How Studying Abroad Is a Life-Changing Experience

Scenery of Prague: River Vltava and National Theater (building on the left with the with the lights around)
Scenery of Prague: River Vltava and National Theater (building on the left with the with the lights around)

Most things in life can be translated into numbers and college is no exception. An academic year in college is around 250 days and if we multiply this number by four, the average length of a U.S. bachelor’s degree, we get 1000 days allocated to our collegiate career. That is around 3% of a person’s life.

An average college graduate has 22 years until his graduation – which is about 24% of their total life. That means a college student still has 76% of their life to live after graduating.

Wondering how studying abroad is a life-changing experience?

The average semester abroad is 125 days, which is about 0.4% of one´s life. However, within this small percentage lies an opportunity for exponential growth and opportunity. In other words…

Studying abroad – for only one semester – is a life-changing experience.

“While abroad, students gain a wealth of skills, which means they are curious about different cultures” (source: student.com)

Firstly, it broadens your worldview.

Broadening one’s worldview in other words means getting wiser. When you study abroad you expand your knowledge and get exposure to a new culture, mindset and values.

Ironically, in order to gain a better understanding of one’s culture they have to live in another for a while which serendipitously becomes the biggest benefit of a broadening worldview. It is an extremely valuable form of learning that transcends the classroom and has to be experienced firsthand.

“Studying abroad means getting a job 50% faster than your peers. You will land a role within 2 months of graduating, instead of 4” (source: student.com)

Secondly, the broader worldview helps you do significantly better in a professional career.

The first obvious reason is differentiation. Studying abroad makes you stand out from the crowd. That is your resume’s little secret.

Secondly, you experienced a new culture, went out of comfort zone, adapted to another worldview or learned new language. It shows that you went the extra mile to become more globally aware and to become an educated citizen, which is highly appreciated by employers.

“International students are more likely to be given greater responsibility at work and find themselves in leadership roles” (source: student.com)

From the perspective of employers, young professionals who studied abroad illustrate a certain level of maturity, curiosity, and dedication.

When a company needs to offer a new position and has two equally performing employees to choose between, differentiation criteria takes precedent. Overseas experience will with no doubt be one of them. Which is why:

“Graduates with overseas experience earn $7,000 more than their peers” (source: student.com)

To conclude, study abroad adds great value to both personal and professional life, for all the reasons mentioned above.

Not to mention it is a lot of fun and you will have a great time!

Internship: Planet Expat

I was lucky enough to find an internship while studying abroad. I found out about a company called Planet Expat, which is a headhunter company that works with startups mainly in United States and Europe. They do some other things, like coaching program, but matching students with internships abroad is their main focus.

Planet Expat.
Planet Expat.

I worked at Planet Expat for six weeks and besides business development, broadcasting work, I write an article about the benefits on studying abroad to one’s professional career. The article is in my next post, but if you are looking for an internship, job abroad that Planet Expat is definitely a source to look at.

Many times the internships are paid and they are an “English” internships with startup companies in Spain or Portugal, a countries where English is not the official language. Usually the internships ranging from 3-6 months so ideally it is for students who are studying abroad for the whole academic year or for a students who have graduated from Hope College. Actually 78% of people who have internship with Planet Expat get a permanent job afterward.

Dependency on Internet in Santiago

For the last few days the internet was off in my apartment building, which is the reason for 10 posts today, but also a realization of how much we are depended on internet connection.

This is my current position compare to rest of the world.

Internet is the only way for people in Santiago to know about what is happening in the world.
Internet is the only way for people in Santiago to know about what is happening in the world.

If internet does not work in Santiago, I and rest of us have no clue what is happening in rest of the world. I feel sometimes it is a good thing, with the things were lately going in the world, but for example:

I wanted to watched the VP debate between Pence and Kaine this week, but I could not. I wanted to do my homework, I could not. You can not respond to e-mails, Skype with family or to check news. I know this happens a lot in U.S., but here in Santiago, TVs are not everywhere and basically all news are Chilean, unless something really tragic or important happens, like the Presidential Election in U.S. It is very weird and unusual feeling of not knowing what rest of the world is doing.

People in Chile say, that if people in Santiago know what is happening then everybody else knows. Because Santiago is so south compare to the rest of the world that they are most of the times the last people to know about it.

