Penn State Education Abroad Is Back For 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After nearly two years of travel restrictions due to COVID-19, Education Abroad is back in full swing for students.
Global Penn State hosted its annual Education Abroad Fair both virtually and in person from Tuesday, Oct. 12 to Thursday, Oct. 14.
During Tuesday evening’s Zoom webinar, “Welcome Back to the World,” Education Abroad advisor Johnna Weston provided a rundown of what to expect during the fair throughout the week.
Weston encouraged students to do their research ahead of time on where they are interested in traveling to, so that they can prepare follow-up questions to ask.
“We want you to start thinking about where to go next. What do I do with the information I received?” Weston said.
A huge concern most students have about going abroad is from a financial standpoint. Education Abroad advisor Kristin Franco offered some more information about this common worry.
“Every program is priced differently,” Franco said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into developing the cost for each of those programs.”
The last forty minutes of the event were spent with a Q&A session with student peer advisors who recently studied abroad.
All three students on the discussion panel had nothing but positive things to say about their experiences with Education Abroad.
They touched on a bunch of different aspects about their time in different countries, such as how they chose what courses to take, how they prepared for the local culture of their country, their specific living accommodations as well as just some general advice for prospective students.
“Definitely practicing the language before you go is super helpful,” Claire Jablonski (fourth year - math) said after studying in Vienna, Austria during her Spring 2020 semester.
It is normal for students to feel a bit anxious before traveling to a whole new country they might not be familiar with.
“It was kind of overwhelming at first,” Tyler Haden (fourth year - chemical and environmental engineering) said he felt after arriving in Melbourne, Australia for the first time during his Spring 2020 semester. “But once you get on campus, you realize that everyone is in the same boat.”
Although Education Abroad is back in action after the pandemic, Global Penn State highly advises students to research COVID-19 protocols in their desired countries before traveling.
Applications for Education Abroad are still open for students for the Summer 2022 and Fall 2022 semesters.
Emily Grill is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email exg5292@psu.edu.
