"When you arrive, put yourself in situations where it will be easy to meet people. I was lucky to end up living in a hall that has specific meal times, so I was able to meet people there. If you live in a flat or apartment, go to club meetings or events with other exchange students."

"As I traveled the world, I began to realize how overwhelmingly little I actually knew about the rest of the world and all of this incoming information was helping to provide me with added perspective and has thusly made me more well-rounded."

"Everyone's study abroad experience is different, even if you go to the same location, so don't worry about what others are doing. Just enjoy your unique abroad experience and do what makes you happy."

"I would tell anyone, regardless of your identity, that studying abroad is one of the most special opportunities you should have. Never let your identity deter you from going to another country because there is always a place for you where you want to go."

"I am a first generation African American college student that has lived in a single parent household my entire life. The best advice I would give any individual coming from any one of those backgrounds is to fully embrace themselves in the experience and try not to focus on things you cannot control or things going on back home."

"One of the best examples of becoming comfortable with unfamiliarity is living with a host family. Within one week I grew very comfortable with my host family just by conversing with them in my somewhat broken Spanish and diving right into the experience of full immersion."

"I learned that I'm more confident and independent than I knew - even in a foreign language. My interpersonal and Spanish skills improved so much in my time in Madrid, and I met some incredible professors and peers from Italy, Brazil, Croatia, France, and even Korea."

"As a Public Policy major, I would say that thinking about the history, culture, etc. of your study abroad location in real-time gives you much more perspective on the policies of today. Being able to interact with locals and gather their opinions on policies that might be unrecognizable or complicated to us as foreigners was really enlightening for me."

"During this process, I learned that I could not simply apply the thought process about how to solve public problems with my American perspective. I needed to learn the needs and wants of Czech citizens, and how they would approach a similar problem."

"The programming setup before the beginning of classes forced me to meet others and to trust myself. This made me more confident and allowed me to experience things I never would have otherwise. For example, I completed a surf camp, I tried skydiving, scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, and also explored both Thailand and New Zealand."