Last time I went through Chinese security, I cycled through about 5 different cities and ran through about 4 languages before I settled on something. I was like. . . the airport I came from in the US? the airport I just came from in Korea? Seoul where I spend most of my holidays? My old hometown in Missouri? My college town where I got my passport? The town I lived in right before I moved? My current US residence? My town in China? I’m so confused!!
“Every semester, college students pack their bags and jet off to foreign countries to study abroad. The experience allows them to learn things they wouldn’t be able to learn in their college classrooms.
The Institute of International Education, a not-for-profit organization that researches the movement of international students, found that 304,467 American students studied abroad during the 2013-2014 school year — the most recent data available.
The IIE’s “Open Doors Data” is compiled with the help of the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. With this data, the IIE broke down the number of American studying in each country.
Business Insider used IIE’s research to find the top 20 countries and then researched the basics of what they need to know before moving there: official language, currency, and exchange rate (as of early August). We then looked to Lonely Planet for the cost of a typical low-budget meal, since studying abroad can get costly.
Europe is the continent of choice, with eight countries featured on the list. South America is in second place with five countries.
Read on to find out the 20 most popular countries where American students study abroad.”
Studying abroad may sound like the thrill of a lifetime, but it can be an unattainable goal for many college students faced with rising higher education costs and already facing massive student loan debt. However, some college grads may still be able to pursue their dream of traveling the world without incurring more debt thanks to employers that embrace working abroad.
Some companies have offices in various locations around the world, and they pay employees to work on temporary projects or longer-term assignments in some pretty cool locations.
While PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, may be best known for audits and taxes, the company provides a range of other services, including consulting and advising. Employees can take advantage of the Early PwC International Challenge known as EPIC. After working at PwC for about three years, employees who want to work abroad can choose a global destination where they will live during their two-year EPIC assignment. They have more than 30 options, including France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, South Africa, Singapore, and Norway.
General Electric’s businesses range from lighting to renewable energy to transportation. Other GE branches include healthcare, digital, oil and gas, and power. Given that portfolio, employees have opportunities to work abroad in Argentina, Bulgaria, Denmark, Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, Sweden, Turkey and many of the other 170 countries in which GE has a presence.
Hardware, software, ATMs, bar codes, magnetic stripe cards, and IBM Watson are just some of IBM’s inventions. The company’s Global Business Services offers a Consulting by Degrees entry-level program. Students typically are assigned to globally integrated teams and deployed to locations in their home country. However, the potential exists for them to be assigned to short-term projects in the more than 170 countries in which the company has employees.
Spanning 150 countries, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited is a global network of firms providing services covering such areas as taxes, audits, consulting and advising, and mergers and acquisitions. International Mobility Programs are available for employees across the board, and Deloitte offers many types of options to work abroad, ranging from short-term work to international transfers.
Covering brands such as Nestle Crunch, Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, Coffeemate, Haagen-Dazs, Stouffer’s, and Hot Pockets, Nestle is the largest food company in the world when measured by revenue. The Switzerland-based company has offices in hundreds of countries – including the U.S. – and offers two international programs. International auditors on the Group Audit team travel the world completing auditing projects. International Engineers are trained in Switzerland for four to six months and work their first two-to-three year assignment in another country before deciding if they want to continue this lifestyle or work locally. . . . .
I tossed over in bed, uncomfortable and although exhausted, unable to fully fall asleep. My phone sat beside me, vibrating from texts. I heard movement outside of my door, quick steps, and feet hitting the staircase. My frustration grew, knowing I had to be up in a few hours to drive to Slovenia for the weekend. I finally sat up, trying to see if my roommate was having trouble sleeping as well. She wasn’t in her bed. I quickly slipped on a sweatshirt and made my way downstairs.
Turning the corner into our living space I saw almost half of the people in my program huddled together around our TV. No one spoke, no one even saw me enter the room. They watched the shaky cameras, the nervous newscasters, the pictures of horrified people. They watched as Paris officials reported the numbers: 130 dead, hundreds wounded.
