Reasons You Don’t HAVE To Study Abroad For A Whole Semester

Background History: When I was 17, I decided I wanted to go to Florida for College. Although I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, all I knew was I wanted to get as far away as possible. So I moved to Florida and ended up back home after a month. You could say my parents were not happy with me and I lost a lot of confidence that year. When I was 18, in my sophomore year, I transferred colleges. I commuted from home so my parents didn’t have to worry about me needing to come home again. I joined a sorority and made a group of friends. I found out that a few of these friends were taking an art class abroad in Florence, Italy for college credits and I was immediately eager to tell my parents about it. Although they were not so easy to convince after the one time I went away without them I couldn’t handle it.

Finally, I had convinced my parents that this would be a great opportunity for me! I would be with friends and professors from the University, I had saved up money to pay for some of the costs and I was at a really good point in my life. I felt confident that going to study abroad was the perfect thing for me.

So…I applied to go, got accepted, booked the flight and counted down the days!

This trip couldn’t have come at a better time! I was more eager to get away from my small home town and was overly excited for what was going to come. Of course, I had my anxieties like anyone would, but I can not even write down the feeling of pulling up to the city of Florence for the first time. I was in awe.

We were staying at a hotel for three weeks that was right next to the famous Florence leather markets and about a five minute walk to the city center. We got to explore the city the first day, not knowing where anything was, barely having cell service and getting lost through the most magical streets I’ve ever seen. We stumbled upon the Duomo, caught sunset at the Ponte Vecchio, got an awesome first dinner and stayed out until 3 in the morning dancing to music, meeting new people and living our best lives.

I don’t think anything can compare to that feeling of walking around Italy for the first time. Little did I know this was going to be the start of a life long adventure of wandering and getting lost in pretty places. And so my dreams of traveling the world began.

But enough about my adventures abroad, in this article I am going to give you the reasons why you don’t HAVE to study abroad for a full semester in order to get the full study abroad experience.

#1: For your first time abroad 3-4 weeks is more than enough to soak up the culture and see if this is a place you would want to go back too.

I couldn’t have been more thankful that I only studied abroad for 3 weeks and didn’t throw myself into a sticky situation of going abroad for a whole semester and ending up wanting to come home (sometimes I can be a little too ambitious). Being off of your regular routine is tricky enough. Not going to the gym, not eating healthy, and not being at home in a comfortable environment. As an avid traveler I can tell you now that, shockingly, I have not enjoyed every place I have ever visited. Sometimes you’re with the wrong people, in a place that you don’t like the food, or have an uncomfortable sleeping arrangement. So looking back I don’t think I would of been able to handle more than those three week abroad for the first time.

#2: 3-4 weeks abroad leaves you at least three weekends to travel!

One of the most exciting things that I did was plan our weekend trips for me and my friends. Through our class we saw Florence, Sienna and Tuscany. On our weekend trips we knew we had to visit the prime spots that everyone talks about and we’ve only seen in movies. Rome, Venice, Pisa and Cinque Terre. All of these were day trips and it was the perfect amount of time to be there. I actually didn’t end up making it to Pisa because I hurt my foot pretty bad in Cinque Terre, that’s a whole other story. Florence is one of the best places to travel from to see neighboring cities. The train and bus station is local and it can take you almost anywhere you want to go. Yes, there are going to be those people that studied abroad for a whole semester and traveled to a different country every weekend. But after just booking these four trips I realized how pricey it can be and I don’t think I would of been able to afford all of that.

#3: The people you are with can make or break it.

I was blessed to have some of the coolest people on my study abroad trip. All of our personalities meshed together well and there was mostly no drama. I made a few new friends and by the end of the trip we were so close it was hard to leave each other. If you end up on a study abroad trip with people that you don’t really get along with then this is going to set the mood for the rest of the time. Luckily if you only go for a few weeks then you don’t have to worry about being stuck with them for months. This can help you enjoy the time you have by yourself while your in an amazing country.

So no matter what you choose to do, I truly believe that EVERYONE should study abroad while in college. On that trip I learned about art, culture, food, and life lessons I don’t think I could of ever learned if I did not take a chance on myself.

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