Thrown in with new people and circumstances, she filled her suitcase with the ability to appreciate and welcome challenges. Students might go abroad to study a particular subject at a famous institution, to learn a language, to investigate another culture, or to have adventures. But no matter what the initial purpose of their quests, they return with a larger view of the world and their place in it, observes Lewis Fortner, Associate Dean of Students at the University of Chicago. Find your way around using a confusing trolley system, pay the rent to a landlord who doesn't understand you, order lunch from a menu you can't read, or figure out how to use a inexplicable contraption that people insist is a washing machine. Those experiences teach as much as any formal class.
Many students abroad live independently for the first time.
Hoag picked up a few courses but also found out how to handle difficult situations with confidence. That's because they tend to be risk takers, willing to put themselves in unusual situations and able to overcome a fear of the unknown. They get used to solving problems under tough circumstances and by the time they get home, little fazes them. Tell John Perry, Director of International Education at the State University of New York, Brockport, that you've studied abroad, and he'll say you're a self-starter who can hit the ground running and operate in just about any situation that comes your way. Students go through a constant cycle of being dumfounded by their new surroundings and then adjusting to them.