It’s already January and I know you’re prepping for exams… so you might not have considered applying for a study abroad program. Or maybe the thought of being an exchange student has crossed your mind but there’s something you’re just not sure about.
Ever since I first started university, I knew I wanted to go abroad but year after year I never submitted my application. Even though I knew I wanted to go on exchange, I had a lot of doubts come application time (December-January). I was afraid of the unknown. Coincidentally, money was a big concern so rather than say I wasn’t sure of what I feared, I pegged my delay as financial concerns.
One year I decided to set aside my fear, apply, and see what came out of it. That’s how I got to Hong Kong for a semester abroad, and—though it’s cheesy to say—it was a life-changing experience. I say that coming from the heart.
Before the exam season hits, I would like to share my top 4 reasons why you should consider being an exchange student. Maybe this will help the fence-sitters in making the final decision or inspire those of you who never thought of going abroad.
Studying abroad helps you de-stress and get a wider world view.
Toronto has always been my home but let’s face it, it’s a really stressful place to live because everyone is always on-the-go. Life moves by so quickly because the normal culture is to prioritize your academics and career above your social life and health. It makes sense to me that you have to work hard to succeed, but there should be a balance between your academic and social lives. However, we go beyond to completely sacrifice our later for the former. If our eyes were binoculars, we zoom so close that all we see is academia and it’s the biggest in the viewing field.
My years at the University of Toronto were some of the most stressful years of my life.
No matter how hard I worked, or the sacrifices I made, I wasn’t progressing. I realized later that I never really enjoyed my program anyway, but what did I do? Panic a lot and feel like the most useless person in the world. When one thing (academia) completely takes up your life, it can turn into an unhealthy obsession. Since I was obsessed with grades, I felt hopeless when they weren’t improving.
When I went to Hong Kong, however, I still struggled with my courses but I was happier. Sometimes you have to physically move from an environment and like a GPS readjusting, you readjust your perspective. I never realized how much I restricted my world until I left and felt it wholly. Suddenly, when I zoomed out, my problems weren’t as big even though they existed.
Going on exchange is the perfect break from Toronto’s ‘busy’ culture to help recenter yourself with what’s truly important: your happiness, health, and life.
You live in the moment
Have you ever seen an escalator outdoors on a steep hill leading to a temple? To me, that was the strangest thing and it wasn’t really a touristy area. When you’re on exchange, you’ll see things that confuse you or are different from what you’ve experienced. The streets, the culture, and sometimes even the air smells different. As you are bombarded with new experiences, you have no other choice than to be aware—to make sense of your environment.
Being present in the moment is one of the things recommended through mindfulness practices. People who live in the moment tend to be happier on average. What’s more, is that the exchange students are always eager to explore and travel around which promotes being present.
You experience a different vibe
Depending on where you go, the cultural and social vibe can be completely different. From my limited one semester, Hong Kong seemed like the most community-oriented place ever. Every week, one group or another was going hiking or on a trip somewhere. Even my university’s dorms themselves were taking in students who would be active community members. In order to secure your spot in the residence for the following years, you had to be an active member of the community. By active, I mean showing up to events or joining trips.
The culture was so different to me that it helped me make sense of unexplainable feelings I had while in Toronto.
Lots of funding available.
Ok so now I’ve probably piqued your interest in exchange and you’re like, “Wait a minute, I can’t go because I don’t have money!”
To be honest, that’s exactly what I told myself year after year which was what prevented me from applying in the first place. The only reason why I eventually applied was that rather than rejecting myself for not being able to fund my trip, I signed up to see what the process was like and whether or not I’d get accepted. Spoiler alert: I was. This time around I couldn’t ignore the financial situation I gotten myself into. The plan was for me to figure out what funding I could get and if it wasn’t going to be enough, I’d abort the mission. Turns out the Centre of International Exchange awarded me with $4500 and then there was OSAP coming in at $6###. That doesn’t include the money I made working in the summer.
Therefore, you shouldn’t count yourself out so early in the game without fighting for what you want. Go through the process and see how far you get. Just because I was accepted didn’t mean I was legally bound to a program.
Sources of Finances
Now that I’ve graduated, it’s harder to find funding for opportunities abroad. I think you should take advantage of all the funding available to you as undergrads. To show you how much support you have here’s a list of places you can find funding to go abroad:
- Centre of International Exchange (CIE) has a bursary application program.
- OSAP. If you are on an exchange you are still considered a University of Toronto student and the fees you pay are your regular student fees. Therefore, you can still receive OSAP.
