Both the study part and the abroad part are important in a study abroad. Not many people get to go to Italy for a whole month and take classes there that would otherwise be taken back at Texas A&M, so it is necessary to make the most of the time. In order to do so, I believe making friends and experiencing life with them is an essential part. Spending every day for a whole month with the same people allowed me to make some friendships that will last past the trip. We walked around the city and were basically together the whole day every day because the best way to experience a new culture and have the most fun is with other people like you. Our main fun occurred on the weekends since we were able to go and do whatever we wanted from Thursday after class to Sunday. We traveled around the country and spent every weekend in different places with the intention of just having fun. One place we went to was Cinque Terre, which is where the picture is from. We got there on Friday evening and stayed there till Sunday after, basically spending the whole time on the beach. It was such a fun and relaxing time, and probably the best weekend we spent on the trip. The only problem was that we had an exam on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a quick turnaround from all the fun we had to focusing on studying for the exam. It may seem like there would be no way for me to be able to study so much content for two different exams in less than two days. However, I had a strategy to make sure my grades would not be compromised for the fun I was having. There were only a total of 11 days we had class in the classroom, which means that the amount of content to be learned in such a short time requires you to be able to learn quickly and study in your free time. In order to do well in both classes, I spent some time after each class to go over what I learned that day and the day before. This helped me stay fresh with the content and retain the information better. Whenever an exam was coming up, I would spend a couple nights going over everything I learned, so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed trying to study a large amount of content the day before. By doing so, I was able to do well in both classes while also having fun. Therefore, even though you should have as much fun as you can while on the trip, it is important to set aside some time to study for both classes. The balance between both can shape how your experience will be.
