Updated: 03/23/20 | March 23rd, 2020
I sat down to write about my travel regrets and realized I only have one: I never studied abroad when I was in college.
Studying abroad is an annual ritual for thousands of college students. They travel all over the world to get away from home, experience something new, take classes overseas, meet new people, and party in foreign lands.
Most American students seem to flock toward Europe, where cheap transportation makes weekend trips to exotic cities easy.
When I was in college, I never caught the study abroad bug. At that point in my life, I wasn’t big into traveling. Studying abroad sounded cool, but it also sounded like a tedious administrative process — and I was lazy.
I liked my campus life; c’était facile. forms and paperwork got in the way of sleeping late, four-day weekends, and fraternity events.
But what really held me back was a single idea that seems to hold many others back, too. It’s the belief that something might be missed while studying abroad.
What would happen if I left home? What changes would happen with my friends? What parties would I miss? What gossip? What if there was some big event at school and I wasn’t there? What if the president came?
What if this? What if that?
With all those “what ifs” in my head, I never went abroad because I never wanted to miss something. I didn’t know what that “something” was, but I knew I wasn’t going to miss it.
But I was naive in that thinking. I never realized that studying abroad would imply new memories, new friends, and new adventures. I was too tied to the worry in my mind to let myself go.
Flash forward to 2006, when I went driving with my friend Mike. We were talking about how I was about to leave for my round-the-world trip.
“I wonder what life will be like when I come back?” Je lui ai demandé.
“Nothing will change,” he said. “It will be the exact same as when you left.”
“Comment? I’ll be gone for a year!” I retorted. “A year is a long time. Something will happen.”
“Matt,” he said to me, “when I went to England to study abroad, I thought the same thing. but when I came back, everyone was still doing the same thing, studying the same thing, acting the same way. It was as though I had never left. I melted best back in. It will be the same for you, too.”
In the end, Mike was right.
After 18 months of traveling around the world, I came home and life was still the same.
My friends had the same jobs, had the same hobbies, and went to the same bars.
I hadn’t missed any earth-shattering events. Life had continued on exactly the same way it always had in my absence.
In a way, it felt as though those 18 months away had never really happened. My old life was there as if frozen in time, just waiting for my return.
And it was then that I realized I had made a huge mistake by never studying abroad.
I missed out on an opportunity that only comes along once in your life. That semester abroad was taken away from me by my own unfounded fears.
Now, I regret that I let worry keep me from experiencing life overseas. who knows what kinds of experiences I might have had studying abroad, what friends I would have made, or how my impression of travel might be different had I started at a younger age.
I robbed myself of an opportunity because I was too frightened to leave my comfort zone. It’s much simpler to stay at home where things are familiar than to break out and travel. It’s a big thing to step out your door, away from your safety net, and into the known.
Deep down, you may want to travel…but the devil you know is always safer than the devil you don’t. It can be a hard mindset to shake.
I know numerous college students read my blog. I know because I receive emails from students all the time. This post is for all the students out there who are scared to take a chance.
To you, I say, go study abroad!
As scary as it may seem, you aren’t the first person to study abroad. You aren’t the first person to leave home and explore the world. Columbus and Magellan had a reason to be afraid. You don’t.
There is a well-worn traveler trail out there. There are people to help you. There are groups and resources online. You aren’t going to be alone.
As scary as it may seem, you aren’t venturing into the true unknown.
Don’t worry about what you might miss back home. Your friends will still be your friends, the parties will still be there, and campus life won’t change. You don’t need to be home to learn all the juicy gossip. You can do that on Facebook.
Do the Foo Fighters coming for a concert compare to exploring all the gelato restaurants in Florence?
Would you trade weekends on the beach in Australia just so you can be there to learn that a friend made a trick of himself at a party?
I know from experience that you are missing out on much more by staying on campus than by going overseas. This is your chance to live abroad and have many of your expenses paid for you.C’est votre chance de voir si vous aimez le monde en dehors de vos frontières dans un confort et une sécurité relatifs.
Ne soyez pas nerveux.
Ne laissez pas cette inquiétude vous retenir.
Vous serez toujours dans la bulle de sécurité scolaire… juste dans une autre école. Il y aura aussi de nombreux autres étudiants tout aussi nerveux que vous. Ce sera quelque chose à lier. De plus, si vous ne l’aimez vraiment pas, vous pouvez toujours rentrer à la maison.
Mais ne soyez pas comme moi – rempli d’une vie de regret simplement parce que vous aviez trop peur de ce qui aurait pu être.
Comment parcourir le monde sur 50 $ par jour
Mon guide de poche à succès du New York Times pour les voyages dans le monde vous indiquera comment maîtriser l’art du voyage afin que vous quittez les sentiers battus, que vous économiserez de l’argent et que vous ayez une expérience de voyage plus profonde. C’est votre guide de planification A à Z que la BBC a appelé la «Bible pour les voyageurs à petit budget».
Cliquez ici pour en savoir beaucoup plus et commencez à le lire aujourd’hui!
Réservez votre voyage: suggestions et astuces logistiques
Réservez votre vol
Trouvez un vol bon marché en utilisant Skyscanner. C’est mon moteur de recherche préféré car il recherche des sites et des compagnies aériennes du monde entier, donc vous savez toujours qu’aucune pierre n’est laissée.
Réservez votre hébergement
Vous pouvez réserver votre auberge avec HostelWorld. Si vous voulez rester ailleurs qu’une auberge, utilisez Booking.com car ils renvoient régulièrement les tarifs les plus abordables pour les maisons d’hôtes et les hôtels.
N’oubliez pas l’assurance voyage
L’assurance voyage vous protégera contre la maladie, les blessures, le vol et les annulations. C’est une protection étendue au cas où quelque chose se passe mal. Je ne vais jamais en voyage sans cela car j’ai dû l’utiliser à plusieurs reprises dans le passé. Mes entreprises préférées qui offrent le meilleur service et la meilleure valeur sont:
Safetywing (mieux pour tout le monde)
Assurer mon voyage (pour ceux de plus de 70 ans)
MedJet (pour une couverture d’évacuation supplémentaire)
Prêt à réserver votre voyage?
Consultez ma page de ressources pour les meilleures entreprises à utiliser lorsque vous voyagez. J’énumère tous ceux que j’utilise lorsque je voyage. Ils sont les meilleurs de la classe et vous ne pouvez pas vous tromper en les utilisant lors de votre voyage.