A Take on Midterms Abroad

Every abroad program is different. From attendance policies to participation requirements, not everyone is in the same boat.

This can be especially difficult when you want to do the classic weekend trips and visit as many countries as your bank account will allow—and then some.

My program is a full-semester program in Barcelona, Spain. I arrived one week late and honestly had a bit of catching up to do. Luckily, a lot of that catching up involved learning different aspects of intercultural communication and the history of Barcelona. However, getting back on track sort of made me forget to stay aware of how my college experience is different here. I have been on a few weekend trips so far, including Madrid, Poland, and Switzerland, all courtesy of our “no class on Fridays” policy. The weekends are truly weekends when you’re abroad. Half of the time, the difference between having to check your bag or not depends on whether you’re willing to sacrifice bringing your laptop.

Kraków's Wawel Royal Castle (P.S., if you have to check a bag, keep the basics on you. My luggage was left at my connection & I didn't have an item to my name this trip!)

Unreal trip to Grindelwald in Switzerland!

This experience is priceless, and being able to detach from what you know and completely immerse yourself in your home base—as well as other countries—is a gift. The weekdays never turn into “back to reality” moments because your reality feels new and exciting every day. Despite this feeling, I think a lot of students get caught up in forgetting how rich their classes are as well. Remembering that I have to take exams at all made me take a deeper dive into why the classes offered abroad are so different from the ones at home.

Reviewing for my Intercultural Communication class has encouraged me to interact more with locals. Meeting new people is the first step to discovering new things. The more you choose to put yourself in new situations, the greater the reward. I know you have the Starbucks location in your ideal abroad city saved, and you’re dreading leaving Chipotle. But being over a month in has opened my eyes to taking advantage of the moment. You might only be here once—so never do the same thing twice!

Cheese & wine tasting offered by my program!

A couple of my classes are very project-based as well. The teaching style varies, but it tends to be creative. You’ll likely be in classes with people from all over, so simple participation becomes yet another opportunity to immerse yourself. My midterm group includes people from the U.S., China, and Denmark. At first, we all had completely different takes on even the instructions, and in the first class we ended up getting so off-topic introducing ourselves that we didn’t start the project at all. By the next class, we were familiar with each other and finally comfortable discussing the elephant in the room. Being able to communicate well suddenly made the project a breeze.

Amazing tiramisu coffee between classes at Santagloria!

Midterms and exams in general might seem daunting and like a disruption to the fun flow of being abroad. I cannot recommend enough seeing them as open doors to new perspectives. You might think, “I have to go study,” but where are you studying? At a coffee shop with drinks you’ve never heard of. A library with a level of quiet you’ve never experienced before. Maybe even outside near some incredible architecture.

No matter what task might seem like a roadblock, you can turn anything into just a bump in the road instead. And once you start passing some exams, I promise the road feels completely flat again. Just remember that everything is what you make of it!