Making The Most Of Your Study Abroad Orientation Week

Because study abroad orientation week is a week like no other

Get going in the right direction

While ice breakers, mandatory campus tours, chaotic class registration, and long safety lectures probably caused you to dread anything associated with student orientation, I can tell you that orientation week at your study abroad university is probably one of the best weeks you’ll have during your abroad experience. From someone who has been there before, here are 10 tips on how to make the most of your study abroad orientation week. Continue Reading

The Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Get A Lonely Planet Guide

Lonely Planet – always a solid travel resource for study abroad students

I’ve heard from many people that it isn’t worth it, that it’s a waste of money: they’re out-dated, they’re heavy, they list sites that are closed, why a book when we have the internet, etc. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion and all of those things may be true, you won’t always have access to the internet, it’s paper i.e. not that heavy, and yes, it’s not updated every year which just means it should be used as a great reference book and not necessarily your sole travel bible. Here are 10 reasons why I think every study abroad student should get a Lonely Planet country guide. Continue Reading

Why I’m No Longer Studying Abroad

The new direction of my study abroad journey & the fate of The Study Abroad Blog

Share your study abroad story

My original goal was to turn The Study Abroad Blog into the ultimate guide for students studying abroad. I would head to a new location and study a new topic/subject every semester for as long as I could. For a while there, everything was going as planned, and I genuinely think it would’ve worked. But then something happened towards the end of last semester which threw a wrench in that plan – I realized I loved China, I wanted to keep learning Chinese, and I didn’t want to go to another country at the moment. Rather than give up on blogging, I decided to adapt and although you can’t see it yet, The Study Abroad Blog has undergone the biggest change of it’s 3 year life during the past few weeks. Continue Reading

Hanging Out In Shanghai Hangzhou And Suzhou China

My final study abroad trip to Southern China

Suzhou Administrators Garden Shanghai Hangzhou And Suzhou

A canal in Suzhou near The Administrator’s Garden

I’ve been back in the States for almost a month now, but somehow I still haven’t managed to post about the end of my study experience in Beijing. The list of things I wanted to get done in the 3 weeks before I flew home was pretty long. Surprisingly, I was actually able to check most of it off as done by the time I my plane took off (never did make it to the temple of heaven), but I’ll probably save that for another post. I wanted to take this time to write about my favorite part of those last few weeks – my trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou (China’s post card city), and Suzhou. Continue Reading

A Bite Of Belgian Food Culture

One study abroad student’s understanding of Belgian culture through local cuisine

Belgian moules-frites steamed mussels fries

Moules-frites, steamed mussels with fries, may well be the Belgian national dish.

This is the start of a new project here on The Study Abroad Blog, which came about after I realized that as much as I wanted to cover every aspect of studying abroad in every country, it’s an impossible task to do on my own. The project is an on-going guest post series, and if you’re a current or previous study abroad student who would like to contribute, you can read more about the project below. Today’s guest post is by a student who spent this past year studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium. Using her interest and knowledge of the local food culture, along with her ability to paint a mouth-watering picture of her experience through words, Janelle gives us the dish on Belgian cuisine and culture. Continue Reading