Holidays Abroad

With the holiday season coming up, I thought it would be a good time to talk about holidays abroad. Holidays are commonly associated with family gatherings and food, so it can be a little weird to be in a different country during these events. It is definitely a time where you might be more prone to experiencing homesickness.

Mystery Inc for Halloween!

If you count Halloween as a holiday, I was abroad for that. Halloween is not as big a deal in Australia as in the US, but my housemates jumped right on board when I talked about Halloween, and we all dressed up and invited their friends over and all the exchange students over. There were several people who had never dressed up for Halloween before since that is not part of their culture, so it was nice that my housemates were willing to help it seem more like home. Even though I am not someone who is big into Halloween, it was still nice to see the effort my housemates went through to make sure the exchange students and I could have a traditional American Halloween. 

The only major holiday (well, holiday that I consider major) I was away for was Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday. I was initially very sad to be missing Thanksgiving at home because that is the only time each year I get to see the people I spend Thanksgiving with. However, I ended up thoroughly enjoying my Thanksgiving in Australia, and it is honestly probably my favorite Thanksgiving ever. Some of my friends and I decided to make all the traditional Thanksgiving foods and have our own Thanksgiving with my American friends. We also invited our Australian friends so they could see what the holiday was all about and take part in an American Thanksgiving. It was a GREAT time by all, and we got to celebrate a holiday with our new families we made abroad, and introduce Thanksgiving to our Australians. While we enjoyed our delicious turkey, we watched a game of Cricket, and the Australians explained what was happening in said game. Now, I still can’t say I understand Cricket, but it was cool to have both cultures mix and be learning from each other!

Part of our Thanksgiving feast!

The thing that made this my favorite Thanksgiving was that even though I wasn’t around the usual people, my friends abroad were seriously a family to me.  We went through so much together, which is only natural whenever you move across the world from everyone you know. Even now, part of me wishes that I could re-live my Thanksgiving in Australia. I would give a lot to have my group altogether again and just be our ridiculous selves around each other. They made being away from real family not so hard. They made life a blast for those 5 months. They changed my life in so many ways, and some of those ways, I am still realizing. 

So, what is my advice to get through the holiday season abroad? 

1) The biggest thing I can say is still find a way to celebrate, especially if it is a big holiday to you or one of your favorites.

2) Gather your friends from your host country or other friends you’ve made who are not used to celebrating that holiday and invite them to celebrate with you! Teach them about your home culture and make it an opportunity to learn from each other. 

3) Make time to talk to your family that day. I Skyped my family on Thanksgiving, and even though I was left staring at a blank wall because they were all cooking and left the room at the same time, it was nice to hear from them and have a few minutes to catch up.

4) It might be different than what you are used to, but remember you will likely never be with the people you are with while abroad for holidays again. Enjoy spending that one year with new people and remind yourself that you will see your family again! 

Generation Study Abroad

In 2011-2012, 295,000 American college students studied abroad.  Sounds like a big number, right?!?! Unfortunately, this is less than 10% of students graduating from college each year.  With our increasing global society, it is more important than ever to gain international experience to succeed in our world, and study abroad is one of the best ways to gain this experience.  So, with that small percentage of students who study abroad, what is being done to increase the numbers of students who study abroad?

Generation Study Abroad has started a challenge to increase the numbers of American students studying abroad to 600,000 by the academic year 2017-2018. Institutions wishing to join the challenge can pledge their action to reach a goal of doubling the numbers of students studying abroad from their institution, and guess what?? Western Illinois University has joined this challenge - we have committed to doubling the number of WIU students who study abroad in the next few years! What an exciting commitment for our institution! 

Generation Study Abroad is sponsored by the Institute of International Education (IIE), and IIE is investing $2 million to provide scholarships to help provide resources for students to study abroad.  IIE believes that people in the 21st century need to increase the capacity to think and work on a global and intercultural basis to reach peace and prosperity in our world, and one way to reach this is through studying abroad!

The Generation Study Abroad website has several resources listed for students, along with more information about the initiative. Their website is http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad if you are interested in learning more, or just want to take a look around some of the resources they offer to students! 

Use #generationstudyabroad on social media to spread the
word about study abroad opportunities and the initiative to
increase the number of students studying abroad!

