At long last, the summer has come to an end. As sad as this makes , it’s a relief to finish my video blog series and look back on my summer adventures See what I’ve been up to by viewing the series on my Vimeo Channel.
How to Study Abroad on a Budget
1. Talk to an advisor at the Office of Study Abroad and Student Exchange (SASE).
A great first step, talking to your study abroad advisor will help you select a program that’s right for you. After that, they can help you identify the necessary steps to making your study abroad dream a reality. Developing a strong relationship with your advisor will ease the application process and also be a great resource for getting information on scholarships, grants, and other funding opportunities. Start by visiting SASE’s website and seeing what opportunities are available: http://studyabroad.arizona.edu/
2. Visit the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
Talking to your financial advisor will help you understand the total costs and steps necessary to fund your program. Depending on the program you select, the financial aid you regularly receive from your home university may or may not be applicable to your study abroad program. Additionally, your advisor can alert you to available scholarship opportunities. The OSFA website has more information about scholarship opportunities and office hours: http://financialaid.arizona.edu/
3. Ask your family for support.
Who loves you more than your family? Beyond your parents, most relatives are thrilled to support their loved ones on such an exciting opportunity as journeying abroad! Every little bit counts, and it never hurts to ask! I know that I wouldn’t have been able to go abroad if it weren’t for the generous support of my parents and grandparents.
4. Research the country(ies) you will be visiting.
A big mistake I made was that I didn’t take into account the currency exchange rate or other miscellaneous costs, like getting to and from the airport. Also, become familiar with where the airports and train stations are ahead of time. This will save you from last minute scrambling and confusion. In London, we underestimated the time it would take to get to the London Gatwick Airport, forcing us to pay 4pounds for a one way ticket on the Tube and 17.50pounds for an express train to the airport terminal, costing a total of $30 (aka way more than was necessary to spend).
5. Start saving.
Any amount of savings will be helpful when funding your trip, especially when unexpected costs arise. Also, putting some of your own savings towards your trip shows others that you are serious about the opportunity and willing to put your own time and money into making it happen.
Funding Resources for UA Students Studying Abroad
Office of Study Abroad and Student Exchange (SASE)
Part of the SASE’s website that links students with estimated cost worksheets, links to outside scholarships, and the application for the SASE’s Travel Grant Award. This page also includes information on what UA financial aid is applicable to studying abroad, as well as additional costs to take into consideration when planning.
Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid
A great launching point to explore the opportunities and resources available to you as a UA student. Also where you will find many financial forms, including the application for summer aid and a list of UA specific scholarships.
A UA designed search engine to help students find scholarships that specifically meet their needs and eligibility requirements.
Student Scholarship Services Project (SSSP)
This service allows students to make a profile that will match them with scholarships that meet their criteria. Sign up for their newsletter to receive regular updates about new scholarship opportunities and for helpful tips when applying for awards.
College Specific Awards
Additionally, check the website for your particular College. Oftentimes, the College will offer awards specifically to student in their field. For instance, through the College of Fine Arts, I applied for the Medici Scholars Award, which went towards transportation costs incurred while traveling and creating my video blog series.
I kissed a cactus (and I liked it)
If it hadn’t been one in the morning when my flight landed, I would have kissed a cactus straight away. The flight home was 28 hours, start to finish. The final leg of our journey from Chicago to Tucson was delayed for 4 hours due to bad weather… but it didn’t get delayed until we had already boarded the plane to go home.
By the time we actually got to Tucson, I was so glad to be home. But in a way, I experienced reverse culture shock. I hadn’t driven my car for six weeks, which was the longest time I’d gone without driving since I got a license. Even though I know Tucson like the back of my hand, I completely forgot where I was going! Riding a bike was equally as weird, just like using an American ATM and eating a burrito.
