{"id":20309,"date":"2024-09-12T13:45:51","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T18:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=20309"},"modified":"2024-09-16T15:47:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T20:47:04","slug":"lessons-from-my-study-abroad-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/2024\/09\/12\/lessons-from-my-study-abroad-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from My Study Abroad Experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2qgaQP7\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53992922628_cba231730b_z.jpg\" alt=\"piper_elephant\" width=\"372\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I had the opportunity to walk with elephants. Although I was terrified, I\u2019m forever grateful for the experience with these beautiful animals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Building Friendships <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going into this experience, I felt anxious about being the only student from Mizzou and meeting new people. However, I approached it with the mindset that it would help build my confidence in being social and forming new friendships. Soon enough, four women from Michigan invited me to hang out, and we quickly formed an amazing friendship, sharing countless new experiences. I\u2019m forever grateful for meeting these wonderful women. I also pushed myself to connect with local students in Cape Town, and I\u2019m thrilled to have made friends across different states and countries. This is a significant step toward my goal of creating a supportive social network worldwide. I completely understand the fear of being alone abroad, but you\u2019re never truly alone. Push yourself to socialize and meet new people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2qgaQP2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53992922623_59ab5b766d_z.jpg\" alt=\"beach_southafrica\" width=\"478\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Beautiful scenery I experienced on a daily basis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Managing Money <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\u2019t create a budget before this experience, telling myself that every purchase was justified because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity\u2014and I deserved it! But my money quickly dwindled. In South Africa, the exchange rate made everything seem like a great deal compared to Chicago, so it was easy to overspend. However, it\u2019s crucial to create a budget because you&#8217;re more likely to spend when things seem cheaper. While I don\u2019t regret how I spent my money, I realize now how important it was to save, especially since I was there for two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2qgbPMh\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53993114270_ae6290220b_z.jpg\" alt=\"piper_abroad\" width=\"479\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Forever grateful for the opportunity to study abroad. It was a life-changing experience that I recommend to everyone. I learned so much and made incredible connections with amazing people. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Building Friendships Going into this experience, I felt anxious about being the only student from Mizzou and meeting new people. However, I approached it with the mindset that it would help build my confidence in being social and forming new friendships. Soon enough, four women from Michigan invited me to hang out, and we quickly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[231],"class_list":["post-20309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-south-africa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20309"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20325,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20309\/revisions\/20325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}