Many of the resources listed under the student page include different scholarships and grants that can be helpful in funding a study abroad program. If finances are something that could hold you back from achieving your study abroad dreams, I highly encourage you to take a look! Another resource is the IIE Passport, where you can look up information about study abroad programs and refine your search based on what type of program you are looking for! The student resource page can be found at http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad/Students.  

Help Western reach its goal of doubling the students we send abroad! You will learn valuable personal life lessons, transferable skills useful in any career imaginable, meet new friends from all over the world, learn a new way of life, and learn so much about yourself. Studying abroad boosts your resume as employers like to see that students have international experience and can also help improve your interview skills. I cannot tell you how many times I have used experiences from abroad to answer interview questions - I usually have to remind myself not to answer all interview questions using an experience from abroad! 

If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities available to you for studying abroad at Western, please do not hesitate to contact our office! We are located in Horrabin Hall 8 if you want to stop by and set up an appointment to talk to a study abroad advisor. You can also call us at 309-298-2504 or e-mail us at studyabroad@wiu.edu. We hope to hear from you soon! 

Resources:

http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad

http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad/About

http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad/Students

7 Budgeting and Money Tips

Budgeting is something most students who study abroad are concerned about. Luckily, there are
some ways to help you manage money and things to consider to help you save some money and be money smart while studying abroad! Here are some tips I used or would recommend related to money!

1) Find out if your bank from the States has a partner bank where you’re studying. 

This saved me a lot of money because it allowed me to skip out on fees that happen with withdrawing money from a foreign ATM. This worked out for me because my bank had a partner bank that was very common in Australia, so I never had an issue of having to use an ATM that could give me extra fees. If this does not work out for you, then consider taking out large sums of cash at once so you have to pay an extra $5 (or whatever your bank charges) fewer times.

2) Think about the exchange rate when making a budget.

This can make a huge difference in your budget! You have to remember that if you’re paying for something in your host country, it will be a little more or less in US dollars. For example, if you are paying for books online and they are a total of 100 Euros, that can range from about $125-$150 American dollars depending on the exchange rate. Be sure to think about that, especially with large purchases such as housing or tuition if you are paying that yourself.

3) Have a budget.

This might sound silly, but if you go without really thinking about a budget, you will likely end up spending more than you want. I personally made a budget for what I thought I needed for food and basic living expenses that must happen and a “fun” budget for when I wanted to take trips or eat out. I also kept room for a little padding money in case something came up unexpected, like if I had ever gotten sick and needed to go to the doctor. Be realistic with how much you can spend and if you don’t have enough for everything, decide what means the most to you.

4) Take AT LEAST 2 sources of money.

My debit card got cancelled in my last month, so I had to rely on my credit card, which was my only source of money. I traveled to New Zealand when only my credit card would work, but I soon found out - my credit card didn’t like New Zealand very much. The only reason I made finances work on this trip was because the person I was traveling with owed me money from purchasing tickets for one of our excursions we had booked. Talk about a headache to deal with! So, 2 sources is the minimum, but I would say three would be even better.

5) Use your International Student Identity Card.

My school gave me this card, but if yours does not, you can also order it yourself. It will allow you to receive a variety of discounts on random things! While I never used it that much, my friends in Europe said they used it quite often. The ISIC card can be used as an official form of student identification all over the world and also has perks available like travel insurance, so it is a great resource to have while abroad! 

6) Save money on laundry.

To wash and dry one load of clothes, it was $6 in Australia. CRAZY expensive. Obviously, you can’t not wash your clothes, but I started letting my clothes air dry instead of putting them in the dryer. Sure, it took a little longer and I may have had to go to dinner in slightly wet jeans one night, but it still saved me money. It may have been a small amount, but every penny counts!

7) When traveling, stay in hostels.

I’ve talked to several people who are a little freaked out about hostels, whether it be because you might stay in a room with strangers or cleanliness concerns. However, if you’re on a budget, it is a WONDERFUL option. I personally LOVED stayed in hostels and thought it was so much fun to meet other people while traveling. I even met some people when I was in Cape Tribulation (the north coast of Australia) and later met up with one of them when I visited Melbourne! 

There are several ways to save money when studying abroad. What you do now to save money can also probably apply when abroad! Be smart and even if you are only saving a few dollars here and there, remember that can add up quickly!