Maybe you've been dreaming of this opportunity for years, or maybe listening to friends make plans has led you to consider it for the first time. In deciding, you will need to weigh the benefits (among other things, exposure to another culture, increased knowledge of both yourself and the world, a chance to study your fields of interest from a different perspective, the opportunity to develop or improve your fluency in another language, perhaps the experience of fieldwork and/or thesis research, and of course seeing the world, making new friends, and having a great time) against the trade-offs (being away from FSC friends, family, and the familiar, the chance to take courses or do research with favorite professors or to participate in sports or the arts on campus, and the anxiety of being in a different milieu with different norms).

It is a personal and academic adventure like no other--prepare to be changed!