Studying While Abroad
While a lot of your focus is most likely on going abroad, you might need to snap back to reality a
bit to remember that you will still have to do some level of schoolwork during your travels. Each
program is different, and the workload can vary a lot from program to program. You can most
often get a good idea of how much work there will be from the program overview or even
talking to the instructor beforehand. Luckily, the studying will be closely linked to the culture,
history, or other aspects of the place you are visiting, which should make it much more
interesting. For the Writing in Rome program I attended, each day we visited a different site in
the morning, had the day to write about the prompt, then shared our writing in the evening. So,
much of the course work was completely based off of our experiences. A very similar
connection would take place in other programs where you can simultaneously experience what
you are learning about.
Benefit of Keeping Busy
For me, having plenty to do while abroad made the trip much more manageable. With goals
and motivation to do things, I was kept busy. A month or more with nothing to do might sound
fantastic at first, but many people would eventually lose interest. With the structure of a
program and knowledgeable people to guide you in both a place and topic you are interested
in, the trip becomes much more rewarding and interesting. Free time becomes more valuable
as well, which adds to it being more enjoyable.
Keeping on Top of Things
Lots of college students often end up leaving work to do to the last minute, and I am definitely
one of them. Not surprisingly, stress can take away from a lot of the enjoyment of studying
abroad. I often find myself saying that I’ll change it up and get work done early. Something
about the new environment or the program structure actually helped me make that happen,
and I was able to always have my mind free of worrying about schoolwork. I strongly encourage
you all to try your best and stay on top of the workload, it both benefits your mindset to have
something to focus on and keeps the stress off your mind, allowing you to enjoy your time
abroad.
