Go study abroad, change your life

I was in my friend’s dorm room when I first made the
decision to attend the Center for American Politics and Public
Policy program in Washington, D.C.

The CAPPP program allows students to intern at almost any
organization in D.C. while they work on an independent research
project. As long as the topic has academic merit, your professor
will accept the project. Often students decide to write research
projects that align with the work of their internship to save time
and to make access to resources easy.

Not only can you meet other UCLA students, but the program also
welcomes students from every UC campus. The CAPPP program is great,
but there are many other programs that allow you to depart from
safe, common surroundings and experience exotic, exciting
adventures that will change you.

The change will be great, trust me.

The impetus to attend this program was my friend’s doubt
that I would actually go on the trip, rather than a genuine desire
to study abroad for a quarter. Fortunately, my stubbornness led me
to an environment that challenged me to accept the world in a
manner that I had never welcomed before.

Metaphorically speaking, I grew up in D.C. I departed from my
life in California and created a new one in a different city with
different friends, different scenery, different bars and different
daily activities. I was different, and it was all so uncertain.

It is unsettling to arrive in a city, alone, without friends or
a glimmer of knowledge about how the next three months will
unfold.

But, that is the single most important aspect of studying abroad
““ uncertainty. We know that our school lives will follow a
certain pattern. First day of class, midterms and finals will loom
and crash as quickly as a wave, leaving us gasping for a breath of
new air and yearning for an end to the seemingly unstoppable cycle.
If you can spend at least a quarter abroad, you can escape the
sometimes mundane college sea.

Why? Well, it wasn’t until I arrived home from the program
that I realized how crucial my decision to study abroad was to not
only my college experience, but to my life in general. As I have
said before, I changed. I came home wiser, older and happier. More
importantly, I came home with new comrades. The friends I made in
the program will be with me forever because for a brief period our
disparate lives and thoughts had to intersect in order to enjoy
similar experiences. One day we were strangers, the next,
friends.

Studying abroad is not bliss, though. It is a challenging
experience because it forces us to invent a life, the friends, the
routines, the moments alone within a short period of time. I spent
many nights confused, overwhelmed both emotionally and
mentally.

My roommates can attest to the endless conversations we had
about the program, life, work and studying. They can tell you that
I changed ““ they changed. I started the program tired and
left awake. This may all sound a bit melodramatic, but I believe
studying abroad significantly altered my life and those of the
other students who participated.

Simply put, I underwent valuable modifications while studying in
D.C. because when I entered the program, I was the only person who
knew me. In this situation your friends and parents can’t
reaffirm your qualities or the different shades of your
personality. You must accept the task, and often this burden will
leave you happily vulnerable and willing to absorb the new
experiences and life you’ve been creating while studying
abroad.

I don’t think my reactions were completely unique, maybe
different, but I would assert that most people who study elsewhere
will undergo changes that will resonate throughout their lives
because they are in a similar position to the one I just described.
Some will be quiet, some loud. All will be beautiful.

If you change in a foreign environment, the changes will be
drastic and often spectacular. Like Robert Frost I took the road
whose less traveled, the one that I could only see until the bend
in the path, and that has made all the difference.