After asking myself where I wanted to go abroad, and what that process looked like, these were my to-do's to get there:
(Apart from the IES Abroad website, advisors, emails, orientations, etc.)
I leave for Milan tomorrow. For what felt like ages, I felt dread building up inside me and I was afraid it wouldn’t stop snowballing. I knew I’d be leaving my comfort zone, meeting new people, and speaking a language I’m far from fluent in, all while farther from my friends and family than I’ve ever been. But now as I’m counting down the hours to my departure, to my own astonishment, I’m actually far more confident than I expected I’d be.
Hello everyone, I’m Matt. I’ll be studying Political Science and Economics at Trinity College in Dublin this semester and I’m here to share my experience with you all. I’ll be blogging about academics, daily life in Dublin, traveling, and the highs and lows of studying abroad.
Wow, less than two months until departure and I can’t believe we’re here! The last few months have been spent on getting the visa, which was a journey, to say the least. After months of waiting for approvals, taking passport photos, making appointments, and booking flights, it’s finally here! I was able to go home for fall break and made an appointment at the Chicago office so I could go before I flew back to Portland. 10/10 reviews for VFS Chicago, the consulate employee was super friendly and managed to ease my obvious tensions and shaky hands.
I’ve been in France for just about a week, and I already have so many thoughts to share! But for my first post, I wanted to flash back to about 2 months before leaving for this journey. After all, I wouldn’t be here without hours of preparation.
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Throughout my entire preparation for studying abroad, I have found a common theme in everyone’s advice, which is, no matter how hard you try, you will never be fully prepared. Many people claim this with notes of optimism; however, in true type fashion, my brain found this advice unacceptable. At first, I tried so hard to make this claim false and go into my study abroad experience being truly prepared. Now, a few months into this process I can confidently say, they were right.
When I was little, I used to love airports because it meant vacation. Now I’m 19 and having a mental breakdown in one because I just want to go home.
I have been anticipating studying abroad for so long, and now that it is finally here, it feels surreal. One of the first challenges I am currently facing is mentally preparing as well as packing. At first, I felt extremely overwhelmed, but I have since gotten the hang of things and found resources that have helped me the most. I hope this blog post can help other IES Abroad students that are about to embark on their journeys!