What It’s Like to Work From Home

Working from home. The dream, right?

No commute.

No long drives to the office.

No early-morning wake-up calls.

No cubicle, no boss hovering over your shoulder, but definitely a cup of coffee in hand, sweatpants, no shoes, curled up in a blanket. Or, short of that, holed up in the corner of a cute little coffee shop with a laptop and some good tunes on repeat.

It can be a really good time.

My internship this semester is at a church in Chicago that does not yet have a permanent space; we meet in a banquet hall’s ballroom on Sundays and rent the space on Thursdays as well for music rehearsals. Other than that, we don’t really have a concrete location. I spend about half of my hours each week meeting with my boss at coffeeshops or setting up gear and running services at our rental space, but otherwise I’m quite on my own for a lot of the time.

I thought it couldn’t get any better. And some days, it can’t. I’m an ambivert – I am really fine with having a lot of alone time, but I need a pretty good amount of human interaction, too. That means that, on days when I’m on my own, I tend to make conversations with the strangers around me (usually kids or old people), just because I get some energy and joy that way. I also call and text my mom pretty often, and actually it’s getting to the point that I’m wondering if I’m becoming annoying (sorry Mom, I’m just alone a lot). I enjoy the alone time and I tend to work pretty well that way, but it can be hard to be alone all day while my roommate and friends are all usually in totally different parts of the city for nine or ten hours every day.

A major perk is that I have a ton of freedom to explore. I tend to ride the L around Chicago and find coffee shops to sit at and work pretty regularly so that I don’t end up getting stuck in my apartment. I love going to new places and finding unique spots to spend my time, especially during these early months of fall while it’s still pretty nice outside. It is fun for me not to be stuck in a white cubicle all day and to be able to learn about the city while experiencing it, all during work hours.

Restoration Roof
This fifth-floor rooftop at Restoration Hardware is one of my favorite places to read.

One of the hardest things for me about working from home is that I sometimes have a pretty hard time separating myself from my work. It’s not unusual for me to sit in my apartment on a Friday night feeling guilty for not working when I could be (or, sometimes, actually working to ensure that I get the number of hours that I need for the week). When you go to an office and come home at the end of the day, you can leave things there a little more easily, but when your apartment is half office, it can be a real challenge to separate work time from free time.

Working from home takes a lot of discipline and motivation (and coffee, if we’re being honest), but it also requires an ability to keep yourself on schedule and allow yourself the freedom to not be scheduled when your work hours end. It can be a hard balance, but it is an important part of today’s work force, and a huge part of my job.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about working from home.

“Yet whenever your people turned and cried to you again for help, you listened once more from heaven. In your wonderful mercy, you rescued them many times!”

—Nehemiah 9:28

Nykerk Is Just Around the Corner!

Hello Readers!

I hope you all have been doing well and aren’t too overwhelmed this week before Fall Break begins! Have you been busy? Overwhelmed? A little bit of both? I know I have.

Maybe one of the reasons you (as well as myself) are busy or overwhelmed is because of Nykerk season. For those of you that don’t know what Nykerk is, I will explain. Nykerk is a friendly competition between the sophomore and freshmen girls of Hope College. They compete in a three-part competition composed of Song, Play, and Oration. For a better idea of what it looks like, here is the 2013 Odd Year song for your viewing pleasure. (I like to show song videos because I was an Odd Year song girl!)

When my time as a Nykerk song girl ended as a sophomore, I didn’t quite want to let go of the event that had such an impact on me as a person. So, I applied for an executive board position for Nykerk and received the role of treasurer. It was and continues to be an awesome way to continue my love for Nykerk and be a part of the behind the scenes work. I didn’t realize until I received this position just how much time, effort and hard work go into making Nykerk what it is. There are so many different people involved in making it go off without a hitch and it is truly incredible to witness.

As senior treasurer, my junior treasurer and myself are in charge of Nykerk's funds. We love being a part of this awesome event and working together!
As senior treasurer, my junior treasurer and myself are in charge of Nykerk’s funds. We love being a part of this awesome event and working together!

The 2016 Nykerk competition is set to take place in DeVos Fieldhouse on Saturday, October 29.  Tickets will be $7, but make sure to get yours soon because they sell out quickly!

Enjoy the rest of your week, Readers, and have an amazing Fall Break.

