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I am a huge fan of studying abroad. I absolutely love to travel and my favorite thing to do in the world is get in a car, on a bus, or board a plane and head toward the unknown. If I had the money, I’d likely spend the next five years (or more) just globetrotting. While I am not the most traveled person around, I have spent a summer in Mexico, New York, and Barcelona, Spain. I also spent some time after Spain bumming around Europe and covering a lot of the highlights. I hit Madrid, London, Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome as well as a lot of other minor cities. I can tell you that these three summers were the absolute best three summers of my life and I had more fun that I can even begin to explain.

Studying abroad offers an amazing combination of taking summer school and traveling. I have many friends who have needed to take summer school to stay on target for graduation. This is not a problem. If you are not too particular about what country you want to visit, then you can likely find classes that will transfer back for whatever classes you need. Study abroad offices are exceptionally helpful in this and you can often get credit for just about anything. In fact, if you need summer school this might be the perfect reason to consider studying abroad. If you were going to be forced to sit in a classroom for the summer, why not do it in a place you would have otherwise never visited?In terms of classroom credit, this will likely be the easiest credit you ever received. Summer school is almost always easier than taking a class during the school year. This rule of thumb is even truer when you are abroad. The professors are aware that you are there not only for class and credit, but more importantly, the cultural experience. Because of this, they make a great effort to keep the homework and studying to a minimum so that you have as much time to enjoy your time there as possible. Both summers I went abroad I received 6 hours of credit (2 classes) and typically did less work than I would have for only one class. Taking classes abroad is similar to the US in terms of classroom time. Normally a study abroad lasts six weeks (with shorter and longer options available) and you will go to class 4 or 5 days a week for usually 4 hours a day.

Study abroad classes are even easier if you are studying a foreign language. Your professors will be expecting you to absorb large amounts of language simply from being in the country, so the class itself will often be very fun and very easy. Another typical difference between study abroad classes and US language classes is where the teaching emphasis lies. Most US classes emphasize the ability to read and write a foreign language. When you are studying within a country that speaks the language, they tend to worry much more about your ability to speak. I find this type of learning much more practical and much easier. The only concern is to make sure that if you have further course work within the language, be sure that you will be prepared. I studied Spanish abroad twice and received 12 hours from this coursework.

The only problem that I ran into was that even though my credit transferred, my US counterparts were learning, grammar, sentence structure, and literature, while I was learning practical language skills. So when I came back to the US and took the next course I needed, missing so much grammar and writing handicapped me. I was able to speak better than the bulk of my class, but I really struggled to keep up with the essays that I was required to write. Be sure that even if your credit is transferring that you are learning the material necessary to move to the next level back at home.

Study abroad living arrangements come in a variety of options but the most typical set-up is living with a family. Living with a new family in foreign country can be a daunting proposal, but I really encourage you to choose this option. Living with a family gives you the chance to receive the full cultural experience. You will learn how these families function. The way they interact, have fun, eat meals, and do things in ways that would have never occurred to you.

If you are studying a foreign language then it is an absolute must. Many friends of mine have taken the other route and rented apartments with friends or lived in a dorm set up. While this may be slightly more conducive to partying, it makes learning the language much more difficult. Living with the family provides you with constant interaction in the language with people who use the natural pitch, tone, and inflection of the language as well as provide an example of how people naturally speak versus classroom grammar. You will learn more of the language from interaction with your family than you ever will from your four hours a day of class. You may think that you and your friends will use the language among each other, but it is to easy to revert to English when you can’t think of the right verb or a way to express a sentence.

The only disadvantage of living with a family is the potential rules involved. While they will never stop you from partying and going out, they may be pretty strict about what goes on within the house. For example, I couldn’t have people over to my house in Spain. It just isn’t really considered the norm for young people to hang out at home. Rather they tend to meet somewhere and go out. It may also make your sex life somewhat more difficult if everyone you hang out with lives with a family with similar rules.

Normally the amount you are paying the family will include 3 meals a day as well as snacks. It will also include washing and drying your clothes and keeping things clean. Outside of that, most things are yours to pay for. Most families are very experienced with having summer visitors and things go very smoothly. I had good experiences with both families I lived with. They were friendly, polite, and worked hard to make sure you had a great experience. The food was typically good though sometimes strange, but most families will accommodate your food preferences. While I do know of a few people that had bad family experiences this is unusual. And for the few who did have bad experiences, the study abroad company was quick to step in and try to reconcile the differences. If this wasn’t going to happen then they were able to switch to a new family.

Being able to travel and receive credit offers you double the incentive. It can also be a great way to get your parents involved. Your parents may not be keen on paying for you to bum around Europe for the summer, but they may be much more inclined to do so if you are going to get credit for a couple of classes. Typically, there is also a large amount of scholarship money out there that is set aside specifically for studying abroad. My school had Honors College grants as well as general grants for anyone interested in studying abroad. When it was finally totaled, I had received almost $5,000 from my university to feed my travel bug.

If money is still an issue, don’t let this stop you! Take out a student loan. While I know many will denounce my advice for encouraging students to take on debt, I believe that sometimes there are experiences in life that you cannot put a price on. Studying abroad will only cost a few thousand dollars and if you go to a very expensive place and live the high life, it would still be hard to spend more than 7 or 8 thousand dollars. While this sounds like a lot to a college freshman, this isn’t a lot of money in the long-term. For many people they will never have the chance to spend 6, 8, 10 weeks abroad and enjoying life. You will remember these summers for the rest of your life. This also allows an easy way for you to begin building credit.

While I didn’t have to take out loans I have many friends who have and do not regret it in the least. I funded my study abroads with scholarships, savings and credit cards. I came back from Mexico with a $3,000 credit card bill and I returned from Europe with a $6,000 bill after you include all the backpacking I did when the classroom time was over. I was able to pay both off within 3-6 months and they were the best investment I ever made.