1. A new found sense of independence and freedom
When you first went off to college, odds are you relished a little too much in living away from your parents for the first time. Traveling to another country entirely is a completely different experience. Your parents are literally an ocean away; there is no one telling you what to do or when to do it. You can go wherever you want to, whenever you want to. Also, in France the legal drinking age is 18, so you will definitely be able to take full advantage of the cheap wine that the country has to offer. Studying abroad is a freeing experience. You learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible, and you grow and change so much while you’re away from home.
2. A Passport full of stamps
Traveling in and around Europe is relatively inexpensive. You can book round trip airfare for a couple hundred dollars. You could even save money by taking the train. Face it, you don’t study abroad solely because of the classes offered. You study abroad because of the location. How many times in your life do you get to live in a foreign country? Taking full advantage of free weekends and weeklong breaks to travel will be the most rewarding thing you do while abroad. Traveling, although extremely tiring, is worth every penny. The empty piggy bank you will have when you get back home will not matter when you think about the lifelong memories you made while becoming a global tourist.
3. New (and pretty amazing) foods
In France, baguettes are a daily purchase. With the cheapest ones costing only €0.60, they are a perfect food source for students on a budget. During your time abroad you will probably ingest more bread than you have in your entire life. All carb diets? Yes please. In France, it’s all about the pizza, pasta, baguettes and chocolate. Also kebabs. It’s all about the kebabs. And Nutella. French people have an obsession with Nutella–more specifically, filling sandwiches, crepes, and pastries with nutella. If you need more proof, check out this website dedicated to Nutella love: http://www.nutellastories.com/fr_FR/. Also, wine is super cheap in Europe. A bottle for €2.00? You can’t beat that price.
4. Knowledge of a foreign language
Not everyone in a foreign country speaks English, and you shouldn’t expect them to. So when you ask, “Parlez-vous anglais?” you should expect to get some snarky answers. In order to get around the city and be able to buy and order what you want, you need to learn at least the basic phrases. Learning the language of a country is a necessity if you are going to be living there for an extended period of time. Sure, you could always point at the pictures on menus and not speak, but where’s the learning experience there? How often are you going to be surrounded by people who speak in a language different than your native one? Practicing a language while you’re in a country that speaks it is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself. At the end of the trip when you come back home, you will impress all of your friends and family with your extensive knowledge of a foreign language.
5. Patience, lots and lots of patience
Not only does learning a new language take time and effort, but so does getting used to your surroundings. New cities can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but in no time you will have a very clear mental map of all of your favorite places. And most likely, you will walk to all of them. You don’t drive to places like you would in the US. People in Europe walk everywhere. When you want to head on down to the grocery store, you walk. To get to school? You walk. To get across the entire city? You walk. The tram and bus systems in Europe are quite extensive, and people take advantage of them from time to time, but nothing beats walking and truly talking the time to stop and admire the view on your journey. While you are abroad, the patience you develop is like nothing you have every experienced before; you truly understand what it means to stop and smell the roses.