From Overwhelming to Exciting by Mary Katherine

From Overwhelming to Exciting by Mary Katherine - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

I don’t think that studying abroad should be required, because it needs to be the student’s choice. Though I think the benefits of studying abroad outway the drawbacks, a student may have significant reasons not to study abroad so they should be able to choose to not to if they want. But, studying abroad should be strongly encouraged; it’s an invaluable experience that is also a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most people.

At first, I never seriously considered studying abroad because the idea seemed too overwhelming. Up until recently, I’ve been worried about leaving my family, and I’ve also never been out of the country before. But, as I’ve grown more confident about being on my own these past few months, it’s stopped scaring me.

Now I think “Why not study abroad?”. There’s so much of this world that I’ve haven’t seen. There’s so much of America I haven’t even seen. I’ve heard odd stories about how differently Californians do everyday things, and I can’t imagine how differently people in another country go about their everyday lives. Most people bog themselves and others down with thinking that how they do things or think is the only right option. I’ve seen that this habit occurs a lot in politics with America’s capitalism proclaimed to be the only viable economy. It would be eye-opening for me and everyone else to become so immersed in a foreign country so that we can see that a country can have completely different systems for politics or everyday activities and still thrive. I would also find it comforting that even if my surrounding culture changes, I can adapt and life goes on.