Pre-Departure Study Abroad Orientation

This morning (and afternoon) from 9:30 to 1:30 I had my pre-departure Study Abroad Orientation. In the past couple of weeks everybody has been planning for next semester and registering for classes, but I have not taken part in any of that because I am going to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina next semester. It was a somewhat complicated process; the application is hard enough to get together and the paperwork has only grown since I was accepted. So while most of my peers are planning for the summer and fall semester, all I know is that I'm going to be in Argentina from June 18-sometime in November. Or perhaps longer.

I've been getting more excited as my departure date approaches, but also more apprehensive. First of all, I don't have a plane ticket, so I really need to get on that. But the orientation today was really helpful and I feel less in the dark about everything, especially because everybody else I know who is studying abroad feels the same way (and I know three people going to the same place I am, although they won't get there until August, so that is somewhat comforting).

One thing that surprised me was the number of people there, and also the places they were going! Everybody who is studying abroad for either the summer, the fall, the whole year, or some combination, was there. We were in a pretty large lecture hall and it was full of probably at least 100 people. Some of the destinations were really cool, too, and now I want to go pretty much everywhere in the world. One girl is going to Svalbard, which is part of Norway but is a large island located north of Norway across the Arctic Ocean. She said she was excited to learn how to shoot a polar bear rifle because people aren't allowed to leave town without them. I hope she was kidding.

Anyway, I know people say this all of the time, but MSU has a really good Study Abroad program, and it is easy to take advantage of. I'm super excited to go learn to speak Spanish (hopefully) fluently, while experiencing a new culture and traveling to places I've never seen. It's never too early to travel the world!