Shelby Carignan
How does studying “abroad” in DC compare to studying abroad somewhere else?
By Shelby Carignan
Fall 2013
By some stroke of luck, I got to spend semesters abroad through BU both in the U.S. and abroad. Studying abroad for a semester is on the bucket list of most college students. It’s an especially big part of the BU undergraduate experience, since they’ve got programs literally all over the world. Most students looking to study abroad probably don’t even consider the idea of studying within the U.S. at BU’s campus in D.C. or LA, but if a student wants to have their professional goals at the center of their experience, domestic programs give students a unique edge that they won’t get abroad or in Boston. Having experienced studying with BU’s program in Paris, France and being halfway through the D.C. journalism program here, I think I’ve got a sense of the pros and cons of each.
When I originally decided I wanted to study abroad at BU, Washington, D.C. could not have been farther off of my radar. My feeling was that the whole idea of studying abroad is contingent upon actually being “abroad,” and having never really traveled, the quintessential foreign immersion experience was important to me. Plus I wanted to use all that French I’d been learning.
So off to Paris I went, in Spring 2013, with 60 of my classmates, of whom four were boys (obviously, thanks BU). I ate my body weight in baguettes, drank wine below the Eiffel Tower, stayed in shady hostels across Europe, and wore lots of scarves. It was the most incredible four months of my life. But the emphasis of my time there was on just that, having an incredible adventure. Speaking French and seeing the world. Immersing myself in Paris. Eating and drinking everything. My internship was challenging, but advancing my career or professional goals was never so much a priority for me as was successful basic communication with French people and climbing to the top of everything.
Paris!
At some point during that semester, I decided I wanted to spend the Fall 2013 semester, my last semester of undergrad, in D.C. I mostly made that choice because I knew I’d be graduating in January, and as a journalism student, I wanted to have some good clips and serious newsroom experience before I finished. I looked at this semester in Washington as an opportunity to see if political journalism is for me, and to sort of dip my toes into the real world with a full-time internship and night classes in my last few months before I fully dive in this January.
Looking back on the past two months here, I’ve got to say my expectations have been blown away. Part of this program is certainly on having fun and exploring D.C., but there’s a heavy emphasis on professional life skills here that I would never have gotten as a normal college student. In the first week, we had crash courses in networking (SO much networking), dressing appropriately (I’m now a pseudo-expert in business casual), presenting myself professionally both in person and on the internet (my twitter was and still is kind of abysmal, but at least now I know). Overall it’s just got me thinking and excited about my future. The program directors and BU alumni network here are eager to help us out on an individual level and couldn’t be more supportive in helping connect us professionally. This program is more challenging than a more typical abroad program, but exactly what I needed to help prepare me for life after BU.
DC! (With Kelsey)
Also, Paris and D.C. are actually pretty similar. Both were designed by French people, and neither have any skyscrapers. There’s lots of outdoor seating at restaurants, and there’s tons of historic museums and monuments that are constantly crawling with tourists from all over the world. As the center of their respective countries, both cities are political and social hubs, as if their own cultures exist within their city’s bubble. They’re also both fantastic places to be, and it’s proven to me that no matter where you live, there’s always a certain immersion process and lifestyle to get used to.
Though it’s too early to say which semester was more beneficial to me, I think it’s important that students looking to study abroad take the time to consider what they’ll ultimately get out of a foreign or domestic abroad experience at BU. The personal and professional growth I’ve had in both semesters has been unique, transformative, and perhaps most importantly, I feel decently well prepared to find employment or a really cool internship come January. That’s all the tagline you really need, right?