Until next time!

Time to Rest

Five weeks into the semester and the number on everyone’s mind is three:
Three days stand between Hope students and a long awaited Fall Break.

It’s that time of the school year when papers are due, group projects are in progress, and work is piling up. I know I find it too easy to get off track from where I should be focused and let my time be consumed by work, mindless distraction, and sleep.

This week, like many others during my two years here at Hope, I had a friendly little reminder of where my mind and heart should find rest. This reminder came in the form of a question from one of my housemates. She asked if there was a reason I had stopped going to Chapel. She knows I enjoy it and this was something she felt Jesus putting on her heart to talk about with me.

I didn’t have a good answer for her and I had never had a good answer for myself. I just convinced myself I needed to spend the time elsewhere. Thankfully, I have friends that are willing to chime in and shine a light on my excuses.

Ultimately, none of this school work means anything if I do not focus on my calling to be a disciple of Christ. Hope provides the opportunities to dig in and grow in our spiritual lives as we buckle down and expand our academic knowledge. I’ll never come up with an answer good enough to justify not taking advantage of these gifts.

Philippians verse on wall surrounded by pictures.
Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. Philippians 4:6

As we head into this break, I am reminded that when life gets busy, two days off may not be all we need. Rather, a friendly reminder of where our hearts should be fixed and our motivation should rise might be in order. In Christ, we do not need to worry – whatever we are doing here stems from our relationship with Him.

Thanks for reading,
Erin

All About That Brotherly Love

As much as I love my dear Chicago, I said goodbye this weekend and headed out to check out the hype behind all that brotherly love, aka, Philadelphia. My roommate for the past three years is doing a similar program to The Chicago Semester but based out of Philly, called The Philadelphia Center. So, this weekend I made my way east to pay her a visit!

My trip actually began early Friday morning because my boss let me have the day off to go on my trip, and when I say early I do mean early. I left my apartment at 5:15 and woke up at 4:30 a.m. Typical morning, right? But this was actually good because it meant I got to spend almost all of Friday exploring Philly!

My roommate, Sammie, lives in this super cool loft with three other students, because unlike Chicago Semester, she had to find her own housing so she had her pick of apartment, loft, high rise, etc. For any of you New Girl lovers out there, her loft totally reminded me of the show, especially since she lives with two guys. After she showed me around her building, we headed out for a very full day! The weather wasn’t great, much to Sammie’s dismay, but we still found plenty to do.

Our first stop was at Revolution Taco, a really cool restaurant located in Center City. I am totally obsessed with any and all Mexican foods so I was all about this lunch spot. After gorging ourselves on chips and guac and, of course, tacos, we decided to do some shopping. I was unaware that Anthropology, Urban Outfitters, and Free People all originated in Philly and thus all have huge stores right downtown. Despite being poor college students, these are three of Sammie’s and my favorite stores so we absolutely had to go check them out.

Anthropology was 5 stories tall. Yes, you read that correctly, FIVE stories. This, in combination with the fact that we totally loved everything in the entire store but couldn’t afford a single thing slightly overwhelmed and depressed us.

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This is a photo of Sammie’s overwhelmed reaction upon falling in love with every item in the store. All three of the stores we checked out were gorgeous and we spent a good chunk of time just photographing the aesthetic of the space. We definitely looked a little odd.

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After window shopping we decided to check out an ice cream place in Washington Square that’s known for it’s rolled ice cream. I was a little confused about what this actually meant until I saw it, but basically they flatten the ice cream out completely, put a whole bunch of toppings inside, and then roll it up! I’ve never seen anything like it but it was absolutely amazing. Sammie said there is usually a line all the way down the street, but the bad weather actually worked in our favor and we were able to walk right in.

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Sammie got an Oreo ice cream and I got a pretzel, chocolate, and peanut butter combo. Note that I had to take a bite before we took the photo. I was very excited.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘Okay, you went to one of the most historic cities the United States has, and all you did is shop and eat?’ and my answer to this is ‘yeah, sorta.’ But we did try to get a little history in too! We saw the Liberty Bell on our first day exploring and made our way over to the art museum to see the iconic rocky steps on the second day.

