By Alexa 
One of the best things that I ever did was take advantage of my colleges traveling programs. My college had their system-wide study abroad program along with the National Student Exchange (NSE) program. The study abroad program offered studying internationally in a program that overlapped with my degree in English.
The National Student Exchange program allowed me to choose from several colleges domestically along with a few in the Carribean and Canada. I chose to go to New York to learn more about the publishing industry. Both experiences were highly enriching, gave me a guided opportunity to learn, grow, and travel.
I got to explore other parts of the country with a bit of a safety net and a cushion
NSE has a site coordinator at the schools associated with the program. I had a coordinator at my home university and a coordinator at the school that I went to. This was the person that helped me understand the school I was attending, coordinated events for all the participants to hang out at, and help us resolve any issues that may have arisen while at our program.
My study abroad program had a site coordinator from California, a site coordinator that lived in France and with their help, they put us into contact with a local woman that helped us to rent our places that we would stay and another person that booked trips and events for our group, some that weren’t optional and some that were. That support systems makes all the distance from going somewhere cold turkey.
My resume looked exceptional and gave me a competitive edge
Stepping out and being willing to go to other places and countries to study is impressive to many people. It’s something that causes you to stand out and show how far you’re willing to go to pursue your dreams. Going to New York was a good look because I went specifically to learn more about the publishing industry. I had a purpose and that purpose was reflected in my resume.
I got exposed to an industry that I wanted to know more about, which was publishing
Traveling just for the sake of traveling is great enough. While in New York, I got to see many wonderful tourist attractions. I got to see the Rockettes, cruise on the Hudson, listen to great poetry at the Nuyorican poetry cafe and many other wonderful things. However, I wasn’t there just to have fun. New York was chosen because it houses many publishing houses, and I wanted to learn. Going for a higher purpose always makes everything more meaningful. You’re not wandering around; you’re working towards something.
I got practice in learning a new language
I’d been studying French since high school. I thought to some degree that going to France was going to be a bit of a walk in the park because I remembered a lot of what I learned in high school. It turned out I had been learning baby French. It was a lot more difficult than I thought and I wouldn’t change that for anything. It was also a huge difference because I was immersed in the culture and the language was everywhere. In that time that I was there, my French improved drastically and having another language is a great asset, in and of itself.
Taking advantage of these programs was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.