While some may find the idea of living in a foreign country a bit unnerving, studying abroad can be a once-in-a-lifetime chance with benefits that last long after returning home.
Each year, more than 200 students from Chico State travel across the globe to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania in search of adventure and to experience living in a foreign country.
One of the biggest changes a student can experience while studying abroad is a greater sense of maturity, said Michael Nieto, a study abroad adviser.
“A lot of the students are 20 years old when they go abroad,” he said.
“They begin to learn how to survive on their own. When you come back and you hear their stories, it’s like talking to a different person. They’ve gone from being a college student to an adult.”
Many students decide to change their majors when they come back, Nieto said. Some even decide they want to pursue different career paths because their experiences abroad opened their eyes to a new world with new possibilities.
Zachary Doan, the marketing and recruitment coordinator for the Study Abroad Office and a business administration major, studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, in fall 2008.
“At the time I had never been to any other countries besides Mexico, so it was going to be a pretty big step for me,” he said. “I wasn’t even sure if it was possible. There are all those perceptions about price and whether the classes are going to count back for credit.”
Once he attended an information meeting and began to understand how the program works, those perceptions were overcome, he said.
When it comes to price, many students are unaware of how affordable the study abroad experience can be, Doan said.
Two out of the three programs offered are the same price as a year at Chico State and students can still graduate in four years while taking classes that count for their major and minor while abroad.
The standard budget for the 2010-2011 school year is $20,160, according to a flier from the Study Abroad Office. Chico State offers International Programs and Direct Exchange programs, which cost around $15,000. The University Studies Abroad Consortium’s program is more country specific and adds up to about $20,000 for a yearlong trip abroad.
Many students choose to live in the dorms while studying abroad, but some can live with a host family, Doan said.
“I lived with a host mother who didn’t speak a word of English,” he said. “That really allowed me to overcome some adversity. My main goal was to learn about another culture, but also to learn a different language.”
While many students leave the comfort of Chico State, the university also receives many exchange students who come to study in the U.S.
Natali Phalen, an exchange student from Stockholm, Sweden, has been studying at Chico State since the fall and will be staying until the end of May, she said.
“I’m living in University Village,” she said. “Study abroad was an excellent opportunity for me to pursue my longtime dream of living abroad. I also wanted to improve my English skills as well as experience the college culture in America.”
For Phalen, the transition from living in Sweden to the U.S. was quite smooth, she said.
“I was expecting to get homesick in the beginning, but I found myself feeling at home here quite quickly,” she said. “The cultural differences haven’t been enormous and the Study Abroad Office and the connections provided through them made the transition process easy.”
Phalen’s experience at Chico State has armed her with a myriad new experiences and knowledge, she said.
“Language-wise, I have developed a lot, but I have also learned a lot about myself and how I function in new situations,” Phalen said. “The most beneficial part of the experience, however, is all the amazing people I’ve gotten to know — not only from California, but from all over the world.”
Kelly can be reached at
ksmith@theorion.com
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