The University of Denver has one of the most well-renowned study abroad programs in the country. With over 106 Partner Programs in over 40 countries, the options for going abroad seem almost limitless. When over 70% of our student population studies abroad during their time at DU, it feels more like a precedent than an open-argument case. 

With the deadline to apply for studying abroad in the fall of 2024 rapidly approaching, I am here to offer some words of wisdom on the experience, since I have just returned from my semester abroad in France. 

Here is the breakdown of my experience: I studied abroad in a smaller town called Aix-en-Provence in southern France, about 30 minutes north of the larger city of Marseille. The program was the Institute of American Universities, or IAU, and had options for classes to be taught in English or French, as well as options for their French Honors Program, the Marchutz Core Art Program or a certificate in Wine Studies. And yes, wine studies in France is as fun as it sounds. 

We had the option to live in an apartment with other students or with a host family. The host family served us breakfast every day and dinner six days per week, leaving Saturday nights free for us to have dinner in town. They also cleaned and did our laundry, and generally served as a guiding point and a way for us to practice our French. The students who lived in apartments were more on their own in these regards.

We had to take five classes on a semester-long schedule with a week-long fall break at the end of October. Many classes had excursions that traveled around Europe, and my literature class took a two-day trip to Paris. I also had many opportunities to travel to other locations such as Nice, London, Rome, Bologna and Geneva. Many of these trips took place on the weekend, but some weekends I chose to stay in Aix either to study, check out the area or welcome visiting friends and family. 

You may notice that I just spoke about my time abroad in a very matter-of-fact way. There was very little emotion to my words, and instead, I simply told you about what I did, saw and experienced. 

This is because, all too often, I think that there is a false expectation about what going abroad is like and what it means for you as a person. I remember my freshman and sophomore years seeing the juniors return shiny-eyed from their time away with far-fetched stories about their crazy adventures and travels from all around the world. They would gush about how amazing it was, how they wanted to move to Europe/Australia/Asia immediately and talk about how much it changed them as a person.

I’m not saying these things aren’t true, or that people don’t have this experience while abroad; many of them do! I’m just here to be a voice of reason—someone who can tell you the less shiny side of the study abroad experience—and be the one person who will ask you to consider just one extra time if studying abroad is something you actually want to do, as opposed to feeling obligated or pressured to. 

Because I will admit that studying abroad did change something: my perspective. It did help me change how I see the world around me, grow a new appreciation for all of the things that we DO have in the United States and helped me affirm how I perceive myself. But it did not change my life, or make me realize something drastic that I didn’t see before or put me in a position to fall in love with a foreign man. 

In fact, a lot of days were pretty mundane. You do have to go to school, and after a while you are no longer a visitor in the city you are in—you live there. So that means thinking about things like buying more toiletries (random European brands), getting a haircut and even needing more clothes for the ever-changing unanticipated weather patterns. Doing all of these things, especially in another language, can be pretty daunting. Even if you’ve practiced it before, or have host parents or the other person speaks a little bit of English. 

“Surely, it gets easier,” you must be thinking, and it does, in some ways. But sometimes it’s just hard. You miss home, and your parents or your friends are inevitably busy with their own experiences in other countries. You can relate to them more in some ways now but less in others. Or they’re seven to nine hours apart in time distance from you, or in a different hemisphere, and you can barely keep up with them at all. 

Or you get sick, and you have to figure out how to go to the doctor (or equivalent) and get medicine (or equivalent) and submit something to insurance (or equivalent) and you don’t realize how different it all is until you’re sitting in a doctor’s office alone surrounded by people speaking a different language than you. And now people are just going into the office in the order they came into the waiting room and there is no front desk person to monitor or call you back, so you better start paying attention or you’re going to miss your turn. 

Again, this is not everyone’s experience, and some people can cope with these things way better than others. I’m not ashamed to admit how many tears I cried (a lot), that I called my mom every day and that I spent time thinking I was crazy for being here in this experience that I wanted so badly (or so I thought). I was counting down the weeks until I could be back home.

So call me a devil’s advocate or a realist, but I’m just here to ask you to question, consider and really contemplate what studying abroad truly means, instead of just the experience that people portray upon their return. It usually happens to be a rose-colored glasses look at what all happened while they were gone. I did have some good times myself: pleasant dinners with my host parents, a lovely roommate who I had many good conversations with, an amazing Harry Potter experience in London and fun lunches spent at the local town market. But studying abroad is so much more than that, and it is important to understand that before you go.

If you’re intent on studying abroad no matter what I say, here’s some advice: keep a journal. Stay awake until a decent time on your first night there before you fall asleep. Always check for bedbugs. Take pictures, but not too many. Call your friends that you miss. Be ok with the difficulties, and make the best of it while you can. Let yourself spend a little extra money, because it truly is once in a lifetime. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks or how their experience compares to yours. 

And if you read this and think “maybe studying abroad isn’t as much for me as I thought it was,” that’s perfectly ok. It will come with its own challenges, but you don’t always have to step outside of your comfort zone to learn things about yourself, and staying on DU’s campus will not stop you from getting that job or internship because “everyone else studied abroad.” A large portion of students from all over the country do not.  

In the end, it’s up to you to choose what is best for you, not just what it seems like everyone else is doing. Make sure you seek the voice of reason and your gut feeling inside of you, and truly know what you want before you hit the “apply” button. I’m still glad I went abroad and had the experiences I did, but I’m not sure I could say that I would do it again. After all, the University of Denver is truly my home.