Why You Should Study Abroad: Experience From an Alumni

After graduating as a member of the class of 2023, this has been my first year not as a student. Being a student has always been a huge part of my identity, as I have always loved academia and all that comes with it, and I have had the idea for years that I would continue into higher education after undergraduate. My plan was to get my PhD immediately following graduating, and though that is still the eventual plan, my junior year at SLU revolutionized the timeline. I spent the spring semester of my junior year studying abroad in Rennes, France, and it made me realize how valuable and life changing living abroad is. So much so that I decided to live and work in France the year after graduation.  

My first piece of advice to all current students would be to make studying abroad a priority. Of course it comes with challenges and sacrifices, but the experiences you will have merit these trade-offs. As someone who had grown up without much travelling, seeing another country was such an enriching opportunity, especially getting to fully live there and immerse myself in the culture. The friends I made during that semester became such close friends in a relatively short time because you experience so much together. You are doing independent international travel together, growing and learning amidst the most amazing sights and experiences. You are trying new food, you are supporting each other through the culture shock and foreign language exhaustion, and you are finding a new home in these people.  

Depending on your program, you may also live with a host family. I think this is especially valuable for those studying in a country where another language is spoken. As much as it is potentially daunting and sometimes exhausting and annoying to eat dinner and converse with your host family every night, it is worth it a million times over. My host family consisted of just a host mom, a tiny and sweet but immensely intimidating Vietnamese woman of seventy years old. Coming into the program with only a couple years of French experience, I was certainly fearful. While my fellow Americans in the program could oftentimes just sit back and observe as the family dynamics progressed as usual, I had to be in constant conversation with just one other person at the dinner table. While a scary idea, this propelled my French language skills forward immensely. It also allowed me to form a close bond with my host mom, and I went back to visit her during this past year that I have been living in France.  

The relationships that I have with people who don’t share the same language as me bring me so much joy. The idea that we would not have this beautiful connection without French is so amazing to me, especially with my friends where French is our common language but neither of our first languages. I have a close friend from Thailand, and we both chose to move to France and learn the language, allowing us to form a bond and learn about each other’s cultures and lives in a way that we would never have without our dedication to this complex foreign tongue.  

All in all, as much as it may be a cliche you often hear about people’s study abroad experience, it is totally true that you learn so much about yourself and grow exponentially during that short period. Thus, I knew that before I progressed in my academic journey, I needed to learn more about the me I was discovering when removed from all of the pressures, expectations and comforts of living back in the states. Rather than start my PhD as I always expected, I moved to France knowing absolutely no one in the city in which I would be living. I sought personal challenge and complete freedom; I wanted to explore Europe to its fullest and truly immerse myself in the beautiful variety of cultures across the continent. 

I was able to pursue this adventure thanks to Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). TAPIF is one of the cultural services of the French Embassy which allows around 1,300 Americans to work in the French public school system as teaching assistants for 12 hours a week. My second advice to current students, specifically those considering post-grad plans at the moment, would be to look into this program or the plenty of equivalent programs in other countries. With such limited working hours, the opportunity allows you to fill your free time with other priorities which, for me, was experiencing other countries and cultures as much as possible. The limited hours may sound intimidating since that inevitably means you are receiving limited earnings, but programs such as this also often provide help with accommodations and meals. I lived in a dorm in a lycée (the French equivalent of high school) for only 200 euros a month and can eat at the cafeteria very cheaply, meaning the program’s wages were certainly enough to allow me to experience the travel and cultural immersion I was seeking, especially considering how cheap European travel is in comparison to America. My flights to various European cities were never over 80 dollars and more often only cost 30 or 40 dollars. As a young adult, you can benefit from many cultural experiences in Europe for a huge discount or even free.  

I know that there is a lot of pressure after graduating to know exactly what path you are on and either have a job that will carry you through to your career or to continue your academic pursuits. However, I think that taking a pause and doing a program such as TAPIF truly teaches you so much and is immensely fulfilling. It has the potential to take you so much further in life and is worth the year or two or three of putting the “plan” on pause.