Many universities offer shorter study abroad opportunities for trips ranging anywhere from two to five weeks. These trips still provide you with credits and offer the perfect opportunity to gauge your comfort level and interests before committing to months — or an entire year — of living overseas. Short-term study abroad also allows you to test out traveling and requires less of your time and money than a long-term trip would require. In general, there are a lot of perks that come with short-term trips abroad, but a few of these perks often go unrecognized.
An itinerary built for you
When you travel on a shorter trip, often the university will plan out excursions and activities for you to visit and learn about as a part of your course curriculum, which not only gives you access to places you might not have otherwise visited or been able to afford on a regular vacation but also takes some of the mental workload out of traveling. You’ll still have free time to visit the places and do the things that you really want to experience, but a portion of the planning is taken care of for you.
flexibility over solo travel vs group travel
Making friends is a big benefit of studying abroad — you share experiences that will connect you for life. However, on a shorter trip, you have less time to connect with others. This could be seen as a downside, but it also gives you a lot of flexibility over your experiences. Because two or three weeks isn’t a lot of time to get to know others, but is still enough to make a substantial connection, you have the flexibility to choose whether you want to focus on solo travel and invest in your own experiences or invest in a collective experience and establish those friendships. Or create a mix of both solo and group experiences!
fit the trip into a break period
One of the main benefits of a short-term study abroad is that it’s less commitment than a longer study abroad that spans an entire semester or even a year. But one aspect that often goes unmentioned is the timing of the trip. Most short-term study abroad trips are offered over break periods in the winter or summer, which allows you to still have that travel experience without interfering with your academic school year.
Extra credits towards your degree
Because the shorter study abroad trips are typically offered outside the normal academic semesters, you can earn credits outside of the school year that can be applied towards your degree. For example, if you go on a short-term trip in the summer and earn four credits, and then go on another short-term trip over winter break and earn four more credits, that’s two classes worth of credits you’ve earned by traveling. From there, maybe you could choose to take fewer classes during the academic year to lighten your workload or take two different classes either for fun or to be applied toward a minor. Â