A Girl’s Guide to Travel, Studying, Working, and Volunteering Abroad

DIWYY reader, Emily, is a sophomore at Saint Louis University who is currently studying abroad in Rome, Italy. Throughout her program, she will be writing about her experiences abroad. In today’s post, Emily gives advice on choosing a program and also helpful tips for preparing for departure.

Getting Started: One of the most important steps, obviously, is deciding to study abroad.  Studying abroad is truly a unique opportunity for young adults to expand their horizons and explore the world before entering into the “real world”… I think anyone who is able should study abroad.  So, once you’ve decided to study abroad, it’s important to tell your academic counselor as soon as possible.  Even if you decide freshman year that you want to study abroad as a junior, you can form your schedule so that you have a lot of flexibility to take interesting classes abroad, even if they don’t count for your major.  Also, the semester before you leave, many schools have mandatory meetings with important information about study abroad.

How Emily chose Italy: Today, American colleges make it possible to study abroad virtually anywhere in the world, if you’re willing to find the right program.  Your school might only offer programs in certain cities, but universities are almost always willing to accommodate other programs.  Obviously, choosing where to study abroad is a huge decision.  You should of course look at the classes offered by a particular program, and whether these classes relate to your major (although I know many people who took no classes for their major while studying abroad).  But I think more important than this is whether you’d want to spend a significant amount of time in the city of your choice.  Wherever you go, you will be there for a long time, so you should be sure that you’ll have the time of your life there.  Important factors to consider are whether you like the food (if you hate Asian food, Beijing might not be a good option), whether you can travel to other desirable destinations, and how well you will be able to adapt to the culture.

That said, I chose to study abroad in Rome.  I have never been to Italy, and I don’t speak any Italian.  In fact, I am actually a double major in History and French.  However, I’ve always wanted to learn Italian, and I can’t think of a better way than immersing myself in the culture.  I was able to find a program taught in English, so applicants don’t have to have taken any Italian classes, although we do have to take an Italian class when we’re there.  Since I already know French, I’m hoping Italian will be easier for me to learn.  Additionally, I have been obsessed with Italian food since I first tasted spaghetti, and I am a complete coffee freak.  Also, although studying in Rome may not be conducive to my French major, I can afford to take a semester break from French, and I’m getting two really interesting History credits while I’m here.  So, although there are several factors that should be considered when choosing a location to study abroad in, the fact of the matter is that you have to choose where you want to go – you can almost always make it work with your major.

Applying to a Program: Colleges generally want their students to study abroad, so the programs are not super competitive to get into.  However, it is important to pay attention to deadlines for applications, as these are not flexible.  You can almost always apply early, and usually you will be accepted earlier if you submit your application earlier.  So try to submit your application as soon as you can after deciding what program you want to go through.  After you get accepted, there are a ton of preparations and no time to waste!

Preparing for departure: Usually, you will get a checklist about things to do while studying abroad from either your study abroad department or the program you are going through.  I used the checklist that Saint Louis University provided me, and it was basically my bible for getting ready to go abroad. I can’t stress enough how important it is to start early on this stuff.  I put it off because I was busy with school work, and I ended up having to pay a fortune to overnight tons of documents to the Italian Consulate.  There are also other details that should be dealt with before you leave, such as international health insurance, which you will definitely want to consider.  You’ll need passport pictures for just about everything, so it’s probably smart just to get a package of 10 and be done with it. You’re probably going to have to get a visa from the country you’re traveling to, and that needs to be done at least a few months before you leave.

Some programs offer group flights to your destination. These flights are usually fairly cheap, and offer transportation from the airport to your campus, which is good if you don’t want to deal with a taxi your first day.  Also, some of these flights offer perks such as a free change of departure date from the city you’re studying in, if you decide last minute that you want to stay longer.  However, these flights sometimes don’t leave from your hometown, which could be inconvenient.  If you decide to travel on a group flight, be sure to pay attention to the due dates for those materials as well.

Typically, you will register for your classes before going abroad.  Try to sign up for classes the minute registration opens, because study abroad classes fill up really fast.  I am going through a program at another school, so when I registered, I went through the steps a few times before registration opened, so that I would be familiar with the process and be able to do it quickly. 

Packing for your study abroad adventure: This step is pretty fresh in my mind because I’m actually writing this on the plane to Rome!!  So I just finished all my packing.  Packing for study abroad is kind of like the hardest parts of packing to go to college and packing for a trip combined.  You’re going to be abroad for months on end, so you need to bring enough clothes to last you that long, and you need to account for the changes in season and weather.  You also need to bring enough toiletries for several months.  Items such as laundry detergent, shampoo, makeup, etc. can be hard to find, depending on your location, or way more expensive than at home.  It’s easiest just to pack enough to last.  Don’t forget necessities such as adapters, laundry bags, etc.  Depending on where you are going, you might want to leave your straighteners and hairdryers at home, because the electric currency is stronger in Europe and it will fry your appliances (unless you have a converter, which is a pain).  You can find cheap European hair appliances once you arrive. Also keep in mind that wherever you’re going, you will probably accumulate some new purchases while you’re there.  I actually packed an empty small duffel in one of my checked bags, for things that I buy while I’m in Rome.

We will be hearing from Emily again soon as she soaks in Roman culture and ventures to neighboring European countries on weekends.