study abroad?

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
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which country is the best?
when is the best time? sophomore or junior? it seems most people go study abroad in their junior year.
expenses?

anyone got have been studied abroad? my friend told me it is worthwhile and memorable even the experience is bad.
 

Darien

Platinum Member
Feb 27, 2002
2,817
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I'm sure there are ATers who have.

I know a few people who went to Japan and said it was a blast. Highly recommended it.

I'd do it too, but i want to graduate in 4 years. (If I go abroad, everything gets screwed up and I'd have to stay in school another year)
 

Balt

Lifer
Mar 12, 2000
12,673
482
126
I spent a semester in London. Probably the greatest four months of my life. I went as a junior and think it was the perfect time to go because by then I was really burned out on academic classes. I opted for an internship rather than classes for my semester abroad.

Advantages to London:
1) They speak English.
2) You can still get very cheap airfare to mainland Europe or to Ireland (and Guinness). :D
3) Greatest museums in the world.
4) Excellent public transportation.
5) Pubs on every corner.
6) etc etc etc

Ultimately it comes down to what you are interested in, of course.
 

kami333

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2001
5,110
2
76
I went for a semester, and I'm a science major/pre-med too. If you plan it well enough it won't screw up your schedule. I got most of my major electives out of the way while I was abroad. Went junior spring, if I did it again I would try for junior fall or even sophmore spring if my school offered it, going in the spring messed up some of the recommendations and stuff I needed for things like summer internships and stuff and made things harder to plan out.

I went to Denmark because:
1. The program there was the only one in Europe that offered science courses that my school would accept.
2. The speak English (for the most part)
3. ???
 

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
81
Originally posted by: Balt
I spent a semester in London. Probably the greatest four months of my life. I went as a junior and think it was the perfect time to go because by then I was really burned out on academic classes. I opted for an internship rather than classes for my semester abroad.

Advantages to London:
1) They speak English.
2) You can still get very cheap airfare to mainland Europe or to Ireland (and Guinness). :D
3) Greatest museums in the world.
4) Excellent public transportation.
5) Pubs on every corner.
6) etc etc etc

Ultimately it comes down to what you are interested in, of course.

where did you go in London? I have 2 places in my mind right now(anywhere in europe is fine), London and Sweden. well, I plan to do 2 semasters in there. I want to go to london school of economics, but I don't think I can get it. they want 3.5GPA :(
we will see. my friend's already told me the transportation will cost alot in london, which sucks. But it seems like london will be the only place I will stay in in england.

How did you get an internship in there tho? it would be good experience too :)
 

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
81
Originally posted by: kami333
I went for a semester, and I'm a science major/pre-med too. If you plan it well enough it won't screw up your schedule. I got most of my major electives out of the way while I was abroad. Went junior spring, if I did it again I would try for junior fall or even sophmore spring if my school offered it, going in the spring messed up some of the recommendations and stuff I needed for things like summer internships and stuff and made things harder to plan out.

I went to Denmark because:
1. The program there was the only one in Europe that offered science courses that my school would accept.
2. The speak English (for the most part)
3. ???

3. weeds ;) (IIRC, it is legal in there)
 

Balt

Lifer
Mar 12, 2000
12,673
482
126
Originally posted by: DaWhim
Originally posted by: Balt
I spent a semester in London. Probably the greatest four months of my life. I went as a junior and think it was the perfect time to go because by then I was really burned out on academic classes. I opted for an internship rather than classes for my semester abroad.

Advantages to London:
1) They speak English.
2) You can still get very cheap airfare to mainland Europe or to Ireland (and Guinness). :D
3) Greatest museums in the world.
4) Excellent public transportation.
5) Pubs on every corner.
6) etc etc etc

Ultimately it comes down to what you are interested in, of course.

where did you go in London? I have 2 places in my mind right now(anywhere in europe is fine), London and Sweden. well, I plan to do 2 semasters in there. I want to go to london school of economics, but I don't think I can get it. they want 3.5GPA :(
we will see. my friend's already told me the transportation will cost alot in london, which sucks. But it seems like london will be the only place I will stay in in england.

