By Zainab S.
Happy New Year! Now that it’s the start of a new year and the year that you may be going on your summer abroad, let’s talk about goals for the program. A common question I and I think most past participants get asked is this: “is Summer Abroad worth it?” And, in one word, I would say “yes”, but I would also say, it’s more about what you do that can make the experience worth it. And that can mean different things for different people. I don’t believe most experiences in life can automatically be worth something or nothing; it’s what you make of them that decides that.
Okay, maybe this sounds a bit vague, but let me explain.
I think it really comes down to how much you want to make every experience a chance to learn and to improve something about yourself. When you have experiences that can do these things, I personally think that makes them exponentially more worth it than simply experiencing things passively. To share a bit of my own experience, one of the things that I found most helpful to make Summer Abroad worth it for me was setting goals for myself. I think it’s super important to have big goals and dreams.
Something I’ve realized is that the things that bring me the most joy are often those that I have wanted or worked towards for at least some time. I tend to think of it in three ways:
- Joy in unexpected/random things: if you find a five-dollar bill on the ground or you eat a really good meal or your friend tells you something really funny, all of these things can bring you momentary joy.
- Joy in something you have wanted for some time: you’ve really wanted a particular pair of shoes for years and a family member gives them to you on your birthday or your favourite book series finally gets adapted into a show or you finally get to go on a road trip with friends after thinking about it for a long time – these are all things that can bring you a lot of happiness and that can give you wonderful memories to look back on for a long time.
Joy in accomplishing something you have wanted and really worked hard for: this could be earning a scholarship or winning a sports competition or checking an item off your crazy bucket list like hiking up a mountain. This is the level that I personally think can give you the most amount of joy and make a longer-term positive impact on your life.
All that to say: have dreams and work for them! If you want your summer abroad experience to be in the last category, here are some ideas and tips:
Make a plan
When I decided I would do a summer abroad, I opened a google doc to start planning. It ended up being thirty pages long (probably a bit over the top) with a page of contents. I’m definitely not saying you need to do that, but it can be helpful to write things down. These were some of my headings: packing list, things to accomplish/places to visit (personal), things to do with friends and classmates, important travel information, budget calculation, among others. The important one, and the subject of this article, is about writing down what you want to accomplish and what personal goals you have. Do some research and look at what attractions or activities seem interesting to you in the place you’re going to. Look at opportunities that might interest you beyond the program that could help you in your academic or professional pursuits. Find what seems interesting or meaningful to you in the places where you’ll be going to for class field trips. Writing all these things down and doing the research can help solidify these goals and they take time and effort on your part, which makes it all the more worth it when you actually get to check those off.
Step outside your comfort zone
I know this sounds cliche, but there is truth to it. I think stepping outside your comfort zone can be one of the best ways of finding an experience meaningful. 
Maybe you think participating in the program is already a huge step outside your comfort zone, in which case, great! You’ve already stepped outside by deciding to do it. And it’s totally fine if that’s as far as you want to take it. But, if you do want to continue doing so, once you’re there and you’ve figured out a routine, then there are ways to continue to push yourself. If you’re someone who feels more comfortable hanging out in your room to study and just relax, try spending more time going out with friends and exploring the city and find places outdoors to study. If you tend to not participate much in class usually, use Summer Abroad as an opportunity to try being more vocal about your opinions.
Don’t just do the touristy things
The Summer Abroad program isn’t a vacation but an academic program that also allows students to explore new places and meet new people. It’s the perfect opportunity to be able to not only do the things tourists would do but also take advantage of being there as s student. Find opportunities in the place you’re going to for the program if it’s somewhere you think you may want to pursue further education or work. Attend optional events planned by the program like lectures or social events. When I was in Oxford, I attended the Bodleian Library induction just because I was interested to learn more about the history of the library and how one could access the resources offered. I also attended another lecture by an alumnus of Oxford who talked about what it was like being a student just to learn more about this new place that I was in. And these were opportunities that I only had access to as a student in the program and not things I could have necessarily done as a tourist.
Take initiative
This can be a great way of doing something actively that can pay off in great ways. From my own experience, I really wanted to have a close bond with my classmates, especially since, as an introvert, this can be a struggle. So, I decided to be the one to start a WhatsApp group and add everyone to it and this was where all of us classmates communicated for the entirety of the program.
I set up a Zoom meeting so we could all talk and get to know each other more before actually meeting in person for the first time in England. This wasn’t something we were told to do, but that I wanted to take the initiative to, and it ended up being a great way to start building friendships. During the program itself, I organized a little get-together in the Junior Common Room to watch Pride and Prejudice with any classmates who were interested. It ended up being one of my most memorable experiences of the program. So, take the initiative to enhance your experience, rather than only doing what’s been prepared for you.
“Do” don’t just “see”
By this I mean, I feel like sometimes for experiences like vacations, we tend to become obsessed with checking off famous sites and attractions from our list. We go to places just to say that we’ve been there. If you go to Paris and don’t visit the Eiffel Tower, have you really been to Paris? And I think that can be great if that’s what you want including for an academic program like Summer Abroad. But if you’re looking to have truly memorable experiences, I think those tend to be when you’re actually “doing” something actively.
So, for instance, two of my most memorable experiences from doing a Summer Abroad in Oxford were 1) going punting: it was an activity I had never done before but which I knew Oxford was known for. It was also so much more fun because my friends didn’t really know how to do it either. We figured it out together, and though we didn’t really make it very far down the river, we had a blast just trying and 2) hiking in Bath: my friends and I hiked for nearly two hours to get to the top of a large hill in Bath and the view at the top felt sweeter because we had put in that effort.
Looking at this in terms of the course itself, I can say I remember the material so much better than any other course simply because of what the Summer Abroad program does: allows you to learn with the places as your textbook. The field trips ingrain information in you in a way that sitting in a classroom and reading a textbook can’t.