At Northwestern there are many different opportunities for people that want to study abroad as part of their college experience. With more than 130 different study abroad partnerships around the globe, there is an experience for every type of student.  I had the opportunity to study abroad in Berlin over the summer, and I will be doing it again in Hong Kong next fall. Although not too many people study abroad twice, going abroad during your junior year is pretty common for a NU student.

Northwestern has two primary offices that offer study abroad programs: the International Program Development Office and the Study Abroad Office. Most programs are exchange opportunities offered through a partner school where Northwestern students are able to register as regular students at the university of their desired location. There are also specially designed programs taught by Northwestern faculty overseas. One of them is the Berlin program that I attended this past summer. During the almost 2 months that we spent there, we had the opportunity to take classes taught by Northwestern faculty in Berlin and by local professors from Humboldt University. During my time there, I took an international economic law class that explored the modern free trade agreements system. Also, I had the opportunity to do some short weekend-long trips to Hamburg, Copenhagen and Potsdam with other Wildcats in the program.

Studying abroad is definitely one of the highlights of my experience at Northwestern. The opportunity to travel with your friends to a foreign country and spend time learning about culture and language is something that everyone should do. The opportunity allows you to broaden your perspective both academically and culturally.

Being a Northwestern students opens up many different opportunities while you are on campus from interesting classes, to research opportunities and summer internships. However, studying abroad is the only experience that will enrich your college experience in ways that you can’t even imagine around the world. GO ABROAD!