My experience abroad enhanced my academic pursuits as it gave me a first taste of being a college student. While that seems like an obvious answer, my experience genuinely prepared me for what I am assuming my college career will be—I learned how to balance finishing my extensive required readings and homework while not missing out on nights out with my friends (that also had said required readings and homework but still remained seemingly unbothered by them and frequently went out). While I did do a very fair job at balancing, I still had to miss out on a few nights out to get my work done, but instead of being upset that I was missing out, I just accepted it as how it is going to be for the next four years.

On a personal level, going abroad taught me to step outside of my comfort zone and be a little more extroverted and outgoing. Again, I am sure “stepping out of my comfort zone” is what everyone says when it comes to what they learned about studying abroad, but it was very apparent pretty immediately that it would be a necessary thing for me to do. While my friends may consider me an outgoing, fun person, around other people my age, I get shy and close myself off. Going into this program, however, I wanted to ensure that I made a strong network of friends, both so I can enjoy my time abroad and so I can be a little more comfortable going into my first year of college. I stepped out of my comfort zone and made sure I made my rounds to every little clique that formed early on, ensuring I could always have a friend group I could do something with. And I am so glad I did, I made some extremely close friends, some of which I already have plans to see on move in day and beyond.

To bust a myth, I am going to slightly contradict myself—studying abroad is definitely not just a vacation in that you must do a fair amount of schoolwork, however at the same time it did feel very vacation-like at times. As I mentioned above, there is a fair amount of schoolwork required for the program, there were extensive readings I had to complete, papers I had to write, and lectures I had to attend. That said, when you find the balance of completing that work, there is so much independent free time built into each day, it honestly did feel like a vacation at many times. I wandered the streets of Florence and Rome with my new best friends daily, sometimes forgetting I was even there for school. So, while I would consider it a misconception that studying abroad is just a vacation, if you use your time wisely and are smart and make a plan, you can easily make it into one.

Name: Josh Tomlinson
Status: Freshman
Major: Plant Biology
Hometown: Baroda, Michigan
Program: First-Year Seminar in Italy