18+ reasons why you should go on exchange!

18+ reasons why you should go on exchange!

Look, exchange semester/year is just like a life, accelerated on a whole new speed! You never cry about yesterday, you never plan tomorrow and as for today – you just live it! To the fullest! Everything happens with the speed of light and sometimes people do not pay attention how they change while on exchange. They don’t appreciate all the “perks” of it. I as an                                       “experienced” exchange student, will try to give you 18+ reasons                                why you should  go on exchange.

 

So here we go:

1. You get to explore new culture. Who cares – ‘Murica!

2. You live with a host family. But you always wanted to move away from your family, well now you have 2 families to move out from.
   

3. You get to learn and practice new language! Eurekaaa! – now “uno” has a whole new meaning!

4. You get to experience different education standards, as well as different learning techniques – no more flashcards.

5. You start being concerned about global issues. As if any of those were up to you to decide.
6. You travel! Ok, that really is exciting…
7. You get out of your comfort zone. Dude, it’s called COMFORT zone because it’s comfortable, why would you get out of it?
8. You become more responsible. Now you feel even more concerned about global issues, but still none of them are up to you to decide.
9. You get to try traditional food. Don’t go to Italy, it is not too different from food back home.
10. You make life-long friends! Exchange ends soon, but your friendship stands strong – in skype.
11. You learn about awesome career opportunities and you start planning your life accordingly. But then you find out that 99% of the jobs are restricted to national citizens.
12. Now your friends back home have new inside jokes. And no, they will not share them with you, instead they will laugh at you after you go back.
13. You drink a lot of beer, but not too much. But unfortunately, you can never accurately measure how much is “too much”.
14. Semester abroad will look great on your resume, but 99% of the jobs are still restricted to national citizens.
15. You fall in love.

 

16. Everything is so much cheaper. So now you buy expensive stuff.

17. You make memories that matter. You will tell about them to your friends, family, kids, dogs and cats back home. They will all hate you for talking about exchange all the time. ALL THE TIME.
18. You get to go to your favorite band’s concert. But they never show up(that’s what happened to me).

19. You get to have a new roommate. Of course you love each other.

20. On exchange you stop judging the book by its cover and realize that 18+ in the title above is just another way of saying “more than 18.”

P.S University of Montana is where I am doing my exchange. It has shortly become my favorite place. I enjoy every single day here and try to get as much out of my exchange as possible. In fact, I work at the international center specifically in study abroad department. I strongly recommend every student to go on exchange and use this incredible opportunity of finding himself/herself through the adventures of living in a foreign country.

My little piece of advice: Go to American University in Bulgaria – Great school with great people!

Post by Omari Lomiashvili, Junior at University of Montana, School of Business Administration