It’s Never too Late to Fulfill your Dream of Studying Abroad
Advantages of studying abroad later in life, even when your fellow students are a bunch of party-going 19-year-olds
Studying abroad is a fantastic opportunity for people to get out of their comfort zone and develop empathy for others, gaining additional perspective on the world in the process. It’s rather common for people to take a travel year after their last year of secondary school, as both a celebration of graduating and a breather before the next chapter of life. Similarly, it’s common for university students to take a semester abroad, potentially taking classes they otherwise would not have been able to take or to expand their language abilities.
However, what if you couldn’t have that experience in your youth? Maybe you had more responsibilities earlier in life than your peers, or you didn’t have the money or time. Perhaps you didn’t have the courage or the interest back then, but you do now. Do you have to resign yourself to believing that you just “missed your chance” and woefully admit defeat?
No! Of course not.
Traveling for educational purposes can be much more rewarding when you’re older. I learned this firsthand.
I had two technical majors in university and struggled to pass my classes. That, and I worked several jobs to ward away the piling interest on my tens of thousands of dollars worth of student loans. It just seemed reckless and irresponsible to go off on a multi-month adventure abroad back then.
A decade later, I was burnt out from my career and was itching for an adventure. Just after the travel restrictions during the Delta variant of COVID were lifted, I put my life on hold and signed up for a study abroad program in Berlin through EF Education First.
At first, I was very insecure about my age. After all, I was in my 30’s in a sea of 19-year-olds fresh out of secondary school. However, I eventually found my crew of other students in their 30s and beyond, and by the end, I felt confident in my own skin. After observing all of our experiences in our program, I can proudly say there are many advantages to being an older student abroad:
You have more money and opportunity.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that if you’re considering studying abroad in your late 20s or beyond, you probably have some expendable cash. You might not be rich, but you likely can afford some tickets for weekend train trips and museums, and hopefully for nourishing yourself with something other than cheap street food every single night.
I mean, still eat the delicious cheap street food. Maybe just not every night.
Though scrimping and saving often add to the fun of an experience abroad, it can also add to your stress levels and limit your pool of options.
I had the luxury of being able to select my ticket and be able to stay longer and actually enjoy my time. That’s not to say that I splurged and threw money into the air; I still took public transportation, bought discounted tickets, and ate small quick meals.
For example, when we visited Hamburg, my fellow students came in at 11:00 am and left at 7:00 pm, doing not much more than following the tour guide around. I rented a tiny, cheap Airbnb and came the night before, and stayed another day and a half after the tour. With my extra time, I got to see a musical, visit a couple of museums at a student discount, and take leisurely strolls through the town. Even had I saved more and not attended the musical or museums, just having that extra breathing room to not rush in and out gave me more appreciation for where I was.
You appreciate culture and history more.
However, because they were so singularly focused on “having a good time,” they missed out on so much more.
Don’t get me wrong; I spent time clubbing as well. After all, that’s part of the Berlin experience! But I was also keen on learning more about culture and history.
When I met new people, I preferred to sit down with them at a café or bar to talk about where they’re from and what the people are like instead of immediately jumping into memes and party invitations.
When I went to museums, I would take it slower to read more of the plaques and piece together my understanding of the world around me instead of just taking pictures of display items for Instagram.
When we explored the town, I was equally interested in checking out operas and plays as I was in going to clubs and parties.
You can see exactly how this is going.
I truly came out of the experience feeling like I learned a lot, in and out of the classroom. As a young 19-year-old myself, I still did a lot of these things, but I feel like I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. I truly believe that with age comes wisdom and a deeper understanding of the world around us if we wish to understand it.
You are more self-directed and socially confident.
One of the traps I saw my younger classmates fall into was wanting to be seen as cool by the other students and letting that want dictate how they spent their time during the program.
Not only was clubbing a huge focal point, but I noticed many students only traveled in groups and rarely did activities on their own. Many of them would get a strong case of FOMO and go out and do things they clearly didn’t want to because they didn’t want to be seen as uncool.
Several times, girls in my class would panic when they weren’t invited to something, and equally so, several people went out for late-night clubbing when they clearly didn’t want to.
I found my group of fellow actual adult students, and we hung out quite a bit. But I also did quite a lot on my own:
- Going to museums and taking notes
- Taking hikes and nature walks
- Purposefully exploring parts of the city that aren’t trendy
- Talking to locals about their views on COVID, politics, and culture
- Attending flea markets and fairs
- Going to hangout spots like jazz clubs and pool halls
- Meeting new people at MeetUps related to my career
- Took additional classes in topics I was interested in
- Did outside research and did my own field trips for groups and organizations that were doing work I was already following
- …and many more
I never felt like I had to impress anyone with what I decided to do, though I saw many of my younger classmates seeking out the perfect Instagram-worthy shots. I’m very happy that I felt confident enough to follow my own path and not get sucked into popularity contests.
Your social circle is far more diversified
When you’re a young adult, you usually only make friends with other young adults. Oftentimes, you don’t have enough life experience to develop closer relationships with others, but even then, it’s often inappropriate for older adults to befriend you anyway. That’s also assuming you’d want older friends, and let’s be honest; we know that most of us, as younger adults, thought that anyone older than 25 was wise and old but also not fun.
As an older student, you’re uniquely positioned to learn the most from the people around you.
You interact daily with young adult students because you must. School creates a great excuse to talk to others a generation (or two) younger than you while also maintaining a solid boundary to ensure safety.
My niece and nephew are both Zoomers, but without direct family members, I wouldn’t interact much with members of younger generations. That common lack of interaction usually leads to the types of misunderstandings that make younger folk think you’re an old, outdated dinosaur. Despite all my complaints about the kids in my program, I learned a lot about Gen Z culture and perspective, as they were always excited to show me the latest media, tell me jokes and stories, and talk to me about their ideas.
Likewise, as an older student, I also had better access to people in the same or older generations. A 19-year-old trying to befriend their 40-year-old teacher is cute, but often unfulfilling and risky for both people involved. However, a 30-year-old student befriending her 40-year-old teacher is much more acceptable and appropriate.
As an older student, I could straddle that line well, interacting with Gen Z students as well as Millennial and Gen X students, teachers, and staff. I got to see multi-generational perspectives on the same subjects and the student, teacher, and administrative viewpoints on the same subjects.
In addition to school, you might even know people in the location you’d like to study. While the younger folk largely don’t know people outside their immediate hometown, you’ve already had a life full of childhood pals, university peers, work colleagues, and other community members. You may even find you have many opportunities to live as the locals do.
You don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself
Potentially the most beautiful thing about being an older study-abroad student is that there aren’t any expectations other than the ones you set for yourself.
Your parents aren’t forcing you to be there to learn a language to help you get into university.
Your ability to graduate university isn’t contingent on your grade in your language program.
You aren’t banking on the program to help you find an internship or a job after you complete your language certification.
You’re really doing this to learn for you, and there’s something both empowering and terrifying about that. You can’t blame anyone other than yourself if all goes wrong, but you also can define the metrics of success.
I’ve talked to many people who were wistful for a study abroad opportunity but felt they were too old. We had several people in my program in their 50s, and they all came in with an amazing attitude to learn and a desire to make the experience their own.
One of them even came back a year later for round two.
Don’t let age stop you from trying new experiences and making up for missed opportunities! We’re never too old to be a student again. After all, we’re always going to be students of life.