- Check your department for scholarships. Especially for language learning students there are heaps of scholarships just for you guys. I’m quite jealous actually.
- Check the embassy/consulate of the country you’re interested in. They don’t always have scholarship details listed there but sometimes they do. It’s worth a try.
- Visits your registrar’s office to talk about finances. Students can apply for scholarships and bursaries from their Registrars office. If worst comes to worst, your registrar’s office can supply you with emergency funding if you’re in a pinch. Visit them to see what you have available to you.
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Canadian Government page on Student Scholarships for research. As you can tell, I always look for scholarships at the government level because you never know what you’ll find.
- Queen Elizabeth Scholarship: For those interested in a fully-funded scholarship to do research in another commonwealth country.
- Explore: If you are interested in learning French in another province during the summer for free then check out the Explore program. From what I hear students get in really easily!
- Family: Personally I include this because it’s true even though my own bias is to never rely on anyone. If you can borrow from your family or, get for free it’s worth a try. I just hate asking anything from my family but every family has their own situation.
- Work: The one person you can always rely on is yourself. Besides if this is something you want then wouldn’t you want to see it happen? There are a lot of seasonal/temporary jobs you can do to save for your exchange student experience.
- This one’s worth the shot but perhaps your host university may have support available to you. I know mine offered subsidized housing to those who couldn’t get dorms.
Tips when applying for a needs-based bursary
When writing out the information please make sure you demonstrate need. I know we sometimes hold back from sharing all our financial problems because we act like they don’t affect us but it’s important to include them. Use your problems to help you get the money. For example, I mentioned that my parents were immigrants and that only one parent worked a precarious job to support 8 kids. I put that in to show that my parents couldn’t financially support me even if they wanted to.
Does that really help, I don’t know but I have almost always gotten the money. Be truthful and always detail why you have a need. Don’t be shy because it’s not like the funders are ever going to see you.
You learn about yourself.
One of the greatest things that happen when you’re on exchange is that you have time to learn about yourself. Being in a new environment can be a stressor (a positive one for growth) where you figure out how you get yourself from the airport to your place, how transit works, where you buy supplies, and more. There are many things you can’t possibly know about from reading the program description that becomes known once you’re there. Even so, an exchange student tackles them anyway and with each new encounter you overcome, you grow. Some students never realized how good at being independent they were until they went on exchange.
Self-growth comes so naturally to an exchange student because they are in the zone of stress, which promotes learning.
Freedom to try whatever
One thing I hear from students today is that they have no hobbies or interests. I like to believe that this is the case because we stopped doing things for fun and put our hobbies aside. University can make us so busy that we feel we’re wasting time doing something that doesn’t impact our GPA. What does this have to do with being an exchange student?
As an exchange student, you realize how short your time is in a country, and so you tend to make the most of your trip. Not only will you have the chance to try new experiences, but you’ll want to. I’ve yet to meet one exchange student who goes solely to study.
Freedom to be whoever
I think those of us who have been commuters living with our families will feel this the most. There’s no family or friends when you first arrive and suddenly you can be whoever you want to be. Being unknown in a new country frees you to fully be whoever you want to be.
This freedom allows you the opportunity to learn more about yourself. It’s why exchange students can say something as cheesy as, “I found myself” and actually mean it.
You join an International Community.
Although you will be alone, you won’t be lonely as an exchange student. I wish I knew that before I left because being lonely was one of my concerns. Right before leaving, I already felt lonely and I didn’t want to subject myself to something even worse.
Toronto is a city where everyone is on-the-go. Even the people who have been in the city less than a year can feel alienated because we are work or study-oriented. That’s why it’s normal to expect plans to flop from the moment they are conceived. However, that isn’t the case everywhere in the world. There are some places that value social and community interaction. For me that was Hong Kong. That’s why I met so many wonderful people with whom I still talk to.
Conclusion
So just to recap why I think you should go on exchange, the first is that it helps you reconnect with life. Even if immersing yourself in a new environment is a stressor, there’s a difference between bad stress and good stress. Secondly, going on exchange is much easier as a student because there’s loads of funding to take advantage of. Thirdly, going on exchange gives you the chance to learn about yourself. And lastly, you can make friends from around the world.
The exchange student life is an amazing experience and one that I often recommend to anyone, especially those who are already on the fence. If you ever consider going abroad for a semester exchange or for research then keep in mind that application deadlines will be coming as early as December through January. Why wait? Apply now.
