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Stephen Johnson
Stephen Johnson is an Ambassador who studied abroad in Galway, Ireland.
Briefly describe a specific cultural experience you had on your trip that made a lasting impression.
Going to the pubs and interacting with the local people and listening to the live music was a great experience. It's important to see how people in other countries and cultures live and interact with each other. For the most part they were very approachable and happy to talk with you if you wanted.
Why did you choose the program in which you participated?
I wanted to study abroad because my brother and his friends did two years before me in various places and everyone said that they had the times of their lives. Their stories sounded appealing to me as well as the thought of having the opportunity to be around only a certain number of people for the semester, forcing everyone to interact with those they might not have if they were on campus. I chose Galway because it was my grandparents' favorite place to travel to in the world and i only knew one other person on the trip so i wanted to branch out and meet new people.
Describe your overall study abroad experience.
I absolutely loved going abroad, especially to Galway. It is fun from the time you get there to the time you come back. Living with people you may or may not know can be a challenge but luckily my cottage all had similar personalities so it made it easy for us to vibe together. In Ireland you are able to experience the whole country because we went on excursions to almost every region in the country which was very beneficial.
How has the trip affected you? How are you different for having completed the experience?
The trip has affected me by opening me up to people that i would never have gotten to know otherwise due to differing friend groups and social lives. Almost everyone on the trip got along and was about to hang out together. It makes you realize that while hanging out with people who are like you can be fun, hanging out with people who are different than you can make you have a totally different experience even doing something than you would with people like yourself. You learn to be more tolerant and accepting of things because they do things differently over there and you have to learn to adapt to those changes so i think i have been able to adapt to things better upon my return.
What advice do you have for future Study Abroad Students?
I would say that you should pick a program that you specifically would like to go on and not necessarily one that your friends want to go on. It might be beneficial to have at least one person you know on the trip with you to make sure that you aren't lonely for the "feeling out" period at the beginning, but after about a week you start to learn everybodies personalities. Making new friends is a fun part of the trip i think, especially if they are the same people that you are rooming with. Hanging around with my roommates and doing random things over there was probably the most fun i had. Everything is more fun when youre in a different country with your buddies.