. I knew a few people that were going for my semester and wound up knowing a lot more once I arrived since my school had a lot of people there from the previous semester. I chose Italy because I’m Italian and I had this insane desire to the buildings I’ve only had the opportunity to read about. Find out what your college offers, and if they’re apart of other schools you could choose one of their programs. If you don’t like any of those programs offered, ask more questions and then find another school you could go through instead.

What I wish I did : Ask more questions! Are there scholarships? Can I do program A instead of B?

It’s all about the money

It’s great if you have a support system that can help you pay for expenses like school and studying abroad. If not then you need to have a lot of options for backup. Once you figure out where you want to go, look at tuition and cost of living to see how much you’ll need.Asking past students what they did helped me out a lot. I signed up for my first credit card through Bank of America and chose the Travel rewards option. This card didn’t charge an international fees when buying. However, for withdrawing money it needed to be from a certain bank.Credit lines vary so keep this in mind. Have an account that is just for studying abroad so you know not to touch it.

SAVE & Be Prepared

Saving money can be hard but this is one of the most important things to do before you even go. I worked multiple jobs the previous summer and during school so I could save up for the trip. I put money into the account weekly, on top of an automatic transfer I set up to do monthly. Stash away those waitress tips, find some side projects to do like babysitting, doing commissioned work or dog sitting cause you’re going to be spending a lot of money. ( Side note: You don't need that venti latte or a cup of coffee every single day. )

I brought a credit card and two debit cards with me. My emergency debit card was my normal one, which was set up to pay my student loans every month as well as my life insurance bill. I didn’t want to use this one because there was such a large amount being taken out already.

I wish: I forgot I brought one of these debit cards with me and I wish I hadn’t because it would have helped em out immensely. Carry around a small sandwich bag with you to put receipts in. I lost mine along the way but wish I did this so i still had them.

BUDGET but enjoy yourself

I only regret a couple things about studying abroad, and one of those is not buying more clothes! I know it sounds terrible but I wish I had more pieces from my favorite places. I made a list of places I absolutely needed to see, and thought about which ones weren’t as high priority. I don’t have any bad feelings about not going to Prague or Lake Como partly because I fulfilled my goal spots. The other part is because I needed more of a reason to go back!

You will rarely get an opportunity like studying abroad again. Sure, you could travel for business. But working in another country for a week is insanely different than living there and enjoying it. Come up with a plan of how much you can spend per week or how much per category. This means how much to spend on drinks, groceries, shopping or transportation. These seem silly in the beginning but are sure ways to help you stay on track in the long run!