no shit?
i'm aware that studying abroad doesn't = 3 month long of vacation.
the reasons i'm going are:
- i've narrowed it down to places i've ALWAYS wanted to visit; weighing out the pros and cons. i have always wanted to visit London, England but the currency exchange is half of the U.S dollar (wtf) so on a more realistic level, i am not financially capable of going there for the experience just yet.
- given the chance to choose from a number of different countries in the world, why not? i've always loved travelling and plan to when i am older when i'm making my own big bucks. never would i thought it'd be so soon (NEXT YEAR!) so why not take this opportunity and study+explore at the same time? killing 2 birds and 1 stone here.
- like trinie said, i won't be schoolin' 24/7 you know. what about the weekends? 3 months=about 12 "weekends".. that's more than enough time to explore. i might not be able to explore every inch of what the city has to offer, but catching up on homework at the local cafe is also considered exploring you know.
- i want to explore the different cultures and how it is different compared to what i'm used to. hell, going from the east coast to the west coast of the U.S is already different as is; what would it be like to to live in AUSTRALIA?
- and lastly, and most importantly, i want to be able to network. it's cool to say "yeah, i have a group of friends from Australia" or Japan or whereever the hell you're going. i'm going there to study but also to have fun. who knows, maybe i'll gain a best friend over there and we'll go wild. that's something you can't really do when you're just "vacation-ing". you'll meet people, but you won't be able to form a relationship on a more personal level.
i really don't know where you got "it's not as big of a deal as it is made out to be" but you're wrong my friend
oh, i am sure all the credits i'm taking will be transferred back. my school is very strict on these things; i would have to choose the classes beforehand and have my advisor and dean look it over. if they're approved, they'll sign it to guarantee the transfers. what i meant about Japan was the classes taught in english are very limited, so i wouldn't have much to choose from. i'll probably end up taking 5 classes or so; with only 2 classes being able to transfer which imo, is a bit of a waste.