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Overall, it was a super fun weekend exploring a brand new city! It was also sort of fun to be able to compare the two domestic study abroad programs and see how unique and different they both are. While I’m 100% happy with my decision to study in Chicago, Sam is loving her Philly experience and I’m so happy I got to see what it was all about!

I Have a Coffee Dependence and I’m Not Proud

This blog post is about to be majorly overdramatic.

It all started when I was just a wee young lass. My grandma is a big coffee drinker and my grandpa loved his gas station cappuccinos. They live across town from the house I grew up in, and they’re totally the kind of grandparents who love to give their grandkids “treats.” I’m pretty sure we were all raised on caffeine. I’m serious, my brother was drinking black coffee at four years old. Recently I’ve started wondering how much taller he would be if that hadn’t happened. He would probably be in the NBA and/or a really good men’s volleyball player.

In junior high I started discovering the wonder of Starbucks Frappuccinos on youth group trips. In high school, the same brother introduced me to the campfire mocha from Caribou Coffee (I will love you forever, Caribou). I took a Keurig with me to college but only used it when I wanted coffee, not because I felt like I needed it to stay awake or function well (HOWEVER, Dr. Pepper was a different story – it is free with every meal in Phelps Dining Hall and I gave it up for Lent my freshman year, gave myself caffeine withdrawal migraines, and had to compensate with coffee).

Junior year is when things started to change. My friend Sarah and I discovered that the best time for us to do homework is early in the morning – And the best place to do it was at Lemonjello’s. Of course, we couldn’t just sit in LJ’s at 6:30 every morning and not buy anything (for more reasons than one) – I quickly realized that my morning cups of coffee were super beneficial in getting my homework done.

But really, the blame falls almost completely onto the shoulders of my friend Niall. He was my co-program director for day camp at Covenant Harbor this summer. The guy used to work at Starbucks. He orders everything with an extra shot of espresso and knows exactly how to make it taste really, really good. I brought a car to camp this summer and he did not, which means that any time he wanted coffee that wasn’t from camp (which was pretty much every day since coffee and camp are not exactly the best mix), I had to drive him to Starbucks, ergo I ended up ordering stuff there almost every day too. I quickly made the jump down from cold brew to iced coffee (so much cheaper) and then up from iced coffee to iced Americanos (almost as cheap and way more effective). I was drinking a cup of camp coffee in the morning, an Americano later in the morning (sometimes with a refill), and sometimes more coffee in the afternoon. Bad. Helpful in my tiring job, but bad.

This semester, I haven’t needed coffee to function like I did over the past year. There was one day that I didn’t drink it at all, and the next day I had a horrible migraine all day until I pumped myself up with enough caffeine to replace what I had skipped the day before. That’s when I realized the crazy coffee consumption was an actual problem. I don’t want to depend on coffee in order to be a functioning human. I went back to drinking a moderate amount of coffee every day in order to prevent myself from getting any more migraines, but the back of my head was like, “But should I actually…”

This week, I decided I don’t want coffee to rule my life anymore. Two days ago, I didn’t drink any coffee at all. Yesterday and today I’ve had a cup of decaf. I’ve heard it takes three days to stop the withdrawal headaches and I’m determined that I’m going to do it. I’m really not sure why I picked right now; I think I just figured I might as well. I’ll still drink coffee occasionally just because I like it, but I do not want to depend upon it anymore.

It’s a whole new world! I can be a functioning human without caffeine!

Thanks for reading! Make sure to keep up with me on Twitter and in my Etsy shop.

“Praise the Eternal, all nations.
    Raise your voices, all people.
For His unfailing love is great, and it is intended for us,
    and His faithfulness to His promises knows no end.
Praise the Eternal!”

—Psalm 117

Getting My ‘Tourist’ On

Working 9-5 almost every day definitely has made me appreciate weekends even more and especially being in the city there’s a lot of pressure to be out and doing fun things all the time. So this past weekend my roommate, Dori, and I decided we were going to make the most of our Saturday and headed out for a very full day.

Our first stop was Elly’s Pancake House. This place is definitely presenting a problem for both my wallet and waistline as it is open 24 hours a day and located a mere two blocks from my apartment. Because we woke up with one word on the brain: PANCAKES, this place seemed like a no brainer for brunch. We had their famous chocolate chip pancakes and an egg skillet each. I wasn’t kidding about it being a problem for my waistline. It was definitely worth it though. If you’re ever in Chicago area I’d highly recommend you make your way over there. Who doesn’t love all-day breakfast food?!

