<p>What a wonderful discussion we have here! I think cupcake does have a point about cultural immersion which should be a big aspect of studying abroad. Why go through studies in another country if you’re not going to learn, understand, and immerse yourself into the culture and language of that country? However, I do want to point out that while this is so, not everyone is as open minded or as out-going and going to another country can be both challenging and lonely. I actually just came back from a semester in Asia with my college and had the best time and experience. I initially wanted to study abroad via several online programs I found such as [CIS</a> Abroad](<a href=“http://www.cisabroad.com%22%5DCIS”>http://www.cisabroad.com), [Study</a> Abroad](<a href=“http://www.cbl-international.com%22%5DStudy”>http://www.cbl-international.com), and [url=<a href=“http://www.gowithcea.com%5DCEA%5B/url”>http://www.gowithcea.com]CEA[/url</a>] but eventually decided to stick with the program recommend by my international studies department. </p>
<p>A lot of times, it’s not the program that matters but what you and your classmates make of it. That is, during our free time, we were also out and about the city and even made travels to several other cities during the weekends. We made an effort to reach out to local students, made an effort to study and test out the language, and made an effort to spend our time wisely since we only had several months there.</p>