Studying abroad isn’t just about going to a new country, cutting loose, and having a good time. While you most likely will have that experience when studying abroad, it actually has lasting positive impacts on your life. International travel can broaden the mind, introduce you to exciting new cultures that can change your perspective, and encourages global awareness.
Global Awareness is a Skill
A global education is integral to global awareness and a student’s ability to understand international issues and mature in their worldview. Global awareness is an important skill as it allows for students to understand and conceptualize the ways that international events impact their daily lives. It can help them to understand how the global economy works, the importance of human rights across the world, and why sustainable international development programs are necessary. 
While a global education can be taught in the classroom, immersion in a foreign country will always do much more as you will have first-hand experiences to draw upon. When you are able to put a face to the nebulous international community, experiencing empathy and sympathy for any challenges that they are facing becomes monumentally easier. Additionally, studying abroad can impact the way that you view your own challenges, giving you a new perspective by seeing how the locals react to similar situations.
Attending college or university is a fantastic way to improve yourself regardless of where you end up going, but a semester or two abroad can give you an experience of a lifetime. Studying abroad is important for young students as it has the potential to keep them engaged, reinvigorating their passion for learning and exposing them to interesting cultures they may have never experienced otherwise. Studying abroad also has practical benefits, as immersion in a foreign language can help you to learn the language much more quickly than through a traditional classroom setting.
Creating Social Change
When you study abroad, you cultivate a deeper understanding of language and culture while developing wonderful, lasting memories of your adventure. Seeing how individuals from other countries celebrate their culture through art, music, food, and dance helps you to better understand the nation and their values as a whole. By doing this, you are actively ensuring that you are able to act compassionately towards them, as you have a deeper understanding of their motivations and priorities.
Seeing how other countries treat their citizens can inspire you to bring those ideas home with you to try and implement them at a local or national level. Studying abroad allows you to see what social programs are truly effective abroad, and which have failed. By understanding a different culture, you can discern why programs that have failed in your home country are successful in this different culture, which can help to tweak the programs to fit to your culture’s values and priorities.
In the same vein, studying abroad affords you the chance to make impactful positive change on the local population through social activism and volunteering. Social enterprises and nonprofit organizations help developing nations by identifying problems within a community, then figuring out innovative solutions to those problems. For example, say you notice that local farmers are having a hard time connecting with local buyers — in that situation you might organize some sort of farmer’s market, or develop an app that helps farmers and buyers easily interact.
Better Job Prospects
Your experiences studying abroad will change the way you think and view the world, but there is also a much more practical benefit of studying overseas for a semester or two. Aside from the personal growth you’ll experience traveling abroad, your resume will also see a serious boost. There are many reasons that employers find global awareness attractive in potential employees, and you should never shy away from including your experiences on your updated resume.
International experience can have a positive impact on your success in the business world, providing you with a level of inherent familiarity regarding foreign markets. This gives you a unique ability to spot strategic opportunities for a company that they may not have ever discovered themselves. The fact that you studied abroad also shows employers that you’re able to adapt to unfamiliar situations and circumstances, and that you can be flexible in collaborative efforts. Additionally, people who have a solid level of global awareness generally possess excellent communication skills and have greater sensitivity to cultural differences.
Finally, employers always appreciate an applicant who is multilingual, so while you’re studying abroad, it is a good idea to learn as much of the language as possible. It goes without saying that speaking multiple languages is a great boon to your ability to conduct international business, so capitalizing on your immersion in a foreign language is a sensible move. Though much of a company’s business will be conducted in english, the ability to speak with a prospective client in their own language allows for a deeper connection and reduces instances of miscommunication due to translation errors.
Conclusion
Taking the opportunity to study abroad not only yields immediate positive effects, but will greatly impact you for the rest of your life. By actively participating in a foreign culture, you’ll gain insights into your own culture through comparison, and become a more well-rounded individual. Studying abroad also helps you in your career, as many of the skills that you pick up as an international student are incredibly useful in a business setting, regardless of the field. So, if you’re considering taking a semester or two to study abroad, don’t sleep on it, because it will benefit you immensely in both the short- and long-term.
By Devin Morrissey: Devin is a jack of all trades from Daly City, but now roams the West Coast. He returns home to coach rugby and fix his friends’ cars, but luckily he can write from anywhere.
