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Study Abroad: 11 Empowering Stories That Will Inspire You to Be An International Student (Part 1)

 

Studying abroad is considered as one of the best decisions you will ever make - especially in your 20s. There may be some people who contradict the idea because of the risks and the costs for you to be able to accomplish this but a lot defied the odds and showed us that studying abroad is definitely worth it. Here are some of the champions we met on Instagram who took the leap (and the flight and the opportunity) to go after their #studyabroad goals and had the best time of their lives:


BRITTA, from the United States of America to Ukraine

The best thing is all the people you meet along the way. Yeah, all the travel is amazing, but it doesn’t beat my new friends and family abroad. Studying abroad is a constant exercise in pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, but you always have a safety net of waiting to help.




ANTHONY, from the United States of America to the United Kingdom

“The best thing about my study abroad experience was the opportunity to completely immerse myself in a culture unlike my own and to broaden my worldview through interactions with people all over the world!



ERIN, from the United States of America to the Czech Republic during the fall semester and Thailand in the spring

“Studying abroad not only gives you the opportunity to live somewhere new for a few months but you really are able to have the time to immerse yourself in the culture and meet some of the most incredible people. You’re able to learn about the history, try all the local dishes, and explore sites not visited by tourists coming in for a short visit. My time abroad opened my eyes to this wonderful world and helped mold me into the global citizen I am today. Living somewhere different from where you grew up or your college town, really lets you appreciate all that this world has to offer. You’re able to come home and inspire others to open their hearts and minds to new experiences or foods they may not have been adventurous enough to try before.”


SYAMSUL, from Malaysia to the United Kingdom

“I have spent 21 years, almost two decades living in my hometown country. After I completed my diploma, I believe it is the right time to seek another adventure and leave my comfort zone. I never had any help on how to study abroad, nor which countries I will choose. So I spent the last two months before my diploma ended researching and attending international university events. To shorten the story, I managed to get help from an international agent to proceed with my application and they suggested me to apply for Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK. After spending almost 5 years in the UK, I can breakdown into a few points on what’s the best thing about studying abroad:

1. New Experience: There are a lot of experiences you can relate here such as culture, new outlook, custom, and activities.
2. Study: As I mentioned before, I have been in my home country for 21 years and I can conclude that they both have different education systems. I enjoyed it.
3. Improved Foreign Language: I’m originally from Malaysia and English is not my first language. English is a part of the Malaysian educational system needed by students to proceed to the next level. I’m still really bad at it because I never had a chance to practice it. But in the UK, it helped me to hone my language skills and it improved year by year.
4. Career Opportunities: After finishing my degree, I have successfully landed an amazing opportunity to proceed with my career. This can’t be achieved without taking the first step of my life - which is deciding to study abroad.


BRENDALIZ, from Puerto Rico to New York and Spain

“The best thing about studying abroad is it is an opportunity to grow in all aspects. It is an opportunity to study in a different educational setting or system. Through education abroad, it is not only about knowledge obtained from a book, but also about knowledge obtained through culture and the people’s values. I studied abroad on my own, which helped me explore the new surroundings and even part of myself that I did not know yet. I would describe studying abroad as ‘discovery’ of oneself and everything new around oneself’. I learned Spanish law while in school and while in the streets of Barcelona, I learned Catalan culture. But because I was already in Spain, I was able to travel around south of Spain to Seville, Madrid, Córdoba, Magá, and Toledo. Additionally, I experienced the European culture in Sweden, Prague, France, Andorra, Portugal, Amsterdam, and Morocco. It was all so different, so unique! Living within the diversity was by far the best experience of my study abroad program.”


SHAIRIL, from India to Europe

I and my fellow friends realised that nothing can make us more disciplined and active except studying abroad. From being lazy and turning into active moves from attending lectures or planning to drink beer. We all seemed so well-managed towards our to do list. In the homeland, parents were there to remind us what to do but in abroad we are becoming self-motivated.


Make your study abroad adventure happen! Get a piece of over $200M in scholarships offered every year by over 65 governments to study just like you to come and study in their country. Find all foreign government scholarships here.


To be continued...

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