On September 4th I attended the Education Abroad Expo in the Ohio Union put on by the Office of International Affairs as an academic event. The expo opened my eyes to the multitude of opportunities there are to study abroad during my time at Ohio State. Prior to this, I knew that I wanted to study abroad since I have many family members and friends who have done so and had great experiences. However, I was unsure about how I would schedule my classes in order to be able to study abroad and still graduate on time. After attending the expo, I feel confident that I will be able to schedule my classes in a way that I will be able to study abroad for a semester. I was also nervous about being able to afford the expense of studying abroad, but I am less anxious about that now that I have heard about the many opportunities for scholarships and grants.
Regardless of where I study abroad, I am hoping to gain a greater understanding of the culture and to broaden my knowledge of the world from the experience. I joined the International Affairs Scholars Program because of my love for traveling and meeting people whose backgrounds differ from mine, so I want to utilize the opportunities I have to travel as much as I can while I am in college. I would preferably like to be abroad for a semester in Europe so that I could take weekend trips to other countries. At the moment, as I am only seven weeks into college, being away from my family and friends for an entire semester seems impossible, however, I know that challenge will be worthwhile to be able to make the most of my time abroad. Because I have taken Spanish since I was in the first grade, I would love to be able to use that knowledge to talk to native speakers no matter where I decide to study.
While I would prefer to study abroad for a semester, I was also introduced to study abroad sessions during the month of May that interest me. For instance, the School of Environment and Natural Resources offers a four week study abroad course in New Zealand to learn about their sustainable tourism and how people are effecting the environment. Not only did the pictures from the trip look breathtaking, but the upperclassman I talked to who had gone on the trip this past summer raved about her time there. This student is a business major and particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to entrepreneurs in New Zealand and learning about how they are making their businesses environmentally friendly. This stood out to me because I assumed students from the School of Environment and Natural Resources would make up the entirety of the students on the trip, so the fact that people from many different majors attended her trip over the summer greatly interests me as another way to meet new people.