How did you get an internship in there tho? it would be good experience too :)

If at all possible, I would try to get a student pass for transportation through whichever school you attend in London. You can save quite a lot of money of travelpasses that way. Travel costs will also depend on what zones you travel through.

I went through Florida State's program. The best thing about our program was that they had flats in Zone 1 (central London). It really doesn't get much better than that. You are literally about a two minute walk away from the British Museum. The downside is that you will probably share a flat with five or six other people. Fortunately for me, everyone in my flat got along great. This was not true for all of the other flats, though. Of course, being in London, no one spent that much time in them anyway.

The internship was mostly arranged by FSU after I told them which positions I was interested in. They also offer a lot of classes, though, if you don't want to pay to work. ;)

The downside to all of this: the cost. The program is expensive, and London is expensive. Really expensive. The program does include the fee for the flat as well as many sponsored trips to places such as Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, etc. (including one to Paris). Since your two choices are London and somewhere in Sweden, I assume you know you will be spending a lot of money. ;)

FSU's program also accepts students from other schools, by the way. One of my flatmates was from Jacksonville University, for example, and they were others from all over the country. Whichever way you decide to do it, though, you really should do it. I wouldn't trade the experience I had for anything.
 

Mannkind

Senior member
Mar 19, 2000
648
0
76
I'm going to London in Spring ;)
Transportation pass included, and airfare to mainland europe is cheap so I've heard from people before... they said like 15(pounds) to goto France... etc... hot damn I'm gonna be a traveling man ;)
 

Balt

Lifer
Mar 12, 2000
12,673
482
126
Originally posted by: Mannkind
I'm going to London in Spring ;)
Transportation pass included, and airfare to mainland europe is cheap so I've heard from people before... they said like 15(pounds) to goto France... etc... hot damn I'm gonna be a traveling man ;)

RyanAir

easyJet

The downside is you may have to pay more for the train fare to get to Stansted (~£20 when I was there) than the plane ticket.

You may also have to depart at an ungodly hour, meaning you have to take nightbuses or a cab to get to the station (Bank, I think? I've forgotten :().

Still, it's worth it to save a lot of money.
 

KGB1

Platinum Member
Dec 29, 2001
2,998
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0
Originally posted by: SherEPunjab
London is awesome. and the chicks have the sexiest accents imho.

and the skankients hoe's in the universe. Wasn't great britain afraid of the high pregnancy rate and of sexually transmitted diseases on that island? :confused:
 

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
81
sound really expensive to me, I guess I will need to loan $10k along with my financial aids? :(
anyways, I am only freshman, so I have a whole year to think about it, also raise my GPA for LSE :).
 

Jackhammerz

Member
Jan 25, 2004
141
0
0
I spent the summer in Japan. It was one of the greatest times in my life. The only problem was $$$ it is somewhat expensive. I spent maybe $5K while there. The people there are very helpful, at least the ones that are able to speak a lil english. Go to the numerous bars and restaurants. IM me if u want more details.
 

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
1
0
I studied abroad in the US! :)
But then, it was like in the Capital of Boondocks, nowhere in Minnesota.
 

kami333

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2001
5,110
2
76
Originally posted by: DaWhim
sound really expensive to me, I guess I will need to loan $10k along with my financial aids? :(
anyways, I am only freshman, so I have a whole year to think about it, also raise my GPA for LSE :).

Some of it comes down to whether or not you want to worry about money while you are there. I know some of the people who worked while they were abroad (my program had student jobs like library assistants) but that just seemed a little extreme to me. You're in a foreign country, meeting people and having experiences you otherwise would not have had, might as well enjoy it as much as you can. You can live off of mac and cheese after you get back.