During the spring semester of 2019, I studied abroad in Stockholm, Sweden. It was one of the most transformative experiences I’ve ever had. Let me explain.

First off, why did I go to Stockholm? It’s definitely not the place I was expecting myself to end up going to when I promised myself in high school that I was going to study abroad. I thought I would end up somewhere warm, think Barcelona or Madrid. But after researching what my options were through UIUC, it started to become pretty clear that I was going to Sweden. Only one university had nearly the exact same courses that I wanted to be taking at UIUC if I had stayed in the spring: KTH Royal Institute of Technology. It was at KTH that I would be able to take courses in topics such as Algorithms & Complexity, Music Technology, and Mobile Development. I knew that by going to KTH, not only would I be able to have the entirely new experience that is studying abroad, but I would also be taking some amazing classes and learning material that I really cared about. It was a clear choice for me, and I’ve never looked back since.

I could go on and on about how amazing an experience studying abroad was, just like 99% of the people you ask will tell you. So I’m actually going to start with the negative aspects of studying abroad. First, you can get pretty lonely going to a brand-new country on your own. Sure, you make friends while you’re there and you may even know a couple people from home who are in the same program as you. But it’s not the same as having dozens of your best friends from school living within a 5-minute walk from you. Second, be prepared for culture shock. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I could grab a group of friends and go watch a live basketball game like I do at UIUC or watch the NFL or the NBA with a group of people who love those sports as much as I do. Especially when UIUC upset Michigan State in NCAA Basketball, oh man I wish I was there for that.

However, I think those two negatives are small prices to pay for everything you get in return for studying abroad. Here are the positive (amazing!) aspects of going abroad.

You travel. A lot. I travelled to over a dozen cities and eight different countries. I got to witness and experience different cultures first hand. I went to professional soccer games, ate foods that I’d never heard about, and went to festivals that celebrated traditions older than the United States of America!

You grow a lot as a person. Being thrown into a foreign country and being forced to meet new people really puts you out of your comfort zone and makes you learn a lot about yourself. You face challenges and you overcome them. Being abroad is really a new experience that is hard to compare to anything else. But as a result, I believe you grow in ways that you never expected to. I know I did.

You realize how small the world really is. My closest friends while I was there were Brazilian, Italian, Hungarian, and French. Never in my life would I have expected to become such good friends with people from all over the world like that. I realized that no matter how different your backgrounds may be, you can always connect with someone one way or another. For me, playing soccer was how I connected with my friends there. Despite our different upbringings, we could all connect with each other through our love of sports.

Studying abroad was an incredible experience. I got to live in and celebrate cultures that I never thought I would. I learned a lot, both inside and outside of the classroom. Most importantly, I made some amazing friends from all over the world that I know I’ll be in contact with for a long time to come.