Study Abroad: An Introduction

Hello my fellow Carthaginians and study abroad enthusiasts,

For most people, study abroad is more than just a graduation requirement; it's a desire and a life-long dream. Your friends go and they come back and tell you all about all of the amazing things they did and saw. As part of my study abroad experience, I've decided to keep a blog about my travels.

My goal isn't only to tell you about my upcoming trip, though. I want to help prepare you for the entire experience, the before, during, and after. But first, a little background information about myself.

In high school, I had three teachers in particular who developed my love of foreign language and travel. Mrs. Porter, one of my Spanish teachers; Mrs. Fogarty, the teacher I originally went to Costa Rica with; and Mr. Belknap, my humanities teacher. All of them influenced my life in different ways, but the end product was the same: I had a need to experience things outside of my comfort zone. For everyone the need is different. Everyone has different reasons for wanting to go abroad. It's important that you know what your personal reasons are.

I am currently a junior at Carthage College with a double major in Spanish and Public Relations. I work as an assistant content editor for the Carthage website and am a member of Pi Theta sorority. At Carthage, foreign language majors are required to spend a semester abroad. I will be spending the spring semester of my junior year in Heredia, Costa Rica, and will be attending La Universidad Latina, where I will take classes in Spanish with locals, have multiple cultural excursions, and will live with a local family.

I am beyond excited to leave at the beginning of January, but with finals coming up next week I haven't had much of a chance to be nervous or eager. The program I am going through, Sol Abroad Education, has been sending me information all week, including my host family information, class schedule, and calendar of events. The group I am going with is relatively small; there will be seven of us there for the whole semester and an additional eight for the month of January.

Feel free to post comments or ask me questions. I will do my best to answer them.

Until next time,

Pura Vida.