7 Things that Change once you go Global

#1 You become a Travel Bug.

Studying abroad is the gateway drug. It is for me. And I promise that it will be for you too.

I boarded my first international flight alone during my freshman year. I made the fabulous streets-cape of Singapore my home for the next 10 months.

#2 Home is a state of mind

When I think back on my semester in Singapore, nostalgia overwhelms me. I remember the market where I bought my fruits and vegetables and fresh bacon; where I laughed with the vendors and practiced my minimal Singlish. I got to know the town, and soon felt like a local. I had a favorite quay and restaurant, and I remember rolling my eyes as I passed groups of tourists on my walk to class each day. I made friends who I spent holidays with and celebrated birthdays together.

We had a huge Diwali feast and took trips in the midterm breaks. They became my family, and Singapore my home.

This is my story, but it can be yours too. Studying abroad will show you that there are communities all over the world where you can belong. You’ll find that you can make a home thousands of miles from where you grew up if you’d like. And there will be a bittersweet moment where you realize that you can be homesick for more than one place.

#3 Learning without textbooks starts.

Food and wine pairing in Florence? Sign me up! Scuba diving in Australia? Hell yes! Sea turtle conservation in Ecuador? Okay, stop it.

Jump on these opportunities because they won’t come along again. Opt for fun classes over practical ones, and don’t worry too much if they don’t fulfill credits. If you take these courses for fun later in life, they’ll cost exponentially more. Plus, I can’t imagine anything worse than sitting through a calculus lecture when there’s a new country to explore just outside the classroom.

And when comes to learning a new language, there’s no better opportunity than spending a semester overseas. You can study Spanish from the comfort of your English-speaking home all you want, but it will never compare to living in Spanish culture. It’s common knowledge that immersing yourself in another country is the quickest way to learn a language, but it’s more than that. You’ll pick up on cultural cues and slang that you just can’t get without living abroad.

#4 You actually rethink your career path.

Most college students don’t have an exact picture of their dream job when they enter school as a freshman. And that’s fine. These four (or five, or six) years are a period in your life meant for self-exploration and discovery.

Studying abroad will only aid in that journey. You may find that you love living overseas — so much so that you apply for a job on the other side of the world upon graduating. While studying in a rural village in Uganda (like a friend of mine), you may see a need that has not been addressed and decide that it is your calling. Or perhaps you’ll discover that travel for you is a hobby, and would lose its fun if mixed with work.

Whatever it may be, one semester of studying abroad will teach you more about yourself than a 4-year degree ever could.

#5 You fall in love. For real.

I’m not talking about coming home with a new girlfriend or boyfriend (though that’s not totally unheard of). Studying abroad will make you fall in love in the most unlikely of ways.

Maybe you’ll fall in love with the country you’re living in, or maybe with a new hobby or skill you’re learning. You may fall in love with a new cuisine or language. Or perhaps you’ll fall in love with the sheer independence of being in a foreign land.

Whatever it is, fall hard. This is the time of your life to discover new passions and dreams.

#6 Home will be just the same. Always.

That’s why, when you get a few days off and fly back home, it strikes you how little everything has changed. Your life’s been changing at a non-stop pace, and you’re on holidays and ready to share all those anecdotes you’ve been piling up. But, at home, life’s the same as ever. Everyone keeps struggling with their daily chores, and it suddenly strikes you: life won’t stop for you.

#7 You lack words although you have much to say.

When someone asks you about your new life, you lack the right words to convey all you’re experiencing. Yet later, in the middle of a random conversation, something reminds you about ‘that time when’…, and you have to hold your tongue because you don’t want to overwhelm everyone with stories from your ‘other country’ and come across as pretentious.