12715997_992616877451922_5545382198292301702_oWhen we finally managed to roll ourselves out of the restaurant we decided we wanted to head over to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo itself is on the smaller side, but is really cool because it’s completely free! It also has a beautiful view of the city combined with the green space of the park.

A funny side note about this zoo experience: The night before we were talking to a couple of the students participating in The Chicago Semester who are from Norway. They were telling us that their word for “raccoon” translates in English to “washing bear” which we all thought was extremely funny. Because this got such a reaction out of us Americans, the guys decided to see if they could trick us into believing some more ridiculous translations. They spent a good 10 minutes telling us that the word for “lion” translated to “big screaming cat” among other crazy translations. So while Dori and I were at the zoo we had our eye out for some “big screaming cats”, which we did end up seeing!

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When we decided we’d had enough “Vitamin Z” for the day, we decided to head to a museum Dori had been wanting to check out. It’s called The Driehaus Museum and it is essentially just a preserved mansion from the Gilded Age right in the downtown of the city! It was definitely pretty cool to get to see this beautiful home preserved and looking exactly as it would have in the 19th century. The home was absolutely beautiful and after spending a day sweating at the zoo I definitely felt underdressed for such a gorgeous home, but thankfully the museum employees we’re incredibly kind and welcoming regardless of our appearance.

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By this time we were feeling pretty exhausted and decided to make our way back to our apartment, which we arrived just in time to participate in The Chicago Semester’s progressive dinner. Basically the staff gave six students money to provide either a dish, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts. As poor college students, this was an idea we all throughly supported and did our best to fit almost all 35 students in the program into our tiny studio apartments to enjoy the food.

Overall, it was a pretty successful day. Dori and I were definitely proud of all we accomplished and had fun exploring a bit more of the city!

Combining Senior Seminar and Sabbath

Hello Readers! Hope your week is going well, I know mine is off to a crazy start!

School is going well. I’m busy, involved, and loving every second of this intense semester, but one of the things I didn’t expect to love so much is the classwork (crazy, I know, since the sole reason I’m here at Hope is to do be educated.) One of the classes I’m in this semester that I’ve found I love is my Senior Seminar. The name of the class I’m in is The Future of Being Human, and it is all about the advancement of technology and humans place in this advancing world of data. It’s really interesting and has made me think about some more in-depth issues that are going on in the world.

The main takeaway I’ve gotten from this class so far is that while technology is helpful in so many ways, it also makes humanity disconnected to what is happening around us and alters the relationships we have with people. This topic fascinates me, and I love to challenge myself in it as often as I can.

During this past summer, I was able to read a book by John Mark Comer titled Garden City. It is about figuring out what our purpose is on this earth and how we can tie that purpose into our day-to-day lives (really good book, here’s the link). There is a chapter in this book that struck me right to the core. It was about trying to implement a Sabbath day into our weeks. For John Mark, this Sabbath day includes him and his family turning off their electronic devices and doing nothing but resting and worshiping the Lord. In other words, they don’t work at all on this Sabbath day and refocus their lives for the week on what is important. Can you imagine the bliss of not checking emails and having the freedom to be spontaneous?

This is my dream of what every Sabbath for me would look like - diving into piles and piles of books and not coming out until the day is done!
This is my dream of what every Sabbath for me would look like – diving into piles and piles of books and not coming out until the day is done!

I could. And I wanted to implement this Sabbath day into my week – so I did. It wasn’t (and isn’t) easy, especially for a college student, but I decided Mondays would be my Sabbath. No phone, no laptop, and piggybacking on those items, the ability to be bored – to be creative. I hadn’t been those things in the longest time, and it is good to be back. I’m hoping that through my Sabbath, I can reconnect with friends without the barrier of a screen and interact with people how they are meant to be interacted with. So far, so good. It’s my favorite day of the week.

The combination of making Sabbath a reality and the technological ideas I’m talking about in my Senior Seminar is such a unique perspective of a topic I never thought I’d care so much about. Even though the semester isn’t even halfway over, I know the topic of this class, combined with Sabbath will make for a semester full of growth and creativity for me. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going!

Thanks for the read, friends! Enjoy the rest of this week. Until next time!