Do it. Go study abroad! It's the best, it will be great and a really unique experience.
I just can't imagine having not done it. It was just a fantastic experience, it was so much fun, it was
so inspiring, it was so enriching it was... yeah I'd do anything to relive that year again.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that people shouldn't miss.
You know I was in japan for an entire year and got to see the entire country, pretty much, and you won't get a chance to again.
You meet so many people that you wouldn't meet normally from so many different walks of life.
In one friendship group you've got people from Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia.
Everyone's so very welcome to have you there so it's a push for traveling and experiencing the world really.
I can go anywhere now. I can go and make a life there.
I'm already looking at, it's my final year, I'm already looking at placements abroad to work.
I know more now what I want to do whereas before my year abroad I was trying to decide.
It's changed my outlook on everything. It's really given me a desire to move forward
and really think about where I want to be in the world now.
Being taken out of my comfort zone, being put in a place where I'm totally independent
of everything I've ever known for the last 20 years of my life,
it allowed me to really get an idea of who I am.
It taught me loads about people, loads about cultures, loads about what people are interested in.
And yeah, you can do that forever and never reach your limit.
Just thinking that you can do anything now. You see the world differently, you're more culturally aware.
You don't really see much about people anymore. You're kind of more understanding.
It was a challenge I wanted to put myself into, and because I wanted to integrate to my degree the international aspect.
That's actually why I picked Kent as well to do the year abroad.
It wasn't just the fact that you could just go abroad. It was the fact that you're going to a really good university,
so even though Kent is a good university you can pair that off with another really good university
which obviously increases your employability and the types of people that you're going to meet.
It met my expectations but again it was like way over the top more than I
thought it was. I thought I was actually walking in the movie, I felt like I just needed popcorn.
You get to try things that you never thought you would before. I learned how to ski.
Half past four, I stood two-thirds of the way up Mount Fuji watching the sun rise in the land of the rising sun.
You were there for a reason that was the really good thing about it,
so you know you had your own place you had your own life, like this alternate reality for a year.
And that makes it really, really exciting.
The friends you make, just how open the people are. I just had a really good time and I enjoyed everything about it.
The course was also really exciting, I was being taught by professors from Yale.
And you know the insights that they had were just incredible.
And because you're at one of the top schools, you really are on the pinnacle of world research.
You know a lot of people graduate with a 2-1 degree or first degree. Having that year abroad differentiates you as far as the market goes.
I want to work internationally anyway so I feel like they're going to value somebody that's taken the time,
from a young age, to say 'I want to experience new things I don't mind going elsewhere to seek an opportunity.'
And it's a talking point in an interview, I guess.
It gives you that confidence to think, I can do a Master's or I can do other things.
if you can do a year abroad or a year in industry, or anything like that, it is the best decision to make and it's worth it in every way.
It's one year that will make a difference in everything in everyone's life.
I wouldn't change a thing. Yeah it was great - no regrets.
Yeah it's an amazing experience.
It was a challenge which had I not taken, I wouldn't be the person I feel I am today.