Through the reverse culture shock, I started to see the ways I’d changed and grown over the lat six weeks. First, I noticed how different my diet was, I couldn’t eat the same types of foods or deal with the gigantic portion sizes so common in America. I just wanted to eat salad all the time! And wine and pasta! You’d think about six weeks of Italian cuisine, I’d be about done with it, but really those six weeks schooled me in the finer points of cooking. I can’t bring myself to eat the super processed, oily foods and now I pay a little extra to get fresher, better quality ingredients.
On top of that, I’ve become hyper aware of the luxury and comfort of the American style. We’re really not big on public transportation here; everyone’s got their own car. Nearly every building with more than one story has an elevator, if not an escalator. Air conditioning is rampant across the consumer landscape, where products of every shape, size, color, and price are readily available for the American consumer to purchase.
In contrast to this observation, I realized that I had less dependency and desire for material things and modern comforts. The people I met while traveling inspired my new perspective more than anything else. I remember one person saying how to them, life wasn’t about making money, it was about having fun. That idea wasn’t new to me, but for some reason, this time it really stuck with me. The whole European lifestyle is so much more laid back and easy; the sweetness of life is determined by what you do with your life, not what you own.
Now, I take a little more time with everything that I do. I’m so much more generous and compassionate to everyone, particularly the people that I love. And before I left, I was such a cynic about love, so pessimistic and doubtful, and now I love effortlessly and believe in it so much! This trip gave me an appreciation for living life that’s so much greater than what I knew before. It’s a change of pace, a lifestyle centered around the beauty of small moments.
I couldn’t be more thankful that I got to have this experience.
I look back on it and laugh and smile and love every memory, even the bad ones. I experiences so much inspiration and motivation, the kind of creativity that spreads like wildfire. The best things that happened were when the camera was turned off, when no one was looking or even thinking about what they were doing; when we let go of our worries and caring too much and just lived freely.
Here’s to all the beautiful moments that didn’t make it to video, all the enlivening and inspiring conversations that became stories in my notebook, and all the wonderful people whose faces escaped my photographs but whose image stays sharp in my memory. Here’s to the people who inspired me in so many ways – to make films, to believe in love, and to completely believe in myself. Thank you.
And to those people considering study abroad in the future, I absolutely encourage you to do so! I had never seriously considered studying abroad primarily because of the cost. I’m able to go to college entirely because of scholarships and grants and didn’t think it would be possible to come up with the funds for a semester abroad. But honestly, if you truly want to do it and believe in it, you’ll find a way. There’s groups and individuals all over willing to help struggling students make their dreams happen. If you’d like more advice on the process, please feel free to contact me or continue to follow this blog!
A filmmaker’s adventure abroad
I knew ahead of time that I wanted to make a film while I was in Italy. What it would be, I wasn’t sure; I wanted new ideas and felt sure they would blossom once I got to Orvieto. Sure enough, after 10 crazy days of writing, shooting, directing, editing, and acting, I completed this crazy filmmaking adventure to produce the film posted above! Watch and enjoy! 🙂
The Art of Italian Grocery Shopping
I have to admit, one of the most difficult challenges of living abroad comes from the basics – using electricity, buying groceries, cleaning yourself… things you wouldn’t necessarily expect. In particular, I am repeatedly horrified at how incredibly difficult it is to buy groceries. Everything. Is in. Italian. This is something I should have expected, but didn’t. So let me introduce you to the fine art of grocery shopping in Italy.
Most of the produce is locally grown. It tastes different; it's fresher. But it's also mutant, as you can see with this ENRORMOUS bell pepper.
Yeah, there's just random shit on shelves, and it's some weird texture, and since it's all in Italian, you have no idea what it is... no hope of ever finding out unless you buy it and try it. If you dare.
Every shape, size, style, and flavor of pasta sauce ever. And to think that tomatoes aren't native to Italy.
Yes, the entire isle is just pasta, and all different varieties, too!
Yeah. They got a thing for seafood here. Not sure... what to say... about this... but there's frozen, packaged octopus. And more than one variety.
