Close your eyes for a moment and picture yourself abroad. Do you want to go on a faculty-led program, or a semester-long excursion? And how do you choose? That’s the hard part.

There are countless programs students can choose from when planning to travel abroad, and for some, that’s the hardest part. The most common question your study abroad office will ask you, besides “Where do you want to go?” is, “How long do you want to go?” And this can be tricky.

There are many different options for students. Why, besides amount of time spent abroad, would a student want to go on one program versus the other? To get some insight, I sat down with two of my friends, Jack Moore and Raven Ferry-LeClair, who went on two completely different programs and asked them to tell me about their experiences.

1. Tell me about yourself.

Jack: I am a junior at Winona State University this year. My major is Public Relations, and my minor is Advertising.

Raven: I am a junior at Winona State University with a double major in Spanish and Marketing.

2. What abroad program did you embark on?

Jack: The program I went on was the New Media Communication in China Faculty-Led Travel Study with the Mass Communication department. During this travel study, we went to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Raven: The program I went on was called Barcelona SAE, and it was a provider program that ran from January 2018 to May 2018. During my time abroad, I was able to travel to 7 different countries, including France and The Netherlands.

3. How long were you abroad?

Jack: I was in China for about 2.5 weeks.

Raven: I was in Spain for 5 months, from January 2018 – May 2018.

4. What are 2 key learnings from your experience?

Jack: While studying new media in China, I learned about the overall significance of having an online identity, such as being present online and having those virtual connections on applications like LinkedIn. I also learned about the importance of new technology in the business setting. In China, they have WeChat, which businesses in China have been using a lot.

Raven: As cliche as it may sound, I learned to love myself while studying abroad. I really mean that too. I was traveling to Barcelona all by myself, not knowing anyone. Not to mention, this was my first time out of the country. The first few months especially, I would do things like go out and eat by myself and I think that just by doing the simple things like that, you really get a sense of who you are as a person and who you want to become. When you fully immerse yourself into a new culture, you get to understand yourself as well as the people around you. It’s like, you go from living an ordinary life, to a completely new world – and you really feel that difference.

5. What was your favorite memory from abroad?

Jack: My favorite memory from China is when we spent a day just walking around in Shanghai. The travel study I went on was faculty-led, and one of the faculty members was from China, so I thought it was really cool to have this experience with her. I was able to see her be excited about being at home and sharing her culture with us.

Raven: Oh gosh, my favorite memory. That’s difficult because everywhere I went has such an amazing memory with it. Like, when I was in Paris, I remember being on the train and I got a call of my best friend saying that she was pregnant. And in Barcelona, there is a place called The Bunker, or Bunkers del Carmel, and my friends and I hiked the trail with blankets and snacks and watched the sunset over the city and the Mediterranean Sea. These aren’t things you ever forget, the memory will stay with you forever.

6. What was the most difficult thing you had to overcome while abroad?

Jack: I think that the most difficult thing to overcome while being in China was the language barrier. We were able to learn very basic mandarin words before the travel study, but until you’re there you don’t fully understand how difficult it can be. Being in America, we really take for granted how simple it is to order food or even have simple conversations. One of our first days there, we ordered our own breakfast and I had hard time ordering breakfast when I didn’t speak the language.

Raven: The most difficult thing for me to overcome was knowing that I wasn’t alone in my experience. As I said earlier, I went abroad not knowing anyone. It can be very overwhelming to overcome that feeling of being alone when you are so far away from home. I mean, when I am at Winona State, my family is only 4.5 hours away. But when I was in Barcelona, they were an ocean away. When I wanted to see them, it wasn’t something I could just make happen. I had to deal with it. I could call them, but it wasn’t the same as being with them. I had to create a family away from home, and that’s what I did with the friends I made in Barcelona. Once I realized who my friends abroad were, and realizing that I could confide in them… that was a game changer. It made us closer, and it made me stronger.

7. What do you think is the difference between a travel study and a study abroad program?

Jack: I think the biggest difference is that a travel study is much shorter, while a study abroad program lasts for a full semester.

Raven: I think that the biggest difference is that in a study abroad program, you have to step more out of your comfort zone. I wasn’t there with any Winona State students, and none of my professors spoke English. I couldn’t speak English in any of my classes because that isn’t the first language there. There was so much diversity. I had classmates from Russia and Morocco. I had to speak Spanish in all of my classes, and I think that helped me even more in my learning.

8. What do you think the pros and cons are of a travel study vs. a study abroad program and vice versa?

Jack: One major pro of a travel study is that it gives you just a taste of the culture. You are there long enough to get a sense of how life is there, but you don’t stay for much longer than that. But I also think that this is a con, because while you get a feeling of the culture, you don’t get the full living experience. We stayed in hotels in different cities, and only stayed with a Chinese family for one night. With study abroad, you’d get to live in a space that their citizens would typically live in.

Raven: The biggest pro when going on a full study abroad program is that you get much more free time than you would a travel study. I work in the Winona State Study Abroad office this year, and I have seen some of the travel study schedules. Travel study can be so jam-packed with things to do, but when you’re on a study abroad program you get much more free time. You don’t feel as rushed. You also get more credits, since you are there for a whole semester. A con is that price varies program to program. And that you don’t get to see your family. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

I hope that reading from each of these experiences will help you while you are deciding which program you want to go on. I really wanted to focus this blog on their experiences so that you could get a feel for each program while reading from their stories. 

In my previous blog post, Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Study Abroad to China, I talked a lot about my experience with a travel study. I can say from my personal experience that  I felt as if I got a glimpse of what everyday life is like in China, but if I were there for a whole semester my experience may have been similar to Raven’s. However, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. My China experience helped me to grow as a student, and an individual.

Overall, there are many different pros and cons to a travel study vs. a study abroad program. I think that you are able to learn more about yourself and who you are as a person on a study abroad program. You get the full experience of life in that country, with many opportunities to explore, learn and grow. You still get opportunities to explore, learn and grow on a travel study, but I think that the biggest difference is that it is much more structured than a study abroad program.

What do you think about Jack and Raven’s experiences? What did you learn by reading about them? Did this help you narrow down what kind of program you’d like to go on?

About The Author

Taylor Eck is a current junior at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota. She is an aspiring public relations professional, who loves to travel. She has been to California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, and China. On top of being a full-time student and traveling, she is a PR & Events Intern for Students United in St. Paul, Minnesota, a part-time social media manager for her family’s business, Eck Designs, and she is also active in WSU’s PRSSA.