Are you just graduating school and you are looking to study abroad? Well, we’d like to ask you something: Is study abroad about your studies? With no intention to underestimate the importance of education, academic degrees and career goals, we’d like to prove you that it might not be the case…
How has the new culture shaped me?
Spending a few years in a foreign country abroad will give you the opportunity to adopt a new mentality. The time that you’ll invest abroad will transform you but towards which direction? This depends on the specific country. Not every place will offer you the same experience and not every experience will have the same impact on you. Every country has a different story to narrate and each one of them has the capacity to create a new self of yours. Who would that be? It depends on the values, the traditions, the history, the political and financial situation and many more factors that have shaped the country and will also shape you.
What’s new, what’s old?
To take it a bit further, most of the people that go for their studies abroad are pretty young and thus are very, subconsciously, open to new influences that might not be only new, but they might be the first ever influence on a specific topic. To give you an example, an 18-year-old that goes abroad for his studies maybe hasn’t got the opportunity to shape an opinion about the local and international politics scene yet, or a 24-year-old has never seriously thought about religion. Both will start having thoughts about the different aspects of life in their new country that will directly or indirectly influence them.
Show me your friend and I’ll tell you who you are!
In your new country, you´ll make new friends. Where do those friends come from? What would be their background? Will you meet the same people if you study in a US private university and the same if you study in a public institution in Czech Republic? Then, those people maybe become friends for life, you might travel with them, you might get to know their families and visit their countries but what you´ll definitely do is get familiar with their cultures. New cultures that will open even more windows to your thoughts, your goals and your life dreams.
Career doesn´t come last
Highly organised or slightly chaotic? Creative or somehow dry? Inspiring or leading? Whatever the case, one is certain: Your work attitude will be shaped through the work environment that you´ll come to contact with while you are in your studies country. Do the locals follow the Bachelor, Master, first internship, first job, second job pattern? Or they prefer to go traveling, take a gap year, and go back to the university when they already have two kids? The country’s mentality will influence your own way of thinking even though you might need a lot of time to realise that.
You are the one to shape your future!
So, can you rethink the question now? Is study abroad about your studies? Of course, it is, as this is where it’ll all start. It´s a good reason and a good excuse to start building your life the way you wish. But don’t get stuck to that. When you do your academic program search, take into account all the different aspects that won’t offer you just a degree, but a life, an attitude, a mentality, a culture and a life!
Online Open Days
To get a very clear idea about not only your Bachelor, Master, PhD or MBA program, but also about your destination country, the city and the campus, The Study Abroad Portal offers you free online sessions with universities and business schools worldwide! Check our upcoming and recorded webinars and register for the one you´d like to attend or watch!