The grocery store doesn't provide bags - any kind of bags. You've got to bring your own reuseable bags for your groceries or you're on your own.
They have no big shopping carts; all you've got are red hand baskets. But the latest edition includes an extended handle and wheels, so you can drag your mini-hand basket all the way from the door to the check out aisle.
Italy: Making Third Wheels Cool
Italy: Making Third Wheels Cool
How getting lost helps you get found
Episode 4 of my video blog states that I want to reduce my dependency on technology. That episode took me four hours to upload.
Let’s stop for a second and think about this. An ironic situation for sure, the ensuing comments on the new episode challenged me to put away my laptop and have an adventure. So I did.
The next day, I woke up still tired, with my muscles aching still from hiking on previous days. Lethargy would be easy; I didn’t have class until 3:30 and kicking back on the sofa requires no effort. But there was this itch inside of me, a restlessness pulsing through my limbs telling me to go.
Mapless, I set out alone to trek through the Italian countryside in search of a sense of calm and a clear mind. I chose a direction and marched off, confidence guiding me although I was unsure what I would find.
Excitement took over. The first street I turned on was beautiful, but in a different way from all the houses in my neighborhood. Lined with tall, leafy trees, the street led straight down the hill, lined with small vineyards and delicately landscaped gardens.
After much trekking, I made it to the hill opposite to Orvieto. I discovered sweeping lots of vineyards and olive trees, met many disgruntled and threatening Italian cats, and thoroughly succeeded in sparking a fire inside my stagnant mind. It’s not that I was doing anything particularly risky or new; it was the anticipation of the unknown, wandering out in an unfamiliar landscape with minimal knowledge of the language alone, just to see what would happen. By the time I reached the top of the hill, not only was I rewarded with a beautiful view, but I couldn’t help but let a broad smile sweep across my face.
As I walked on, I found more beautiful vistas, an old and decorative graveyard, and had lunch by a stream. I hiked 8km in total solitude and gained the kind of self-assuredness in a way that only pushing your own boundaries can do.
Today, I think I’ll get lost again.
Episode 4: Benvenuto a Italia
Extraordinary Foreigner video blog… episode 4 is live!
The Heart of Life
By the time I get used to Italian toilets, light switches, and keyholes, the trip will be over. It’s the subtle things that make me homesick, like feeling stupid for not knowing how to unlock my own front door or being afraid of getting zapped by a buzzing outlet. Learning how to live in a foreign country teaches you how to be tolerant to difference; to survive, you must adapt. While I struggle to adapt, I also learn through struggling.
An overriding difference stands out in the style of consumerism. In America, we have shopping malls, chain stores, fast food, and huge supermarkets. Everything is big. Everything is fast. The goal is to produce the greatest output in the shortest amount of time. Technology outdates itself in a matter of months, creating a social hierarchy where owning the fastest, newest products equates to a certain level of social acceptance. Chemicals infiltrate our meals and homes, creating an easily replicable but generic palette to base our lifestyles on.
In America, quality is sacrificed for quantity and faster is always better.
The Italian lifestyle, though also rooted in consumerism, pulses at a gentler pace. I’m convinced shopping malls are an urban myth and chain stores are much smaller or American based, if present at all. Instead, small business owners dominate the local market, with each shop having it’s own personality and presence. On a daily basis. the entire city stops to sleep in the mid-afternoon haze. The comforts of American life are luxury: dryers, high speed internet, gigantic grocery stores, and accessibility to technology.
In Italy, quality beats quantity and authenticity trumps efficiency.
Though I still find it challenging to flush the toilet after a week in Orvieto, the differences I discover in even the most basic activities ignite my mind with inspiration and wonder (yes, I used toilets to talk about inspiration). It’s the things I don’t understand that teach me the most and remind me that the heart of life is good.
Extraordinary Foreigner 