Study Abroad

“Education is Not the Filling of a Pail, but the Lighting of a Fire.” – William Butler Yeats.

My parents took us travelling from a very young age. There is a family story about me at about six months on a plane in a holding pattern, grabbing the tablecloth in first class and threatening the last nerves of all those around me.

My first steps into travel as I now know it, in long-term moves abroad (without the easygoing simplicity of tourist travelling and all the “Where the hell is the milk in this supermarket?” of real life abroad) was a move with family to Geneva for a summer. I wouldn’t return abroad for ten years.

When I did, it was for study abroad.

Study abroad can be life-changing and path-altering. For me, it certainly was. I first studied abroad in 2007, in Perugia, Italy. It was a short summer programme, but I was the youngest on it. My third year of university I had a stark choice: Graduate in Spring 2009 and go directly to graduate school, or study abroad for Spring 2009. I chose the latter. And my life has been forever different.

I advised students professionally for four years after returning from my semester programme, and I can help you, too! Send me your questions. I promise to get back to you as quickly as possible.