I have to decide where I want to study abroad for the upcoming Fall 2015 semester.
Originally I wanted to go to Breda in the Netherlands. The university is called NHTV and I would be studying media and entertainment. However, the program goes all the way until the 28th of January, and my classes for my last and final semester at Northern Arizona University start on the 19th. Also, I would be missing Christmas and New Years with my family.
On the other hand, I could go to Jönköping University which is in Sweden. I could take less classes and finish by November 29, which would allow me to travel around before Christmas. However, I heard that Jönköping pretty much sucks and is pretty boring.
Have any of you guys ever studied abroad at these places? Any input into where I should go? This is one of the hardest decisions and I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve even created a pro/con list but that’s not even helping too much.
HELP!
I studied abroad in the Netherlands, but I was in Amsterdam, not Breda. I had a blast.
I think that you will enjoy studying abroad no matter where you go - the Netherlands certainly was not my first or even second choice, and I enjoyed it. However, I will say that I don’t think you should choose your program on the basis of dates. I made that mistake - one of the programs I really wanted to go to (a public health program in Brazil) started in late March (about two months after the regular semester started at my college) and ended in mid-June. That would’ve cut my summer short - to just about a month and a half at most - and I didn’t want that, so I decided to apply to a different program. While I loved my time in the Netherlands, in retrospect the other program would’ve been a better fit for me, and I later wished I hadn’t let summer vacation decide my study abroad.
Christmas and New Year’s comes around every year, and you can always celebrate it with your family. However, you only really get the opportunity to study abroad once in college. The major problem seems to be that your program ends after classes begin at NAU; I would discuss this with the study abroad advisor and see how/whether other students have handled this in the past. You might be able to get syllabi and early assignments while you are still abroad and wrapping up your other program.
1 Like