Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’ve got some interest in going abroad. I think that’s a great idea, not only from a perspective of personal and professional development, but also for the sheer joy of it.
There’s plenty of statistics, facts, and arguments to be made for going abroad, both on this site, on our social media accounts, and elsewhere on the internet.
But if you’re the parent of someone going abroad, or if you’re on the fence about it, then you’re going to want to read something beyond the numbers.
So I thought I’d share my story.
I’ve always been a bit of a nerd, especially about history and different cultures. I blame fifth grade history, learning about different cultures of Native Americans before European contact. For a kid from rural Tennessee, it was fascinating stuff to learn how other people lived. In fact, that love for pre-Columbian and colonial history carried me through high school and to William & Mary, arguably the best place in the world for a colonial history nut.
Side story – a common rant among W&M History majors is that, even if you’re focused on ancient African history, you are just assumed to love colonial history. While my African history professor was one of my favorites, I was always about colonial history.
However, by high school my interests had already started to shift. My junior year of high school saw the September 11 attacks, and my best friend was Moroccan. I desperately wanted to understand this culture. Luckily, William and Mary, having previously seduced me with the temptress of the #2 US Colonial History program in the world, also had a great Middle Eastern Studies program.
I threw myself in the deep end and soon found an obsession in learning about Islamic law. Soon, I was the first junior in the College’s 300+ year history to take upper-level law classes, including courses on Islamic law and comparative law (and a third class that my professor and I uniquely dubbed “Comparative Islamic Law”).
There really isn’t a lot of job demand out there for people who still harbor interest in elementary school comparisons of Native Americans, or first-year college student appreciations of patterns of European colonization. However, I could see an immediate need for someone who understood Arabic and Islamic law.
I spent hours searching for a program that would allow me to study even a few more classes in the subject, and was soon looking at places like Harvard or the University of Chicago. However, I wanted to study Islamic and comparative law, not courses on Islamic art or literature. The thought of paying for a Masters degree, or worse, a law degree, to only get to take a couple more classes in the field seemed counterproductive.
I was adrift. Then I found the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies offered a Masters degree in Islamic law, with an option to add courses in comparative law.
Thereafter, I learned a few life lessons.
Apparently, one should not run through his fraternity house screaming he’s found the perfect masters degree during a party.
Apparently, one should not do that when one is, in fact, the fraternity social chair.
Apparently, it’s not cool.
But that’s exactly what I did.
I had no idea how I was going to apply, and I had no idea how I was going to pay for it all, but I knew that I was going to go.
By the time I had received my acceptance, my fraternity brothers had forgiven me for the party misstep, at least until I ran through the house at 6:30 in the morning with my acceptance email in hand (err screen).
Within a few months, I was in London.
It wasn’t until I was there that I realized all the other great things about going abroad. I knew that I was going to get to study both Islamic and Chinese law, but I didn’t know that I’d get to improve my Arabic, learn Persian, and even gain a few words of French.
I didn’t know that I was going to get to set up my schedule that I had four day weekends every week for trips to Spain, Italy, Scotland, and beyond.
I didn’t know that I would get “Reading Weeks,” which were chances to go to Turkey for the chance to explore places that I’d only dreamed of getting to visit, or to dive into the sort of research that let me publish multiple times as a student.
And I certainly didn’t expect to make lifelong friends who were just as passionate about these subjects as I was, and that we’d spend Friday nights eating mezze and baklava, drinking tea, and discussing everything we’d learned.
Shoot, even when it wasn’t tea, we were still talking about what we’d read!
Yet all these things happened.
Most importantly, I was happy doing something that had incredible value.
Despite the fact that I turned in my dissertation on September 15, 2008 (about the time that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy), I was able to find a dream job (editing an encyclopedia; like I said, I’m a nerd) and worked abroad for a year before coming back home.
Since the minute I returned to DC, I kept getting the same question, “How did you go abroad?” For years, I helped friends and friends of friends find graduate degrees abroad, and then helping people pursue undergraduate studies abroad.
Now I’m lucky enough to offer this amazing experience to as many people as I can. I was able to specialize in exactly what I wanted to study, I got to see the world, and I had an unforgettable time doing it.
I want to help you do the same.
I’m also a member of the Southern Association of College Admissions Counselors, and adhere to the ethics code of the NACAC.
*Marrying my wife wins every day – but I’d like to think that my time abroad impressed her.