On the fifth day of Christmas, The CollegeBound Network gave to me…

FIVE MONTHS ABROAD

What’s more exciting than spending a few lazy weeks at home during the holiday break? Packing your suitcases for a college semester abroad, of course. ‘Tis the season for a new crop of students to grab their passports and head off into strange lands around the world to study and explore for an entire semester—and WOW, am I jealous!

If I could go back and redo my college years, I would definitely go somewhere in Europe for a semester. It is my one true college regret that I didn’t take advantage of the study abroad programs offered through my school. When else besides during college would I ever have had that much time to immerse myself in a different culture? Sure, I can still travel now, but only in small spurts of time—nothing like spending the five months of a semester as a care-free college student abroad.

I was a theatre and English major in college, so my semester abroad choice back then would have been to go study Shakespeare and Chaucer in England—with frequent field trips to shows in London’s West End, naturally. However, if given the chance now, I might choose Italy. What better chance to practice my budding language skills in Rome or Florence? And the food! (My memoir, for the record, would probably be called Eat, Eat, Eat, but don’t judge me for my love of pasta and gelato alone.)

College students who opt to study abroad during the spring semester have the added bonus of spending the summer traveling and exploring their chosen regions even further. So it’s quite possible that instead of a mere semester, college students can spend upwards of eight months in a foreign land. It’s definitely possible to come back home nearly fluent in a new language, or at the very least, having experienced people, places, and things that will create a lifetime of memories.

So bon voyage to those who will be studying in a different time zone this semester—and le sigh for the rest of us at home. Don’t forget to send a postcard—or comment below.

-Barbara Bellesi