Welcome to the first blog in my study abroad series! I have been dreaming of studying abroad since I was in middle school and it is funny how some things have changed. For starters, I thought I would live in Italy for a year. I absolutely don’t want to be away from home that long. In fact, I don’t even want to be gone a whole semester. I wanted to be in Venice but as it turns out, there aren’t many programs based there. So what am I doing? I am heading to Florence, Italy for a four week summer program!
Throughout my study abroad, I want to write about my process of planning, preparing and exploring. Let’s begin with the planning. How did I pick my program you ask?
When will you go?
I have chronic FOMO. I knew that I couldn’t study abroad for a whole semester of college because I love it here at University of South Carolina and wouldn’t want a whole semester away. Since I lost a semester due to covid, if I went abroad that would be a whole year of college gone away from campus and the student experience.
This led me towards Maymesters and summer programs. Maymesters tended to be misleading as many were only two weeks long rather than the full month like I hoped for. Summer programs offered options for the whole summer or a half session of four- six weeks. I originally wanted to do six weeks but the program that I fell in love with had a half session of four weeks. This worked out perfectly for me because I get to go home from finals to prepare, spend time with my family, and relax. Then, I will spend a month abroad and be back for three weeks in July before heading back to South Carolina for school.
Looking back, I am so glad I made the decision not to study abroad spring semester of junior year. I would have missed out on so many unique experiences like celebrating the Women’s Basketball National Championship by storming the fountain and a free Darius Rucker concert.
Where Do You Want To Go?
As I mentioned earlier, my dream has always been to go Italy, so this was not a difficult choice. Although, I did have moments of doubt because I thought that Australia would be really fun and different than everyone else’s study abroad experience. I chose Italy because my favorite kind of travel is exploration of cities rich in history, art, and cuisine. I also wanted to be able to take a high speed train from city to city during my travels.
When it came to choosing what city I wanted to be in, I compared city size by population and square feet to gauge how walkable and personable the city will feel. I also researched which city would have the most central location, allowing me to easily take the train or catch a flight for a weekend trip. Thus, I landed on Florence.
What Kind of Program Do You Want?
University of South Carolina offers five different study abroad program categories. Some of these are planned by UofSC where you take a UofSC class with our own students and faculty. Another program is a direct exchange where another student from a foreign university comes to UofSC while you go abroad. I chose to travel with a partner program outside of UofSC that does all of the planning and the credits just transfer back. I love traveling with a partner program because this gave me so much more flexibility with itineraries, classes, locations, and everything else than traveling directly with the school. I’m super excited because no one from my school is in my program so the opportunity to meet new people from all over is endless.
Which Company For Partner Programs Is Best?
That is up to you to decide! There are so many companies for study abroad that it is super overwhelming. To organize it, I created an excel document to compare my favorite companies and the different trips they offered. I compared location, price, benefits, housing, excursions, and classes offered. I couldn’t have made my decision without this. Most of the programs were similar in terms of price and benefits so classes and excursions were my biggest influences. At the end of my analysis, I chose API as my favorite program for the best excursions.
What Classes Will You Take?
I am already ahead on credits to graduate so I wanted to take a fun elective rather than a major requirement. There were fun classes about travel writing, photography, or Italian but I decided to take a current trends cooking class! I’m super excited to be immersed in the culture through this.
Final Advice
One thing that people don’t tell you about study abroad is that the application process is long. There are so many forms to fill out and have approved both through the school and your program. Do not procrastinate this, treat it like an extra class worth of work!
