Studying Abroad Preparation

Studying abroad has always been a major goal of mine and being given the opportunity to do so has been a major accomplishment for me in the past few months. While I have many goals to reach while I am abroad my only goal in my preparation to depart has been to get to my study abroad location. I have been through many ups and downs in this process but what has kept me going is knowing that if I speak everything into existence and continue to work towards my goal, anything is possible. Things seem to work themselves out in the long run and in this case I believe my struggles in the start of this journey will serve as a helping hand for someone else. I will be able to share my experiences and notice what I did that was right or wrong to aide someone else in their preparation to study abroad.

I go through several emotions each day when I look at the calendar; Excitement because the days are winding down, nervousness because I will be gone for months, and fear because I know that I don’t have everything together financially. I try not to focus too much on that because I strongly believe that this minor setback is temporary and will be worked out in no time. If no one knows how bad I want this, I know how bad I want it, which serves as fuel to keep going and working towards making it happen. I have been crowfunding through GoFundMe for the past 5 months and frantically searching for scholarships to ensure that my financial worries are gone before my departure.

Sometimes situations that are out of our control can affect us dramatically. My parents recently married which interfered with my financial aid package. While it looks that we have enough money to finance my education to the government that is far from true. My experiences with getting ready to depart have been really stressful thus far but I focus on all the exciting aspects because when you focus on the negative it only brings you further down. My advice to anyone who is looking to study abroad or is getting prepared to do so is to plan far ahead. When you plan efficiently it leaves no room for worry. I have learned greatly from this and will be able to look back in the future and put this experience to great use in preparation for other traveling.

If you have the option to study abroad I would say to go for it because the opportunity doesn’t come around so often. Money is not as valuable as the experience of traveling and although it can cause great stress when you don’t have much, having faith that it will all work out can go a long way. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it!

“If your mind says, “You can’t travel because you don’t have money.” Tell it to list all the ways you can get money to make it happen. Train your brain to, instead of giving into the fear, find solutions for that fear.” – (www.ytravelblog.com)

I still am fundraising for my journey and a few more weeks to go. For those who have been following my blog you know that I went through this same process the semester before last with no luck but God willing everything will work out this time. If you are interested in gaining more information and donating you can do so here. If not please spread the word!

Thanks for reading, Be Blessed & Stay Humble.