Postby Atria35 » Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:50 am
I studied abroad for a semester about two years ago now. It was a great experience and insight into another culture.
Each school has their own study abroad program set up. Some of them are country-wide, some aren't. Which means that the credits don't always transfer nicely (or at all) depending on if you change schools. The smaller/more local the college, the less diversity or specialization of classes you can get. It also affects where you can go to study. For instance, when I went through my community college, I went to a very new, fairly unestablished college in Canterbury, England, and ended up with a homestay family. At the university I go to now, I would have the opportunity to go to Oxford and stay in one of the 16th-century suites that the regular students use.
It's also fairly expensive, depending. Going to Oxford? $10,000 for the summer session. My stay in Canterbury? $7,000 for the semester. Some things are included with the Oxford stay that weren't with Canterbury (meals, for instance).
You also need plenty of cash for extras. Souveniers, food, traveling on your own during the weekends... I ended up spending an extra $2000 more or less, since stuff happened (like my laptop's battery burning out).
But honestly? I wouldn't have traded the experience for the world. I had a fabulous group of people with me, made awesome friends that I wouldn't have otherwise, and lived it up.