Section 1: The Initial Leap (Why Choose Study Abroad?)
There is that initial feeling that every student feels right at the beginning of their journey. You don’t know how to decipher it and can’t tell if it is excitement, nervousness, or probably a mix of both. For me it was the first night as I was settling into bed. A moment of realization hit me that I was thousands of miles away from home with six weeks of unplanned adventure ahead of me. I felt every kind of emotion all at once but this feeling of anxiousness and nervousness seemed to drown out the rest. I did not realize the challenge I had signed myself up for and at first did not know if I was ready for it. At that moment I was the most out of my comfort zone I had ever been and that is exactly the point of this whole journey.
Choosing to do a summer abroad program is a direct decision of saying no to a predictable summer. It would be easy to go home to a standard job and to hang out with all your hometown friends you miss during the school year, go to your local gym, and get into that routine of being comfortable at home. But true personal growth does not happen in comfortable environments, especially the type of growth you get from being abroad. This personal growth comes when you throw yourself into the fire of living in a city where you have never been and everyone speaks a foreign language. This tests and strengthens your independence, attitude, and mental strength.
When people ask about studying abroad in the summer the vanilla responses are along the lines of traveling, beautiful historic cities, and new food/culture. These are all incredibly good reasons but somewhat surface level and there is much more than just these things to experience and gain from this unique experience of summer study abroad. This idea of forced adaptability is something you can only strengthen in unique experiences like this one. Forced adaptability means being able to problem solve on the spot with no prior warning. A skill that is applicable across so many different aspects of life and is so relevant when studying abroad.
Finally, leaving your hometown and starting with a blank slate could be seen as a scary thing or it can be seen as an opportunity. You are forced to become extremely self reliant from managing foreign transportation systems to living in an apartment with multiple people where you all need to adhere to each other’s needs. This experience is not just about being able to say where you have gone and what you have done but it is about cultural immersion rather than tourism. Instead of being an observer you are meant to be someone who is actively learning through trial and error while respecting a completely different culture. This whole process can be intimidating at first but the benefits gained from it combined with the experience gained is something that will change you as a person for the rest of your life.
Section 2: Beyond the Classroom (The Real-World Lessons)
While studying abroad we often had to battle many emotions despite just the excitement one might expect. Even though we didn’t believe that we would, we found times where we missed home, our usual way of life and familiar places. Coming straight from the end of finals at our home universities and right into a study-abroad environment less than a week later was extremely challenging, and took time to adjust to an academic environment in the early summer months. Moreover, studying here has been a completely different experience to our academics at home, with much more interactive and hands-on learning, but in a place that wasn’t familiar to us. Looking at businesses and entrepreneurs in Italy really challenged our critical thinking skills, as places like the Social Hub, Mercato Centrale and Cafe Dini pursue ideals that would be completely out of place at home in the USA. These experiential learning experiences gave us new insight into the creative world, but felt so much more authentic and original, some ideals that we noticed are truer throughout Italy than the United States.
We dealt with these cultural differences outside the classroom as well, as part of our daily life living in Florence. Throughout our time here, we were able to develop our soft skills to handle communication barriers, adapt to changing plans, and organize our new lives. While we have become used to living by ourselves as part of our university experience, doing so outside of our usual social bubbles that we have become accustomed to, and in a completely foreign environment was challenging. We learned to navigate ambiguity by following the lead of locals, whether it came to using transportation, managing our waste, or shopping for groceries. We started planning more meticulously, and over time developed a routine that suited our personal desires such as getting proper exercise by going to the gym, playing sports and running. Being able to adjust to rapid changes that came at us while planning our weekly study abroad experience helped us become more adaptable, a virtue that is very important in the professional world.
Section 3: The Lasting Effects (How This Shapes the Future)
In the modern world of Linked-In, students are used to hearing words like diverse mindset, differentiation, and resilience. These all are undoubtedly aspects that make a better professional, teammate, and global citizen. The adaptable skills that we have been able to develop throughout our time abroad will contribute immensely toward understanding and reaching our long-term goals. The digital world today allows us to gain experiences through a screen, and makes us think we know what life is like halfway across the world, but going to actually experience it is a life-changing and incredibly fortunate experience.
Learning to have a positive mindset when something with your travels inevitably goes wrong is a feeling that I have learned to embrace. When it looks like we’re going to miss the last train out of Pisa and be stuck for the night, we learned to keep a cool head, communicate with conductors and formulate back-up plans to reach our goal of getting back home safely. These types of unique experiences helped us develop an unshakeable resilience that we are likely going to need to count on during the stresses of adult and professional life. Most people at the start of college say they want to study abroad, but actually taking the leap is more than what most people have the chance to actually do. Being a person that now has gained all sorts of intensive experiences in developing a global mindset showcases professional differentiation, making us stand out from other candidates in the professional world. Modern-day employers aren’t just looking for the same technical skills that everyone has, but also for people that can prove they thrived in diverse, fast-paced and unfamiliar environments.
Our study abroad experience has changed our baseline. We now return home with a much broader worldview, our memories filled with new places and people. We return with a more resilient mindset, fueled by adapting to a new, foreign world. Most importantly we return with a clearer understanding of how different people across the world approach creativity, work and community, having become a part of the exchange in knowledge across the world that has existed since the age of exploration. Armed with new knowledge and sense of purpose, we can accomplish our long-term goals with experience at our backs.
TikTok: Study abroad in Florence
Youtube: Lessons we learned while abroad
Instagram: Favorite parts of study abroad
Written by Quinn Gregoire, Theo Keppler, Lila Foley, Renee Barr, and Taylor Pike
