Why study abroad?
10 reasons why you should study in a foreign
country
Imagine
learning about the fall of the Roman Empire in the shadow of the Coliseum.
Studying global warming in a Costa Rican rain forest. Or discovering the brush
strokes on a masterpiece in French art museum. Nobody naps in our global
classroom.
Have you considered
studying abroad, but are not sure whether it's worth your time? If you ask
anybody who has studied abroad, he or she will most certainly tell you that it
is a life-changing experience and one of the most rewarding things he or she
has ever done. Perhaps you're not certain what benefits you can reap from an
extended stay in a foreign country. You should
move outside your comfort zone. Walking to class, catching a bus to another
part of town, and ordering food are the daily adventures where language and
culture collide – and the study abroad experience comes alive.
Soon you’ll be calling the
strangers you are living with “family.” And mean it. You’ll realize weekends
are meant for travel – to another country. You begin dreaming in another
language. You’ll find yourself at home in a culture that has turned your world
upside down. And you wouldn’t change a thing.
Most importantly you will Become independent and self-confident
and clarify your personal goals.
Here are 10 very
excellent reasons why you should take the plunge:
1. Study
abroad is the optimal way to learn a language. There
is no better and more effective way to learn a language than to be immersed in
a culture that speaks the language you are learning. You're surrounded by the
language on a daily basis and are seeing and hearing it in the proper cultural
context. Language learning happens most quickly under these circumstances.
2. Study
abroad provides the opportunity to travel. Weekends
and academic breaks allow you to venture out and explore your surroundings -
both your immediate and more distant surroundings. Since studying abroad often
puts you on a completely different continent, you are much closer to places you
might otherwise not have had the opportunity to visit. Some more structured
study abroad programs even have field trips planned in or around the
curriculum.
3. Study
abroad allows you get to know another culture first-hand. Cultural differences are more than just differences in
language, food, appearances, and personal habits. A person's culture reflects
very deep perceptions, beliefs, and values that influence his or her way of
life and the way that s/he views the world. Students who experience cultural differences
personally can come to truly understand where other cultures are coming from. You cannot understand it from reading a
book or watching a TV show. Only if you have been in a foreign country for a
longer period of time you can truly understand another culture.
4. Study
abroad will help you develop skills and give you experiences a classroom
setting will never provide. Being immersed in an
entirely new cultural setting is scary at first, but it's also exciting. It's
an opportunity to discover new strengths and abilities, conquer new challenges,
and solve new problems. You will encounter situations that are wholly
unfamiliar to you and will learn to adapt and respond in effective ways.
5. Study
abroad affords you the opportunity to make friends around the world. While abroad, you will meet not only natives to the culture in
which you are studying, but also other international students who are as far
from home as yourself.
6. Study
abroad helps you to learn about yourself.
Students who study abroad return home with new ideas and perspectives about
themselves and their own culture. The experience abroad often challenges them
to reconsider their own beliefs and values. The experience may perhaps
strengthen those values or it may cause students to alter or abandon them and
embrace new concepts and perceptions. The encounter with other cultures enables
students to see their own culture through new eyes.
7. Study
abroad expands your worldview. When you have studied abroad, you will return home with new
ideas and perspectives about yourself and your own culture. The experience of
studying abroad challenges you to reconsider your current beliefs and values,
alter or strengthen them. Studying abroad
provides you with an informed and much less biased perspective toward other
cultures and peoples.
8. Study
abroad gives you the opportunity to break out of your academic routine. Study abroad is likely to be much unlike what you are used to
doing as a student. You may become familiar with an entirely new academic system
and you will have the chance to take courses not offered on your home campus.
It's also a great opportunity to break out the monotony of the routine you
follow semester after semester.
9. Study abroad can enhance the value of your degree. While abroad, you can take courses you would never have had the
opportunity to take on your home campus. In addition, study abroad gives your
language skills such a boost that it is normally quite easy to add a minor in a
language or even a second major without having to take many more additional
courses after the return to your home campus.
10.
Opportunity to
study precisely what you are interested in.
Studying abroad can give you study
choices you would never have had at your national universities.
§ 11. Opportunity to acquire your
dream job.
Create yourself better career opportunities.
Create yourself better career opportunities.
Did you know that less than 5% of
people study abroad during their life? At the same time, the world continues to
become more globalised. Companies from countries around the world continue to
invest in other countries, building a need for people who are able to manage in
different cultures. Through the employer's eyes, a person who has studied
abroad is independent, self-motivated, willing to pick up challenges, and able
to cope with diverse problems and situations. Your experience of living and
studying in a foreign country, getting to know other cultures, and learning
another language can give you advantages in acquiring your dream job. Your experience living and studying in a foreign country,
negotiating another culture, and acquiring another language will all set you
apart from the majority of other job applicants.
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