Travel Abroad and Get Ready to Take on the World by Alicia

Travel Abroad and Get Ready to Take on the World by Alicia - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

As a 32-year-old student who has found myself back in school once again, I can’t help but reminisce about my college years and how different my circumstances are this time around. I have a family, a mortgage, a full-time job, and a pile of other adult responsibilities. Studying abroad or even traveling abroad isn’t feasible this time around. I took life seriously ten years ago. I thought I had responsibilities then, and I did, but I can’t help but think now how much more I could have gotten out of my time during my undergraduate career and the value that would have added to my life, if I had only taken advantage of more opportunities when I had the chance.
A college education is meant to prepare individuals for their future careers. However, there are many skills that are necessary to being successful in the workforce that are difficult to learn in the classroom. Very few experiences have the possibility of educating a person and giving them a vast array of skills like travel. For that reason, every educational program should encourage studying abroad. A student will be pushed out of their comfort zone, they’ll get exposed to and have to thrive in another culture, in many cases they’ll learn another language, and they’ll get a true glimpse of how big the really is and what it offers. Studying abroad will teach a student skills and give them an incredible experience, but it also may inspire that student to do something they never would have thought to do otherwise.
College in itself is a privilege. Many people, including myself, that have the opportunity to get a higher education, are never exposed to a life much different to how we grew up. Perspective is an interesting thing and it has the ability to change the way we view the world, to make us more aware, and allow us to change deeply engrained thoughts. Living abroad gives students an entirely new perspective on the world, how other people live, and the problems they face. Whether you travel to a poorer country, where you get to see what struggle truly is, or a more affluent country that takes life less seriously, a shift in perspective can change the way a person interacts with the world. There’s no better time to gain that knowledge than when you are young and the path in front of you is a completely blank slate.
The lessons learned through studying abroad could benefit any major, any profession, and any individual who is willing to pack their bags and leave everything that is familiar to them behind. While I never studied abroad, I have traveled and each time I bring back useful knowledge that bleeds over into my daily life. One of travel’s greatest gifts is the confidence it instills while a foreigner navigates a new place, a new language, and a new culture. Travel teaches flexibility, as any traveler who has ever spent any time in an airport learns, not everything is under your control nor do things always go as planned. Travel teaches a deeper level of interpersonal skills as one interacts with strangers and in many cases has to rely on those strangers to get to their destination or simply to find a place to eat. Travel teaches the value of planning and the necessity of punctuality. Perhaps, most importantly, travel has a way of inspiring a person to push themselves to know more, to learn more, and to do more. A glimpse of another culture, a foreign country and a new way of living is never enough. Those that are lucky enough to travel will make sure they are always lucky enough to travel. The thirst for exposure to what else is out there is never quenched. Whether they continue to travel to far off places or not, their mind is open and the benefit of that will impact their life for years to come. A student who gets the opportunity to study abroad will enter the workforce more prepared, more inspired, and truly ready to take on the world, because they will have a much better idea of what that world offers them.