As the lone CA abroad, I guess it’s my duty to say, if you can…GO ABROAD!!
Now, I’m not just saying that as a plug for BU Abroad or COM, after a month and a half of living in London I truly back that statement. This semester I’m taking part in BU’s London Internship Program which is COM’s largest abroad program.
Essentially, you take two intensive classes for six weeks, usually in your field of study, then for nine weeks you get to intern with a company in London while taking one other course.
Enough about the school stuff and more about London. It’s definitely a nice change from Boston and BU’s campus, the city is a step up in terms of pace (think New York City) and unlike Boston where you can walk everywhere, I’ve found myself taking the tube plenty of times.
Thus far, my favorite part of London was going to an NFL game at Wembley Stadium, which just happened this weekend! I’m a huge New York Jets fan, and on Sunday I was able to watch them play against the Miami Dolphins. The last few weeks, I was forced to watch the games at a casino at 6:00 pm to account for the five hour time difference between here and the east coast. But luckily this week I only had to wait until 2:30 pm. Before the game I was able to hang out with fellow Jets fans I’ve met at the casino and take in the NFLUK experience. Plus the icing on the cake was the fact that the Jets won and improved to 3-1!
Next week, we have fall break and I can’t wait as I’ll begin to travel around Europe a bit more than I already have. Thus far, many of my trips have been within England; I made my way to Dublin, Ireland last week, but next week I’ll be going to Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid/Barcelona, Spain. And during the rest of October I’ll be visiting Paris, France as well as Milan, Italy.
And if you aren’t convinced that you should try and go abroad, here are my top 5 reasons for going abroad:
1) Get to make new friends!
I only came abroad knowing one other person in my program and have made a ton of friends, from people that live on my floor to people I have class with.
2) Culture Shock
Similar to the way you feel going to away to college for the first time, there is a bit of a shock when you go abroad. Sometimes you do get homesick, but in the end, you get to adapt to living in a completely different place, you adapt to a new culture, and even get to pick up new cool words (like saying queue instead of a line).
3) TRAVEL
This past summer I worked for an airline, so I obviously love all things travel. And when it comes to being abroad in the UK or Europe at large, you have easy (and relatively) cheap access to so many other countries, which is amazing!
4) Helps Your Resume
This one goes in line with culture shock, but living in another country and studying/working there is a huge benefit for your resume. Rather than going into an interview and saying you’re an adaptable person, you can prove it by saying you went abroad, studied AND worked for a company where the office culture is different than office culture in the states.
5) Rule Social Media
If you want an easy way to make your friends jealous, just go out on the town and Instagram or post to Facebook whatever you’re doing. Going to Stonehenge (only an hour away from London)? Instagram one of the seven wonders of the world and make your friends jealous while they suffer through midterms (and rain from a hurricane).
