The Study Abroad Blog

Don’t Let Parents Stop You From Studying Abroad

Ten Ways To Guarantee Your Parents Will Let You Study Abroad

Who's stopping you?

I had a friend who was applying to study abroad in Spain right around the same time that I was considering heading off to St. Andrews, Scotland. While I ended up living the dream in the golfer’s paradise that is St. Andy’s during my junior year, she ended up staying at Holy Cross (which although it’s not that bad, it’s definitely not living the dream). Why? Because her parents wouldn’t allow her to study abroad. If you’re currently in the same situation, i.e. your parents don’t want to let you see the world when the best opportunity you might ever have is staring you in the face, use these ten points to try and convince them otherwise. (more…)

Because the best way to learn a language like a native speaker is to speak with one

Taxi drivers - the ultimate language partners

For me, the hardest part about learning Chinese has been separating the vocab and structures used in different settings (i.e. which are Kǒuyǔ 口语 ‘spoken language’ and which are Shūmiànyǔ 书面语 ‘written language’), as well as how to use them. This is an important distinction too, because who wants to come off sounding like Confucius while you’re talking with a group of Chinese friends about things like girls, sports, or going out. Although some people may disagree, I’ve found that the easiest way to solve this problem is to actually go out and use the language you’re learning. Here’s my advice on where and with who you should practice speaking.
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Free tuition at China’s Universities and 10 other scholarships for studying abroad in Asia

One of the reasons I chose Beijing University is because of the low tuition. To enroll in one of China’s best universities, it cost me a whopping 13,600 RMB or roughly $2,000. I want to clarify that I’m not rich, and as a 23 year old student, I couldn’t be much further far from it. However, $2,000 for a semester is cheaper than tuition at most community colleges in the U.S., so it’s pretty hard to argue with that price tag. I didn’t think it could get any better until a friend told me that he was going to Beida for free (legally). (more…)

How to find cheap flights on budget airlines

easyJet - fly anywhere and everywhere

Thanks to budget airlines, the quickest and easiest way to travel Europe (and now many other countries) is by plane. The low-cost carrier godfathers (easyJet and Ryanair) have made it possible to fly from country to country just about anywhere in Europe in under 3 hours. And yes, your plane ticket will probably be cheaper than the taxi to the airport. If you’re looking for comfort and quality service, you’re in the wrong place. If, however, you don’t want your flight to be the biggest part of your trip expenses, read on. (more…)

Everything study abroad for the week of May 6, 2012

It’s hard to believe but the last time I wrote one of these the spring semester was barely a month old, and now we’re looking at just a little over a month left. I have to admit I’m somewhat anxious for it to end, partly because class is starting to wear on me, but more so because I’m looking forward to finally doing some serious traveling around the country that I’ve lived in for the past 9 months. Speaking of the awesomeness that is student traveling, we’ve got some news here on The Study Abroad Blog that you’ll probably want to take a look at down below.
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