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was too young to understand the gravity of the situation when thousands of Americans were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. But at 20 years old, sitting among my peers and witnessing destruction in a city I had left just a week before, I understood. We sat for hours. Other than texting loved ones back home to reassure them that we weren’t in France anymore, we hardly spoke, but we sat together in solitude and shock.
As the night crept towards morning I asked the group I was supposed to travel with about Slovenia. If we were going to go we had to sleep, to get rest to wake up early. A few outright said they wouldn’t travel. A couple more said their parents didn’t want them to go. And the others just seemed confused about a course of action. We ultimately decided to cancel and all retreated to our beds.
But again, I tossed and turned. I thought of sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower, swaying in a hammock and eating lavender macaroons. I thought of sipping a Moscow Mule and dancing until 2 a.m. in a nightclub off of the Champs Elysees. I thought of the Louvre, the crepes and the winding streets. And I thought of the horrendous loss of 130 people.
But I also thought of fear. I thought of terrorism, a term that had always brought to mind images of dark rooms, closed doors, and hatred. And I thought of the goal of the people who had just torn through Paris. A terrorist’s goal is to terrorize and by not traveling we were allowing them, in some ways, to win.
I spent over five more months in Europe traveling to countless countries with my friends and experiencing some of the most incredible moments of my life. Study abroad is so much more than country hopping, pub-crawls and voluntourism. Study abroad is not just about being on vacation.
The terrorism did not end in Paris. It spread to the tourism hotspots of Belgium and Istanbul and continues daily throughout the Middle East. At times, I wondered about our safety as students abroad. We live in a world where I cannot make my way through a full day without hearing about another death or attack or bombing, stretching around the entire world. I am not saying we have to abandon caution or rational action, but we must find a balance. We must find a middle line to walk, between safety and living life to the fullest without letting fear inhibit us. . . . . .
Awesome! The British Travel site Cheap Flights (http://www.cheapflights.co.uk) has created an infograph helping travelers get ahold real human beings when calling an airline for help.
Frequent travelers are all aware of the aggravation and time wasted whenever you have to call an airline to get help. Sometimes it’s all but impossible to find your way through the system (especially if the trusty “press 0 for operator” doesn’t work. 🙂
So Cheap Flights put together this sheet to tell you what buttons to push if you want to get ahold of a person. Great Idea!
Studying abroad is one of the more exciting things to experience in college. It gives you a chance to see the world while possibly earning college credit along the way. You learn about different cultures and become more aware of the world around you.
Most people regret the decision to not study abroad while they can. They regret not going out of their comfort zone and leaving for a new experience and large perspective. Although, all of this is wonderful, but before considering studying abroad, looking into where you want to go, for how long, and any other things that are necessary should be priority number one. Continue reading
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For my first return post, I thought I’d share a nice deal offered especially to Study Abroad Students!
According to their website, AerLingus (an Irish airline) is offering students studying in Ireland a special deal this summer through their “STUDY IN IRELAND Program.”
They’ll be offering “special airfares and a free date change to their return flight.” I like how it says you can change your return flight. Probably because so many students fall in love with Ireland and just want to stay a little bit longer (I know I did!). Actually, it says you can even move the date of your return flight up (but who would want to?!?).
The offer is for travel to or from Dublin or Shannon, Ireland on the following dates:
Flights include those to/from Boston, Chicago, Hartford (as of Sept. 2016), Los Angeles, New York, Newark (as of Sept. 2016), Orlando, San Francisco, Toronto, and D.C. Only individual students studying abroad get this special plan.
However, the website also offers “special fares for Family & Friends Interested in travelling with or visiting the student while in Ireland (fares based on availability).” Awesome! Your best friend could come and visit you too!
For more details about the specifics and limitations, you can use the following resources:
If you try this program out, let us know how it goes! Excellent? Good? Bad? Terrible? Pass it on!
DISCLAIMER: This website is not affiliated with Aer Lingus in any way. My and my website are not responsible for anything AerLingus does or the program they are offering or anything else. I’m just letting you know what the website says.
Student Ramblings 