What surprised you most about study abroad...

Topic:
What surprised you most about study abroad? What do you wish you had known before going? What advice would you give to others?

One of the things that has surprised me the most about going abroad is how quickly one can adjust to new environments. Even though I went all the way across the world, once I got the general idea of where the necessities were located, I felt fairly comfortable. This has even applied to going to less developed countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. For all of the critiques of globalization, one of the benefits of it is that the city feel has become somewhat homogenized up to a certain standard, and yet each place has its own characteristics that make it feel unique.

To be honest, there’s really nothing that I wish I had known before going on the trip. I think that between the study abroad office’s help and Jamie’s help from NUS, I was just as prepared as I could be. The advice I would give to others is to not be afraid to ask questions! The idea of going abroad may be daunting, especially for those who have never been that far from home (which was true in my case), but there’s really nothing to be scared of and there are plenty of people who are there to help you along the way. Additionally, to those who may worry that an experience back home, whether it be an internship or classes, would be a better use of their summer/semester, I can tell you that I had to make a similar decision and I have absolutely zero regrets about the path I have taken. College is one of the few times in your life that you can go to another country without responsibilities to deal with, and it can really impact what you want in your future, something which I believe is one of the main purposes of college.