The type of housing you select may have a significant impact on your experience abroad, and each has its own benefits and drawbacks.
It was BCGS that built my confidence to live and work in Germany permanently after graduation.
"I think the most impactful experiences for me were those in which I didn’t just learn about a culture, a tradition, history, politics, or language, but actually encountered them and experienced them outside the classroom."
"Spending a year abroad at Oxford certainly taught me a lot not just about my major, but about myself and my identity."
BCGS was a challenge in all the best ways possible. We were pushed outside our comfort zones, but the triumph and sense of accomplishment we felt afterwards, was perhaps the most rewarding part of all.
If you want to make studying abroad a thought-provoking experience, I encourage you to keep track of every little culture shock as well!
Spending time in Athens, Nafplio, and the island of Syros, I was able to delve deeper into my academic passion of Art History, while also learning about other disciplines, and gaining new friendships and cultural understanding.
"Only being there for a semester, I was prepared to do things I would have been too afraid of doing at Columbia."
Studying abroad allowed me to gain insights on issues that I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise – through seeing things I that otherwise wouldn’t have.
Study abroad provided me with the mechanism to not only enrich my language learning experience, and my understanding of the world, but also to rediscover some of the hidden beauty in everyday life.
What I study at Columbia is completely different than most of what I was studying in Kenya, but it didn’t matter.
My fears were replaced with pure excitement and anticipation of all that I would then see and do over the next six months.
“One of the biggest reasons that I recommend studying in Berlin for a whole year is the way it allows you to immerse yourself in the culture during the first semester and really reap the benefits your second semester.”
...My favorite experiences abroad were made so meaningful simply because I engaged with the people around me.
“I came back realizing that these four years aren’t about becoming something great or discovering your destiny but about learning how to be a better person and how to be a member of a community, locally or globally.”