So You’ve Decided to Study Abroad (or Have You?)

So you’ve decided to study abroad, maybe? Ahh! I know! It’s a lot, but it’s so exciting, but it’s so much. Don’t worry—everyone has felt that way at some point in the decision and application process. What’s the right decision? What if I get it wrong? What will I miss? The most important thing to remember is that, in figuring this out for yourself, you’ll come out the other end knowing it’ll all be so worth it. 

The biggest and scariest thing about deciding to study abroad for me was just the idea of how much I might be missing. I have a lovely little community in my college music themed house, and I had looked forward to being House Leader for it from my junior to senior years. As soon as “Abroad - Spring 2026” showed up in my student files, this opportunity for my junior year was basically shot down. I was a little hurt, but I knew it was what was best—my housemates would need a stable House Leader in position, and it was just one opportunity that just wasn’t for me. Except, I noticed that other opportunities started to shut down, too.

Being a composer, I reached out to our Wind Symphony to see if they’d be interested in performing one of my original works. The door opened for Spring 2026—when I’d be abroad. They couldn’t guarantee anything after next semester, but the director knows my musical style and work ethic—he's keeping me in mind, even though next semester’s open door doesn’t work. This was slightly disappointing to me—I try not to hold onto ideas I can’t guarantee, and I just can’t guarantee the premiere of my piece here next year. Being in the middle of my application process, I started to feel a little... unsure. It felt like maybe I was making the wrong decision.

My parents never got to study abroad. They had hardly left the country before I started dragging them around the world on my musical side-quests (just one, really, where I helped revive the music of a forgotten female Czech composer, and a women’s orchestra reperformed it in Germany!). I always turn to them when I’m unsure. But they couldn’t really help me here.

“We want you to have the experiences we never got.”
“It’s a great opportunity, and we will support you through it!”

But, what do I do? Aside from helping me get my Visa application documents together (I know, ugh, but everything gets so much easier and clearer once you pull through this!), my parents didn’t know the first thing about how to help me study abroad. In the midst of uncertainty, I had to turn to myself to know what was best for me.

A deep breath, a clear mind, and allowing the space for more excitement alongside the uncertainty was all I needed. I talked about my hopes more. I looked into the concerts, the music, and the landscape of my program more. I started picturing myself in my new city. Studying in the footsteps of the composers that came before me, taking in this new world around me as inspiration; as the fuel to the fire that keeps me going. As something to remind me why I’m doing any of this. My friends started getting excited with and for me. We started making plans (some hypothetical, some ridiculous, and some I really hope we can put together). Everything started to become clear – I would be away from home, and there would be opportunities and people and experiences that I would miss. It would all be new, and different, and big and scary. But this is what I live for. The newness, the change, the hope; the fire that keeps me going. It’s not what keeps everyone going, and it’s sometimes such a strong deterrent. What I might miss almost made me turn my back on what I might experience; what I hope I see, and do, and feel and experience and understand. What I couldn’t experience here, at home, comfortable in the space that holds me. It’s a great space, but I can only grow so much inside of it.

So I've decided to study abroad. To live in new feelings and opportunities and all of it; all of it. I know that it was scary, and it was uncertain, and there was a lot convincing me to just stay; stay put and comfortable and accept the guarantees rather than choose the maybes and the what-ifs and the hopefullys. I know how it is and how it feels to feel like you might not be choosing the right path. Breathe; clear your mind, think, and read. There’s a lot that will be different. But different is what pushes you. Growth, understanding, and newness can’t always happen in the guarantees. What waits for you? What will wait for you when you return? As it turns out, a lot. From here, it’s up to you—are you going to choose the guarantees or the what-ifs?