Get someone to rent out my room, check. Find a carsitter, check. Make the rounds to see family and friends, check. See a major advisor, check.

This is what John Arndt’s, a sophomore international business and economics major, to-do list looks like for the next couple of months. He hopes to complete his list before he takes off on a journey to study abroad. His destination is currently unknown, yet Arndt is going to do some research before he makes the final decision of where to study. He’s currently debating between Italy, Germany and Mexico right now.

“I’m going next fall. The deadline is in February, but hopefully I will have it narrowed down by the end of the year,” he said.

He said he wants to make sure the place he ends up is somewhere rich in culture.

“I might even live there a while after college,” he said. “Somewhere different than here.”

Arndt is doing the footwork now so he can have the experience in a foreign country that he’s been waiting for.

Studying abroad provides ample opportunities for students like improving their foreign language skills, learning about the life and culture in a foreign country, traveling more once they get there and getting an international perspective and education. Studying abroad is also automatically adds a little extra spice to your resume.

“Companies value a global education,” said Janis Silvers, Study Abroad advisor. “It looks great on a resume. Interviewers for jobs are curious about studies abroad. It shows employers that the person will do extra,” she said.

For many of those who have studied abroad, they look back fondly at this eye-opening experience. Some like it so much that they don’t want to come home.

“We’ve had students who try and stay for a second semester. We have a couple right now who want to stay,” Silvers said.

Robert Macauley, an international business and marketing major, spent the entire year of 2006 in Japan. He said studying abroad is a one of a kind experience students shouldn’t miss out on.

“Everyday is an adventure. You learn so much from daily experiences and events,” he said.

This experience has sparked a new found interest in travel for Macauley.

“You get this travel bug and you want to get a new perspective. I’m a little more adventurous now,” he said.

Macauley said one of the best parts of the trip is meeting international students.

“Now I have this network of couches that I can sleep on, if I ever want to go to Ukraine or Scotland or whereever. You get your own little family over there,” he said.

Since Macauley has returned from his life changing trip, he is currently thinking about an internship in China to expand his overseas experience.

But he does admit studying abroad was a bit of a culture shock. Food became an issue for him during his 11 month program.

“I’m kind of a picky eater, but I was eating that food everyday, fish, rice, vegetables. Three times a day. It’s the little things that are challenging. Getting the shower to work correctly and eating,” he said.

The language barrier was also challenging for him. After two semesters of Japanese, he felt unprepared for the intense submersion into the language. Now, he feels a bit more confident and said he can have small conversations.

Many students shy away from going abroad with the major reasons being intimidating cost, commitments at home and the classes offered for the program do not match up directly with major requirements.

“These students let things stop them, or don’t follow through. The impression is that you have to have money to go,” Silvers said. “Planning is essential, if it’s something that you want to do you can do it.”

She said many of the destinations offered have comparable living costs to Sacramento, excluding the cost of traveling to get there.

The global education office, located in 2304 Lassen Hall, holds general workshops about studying abroad for students, which have already ran their course for the semester. Better yet, this semester they are starting workshops which Silvers called “Study Abroad Country Series.”

These workshops will focus on one destination where they will have panel session with previous students who went to the same location and faculty members ready to dish out plenty of information like the Ghana program on Dec.12. These types of workshops will continue on into next semester.

Arndt will check off his to-do’s from his list in the coming months and said he will prepare for an expanded cultural experience. He will become one of the lucky ones who took the time to benefit from such an amazing program.

And Macauley reminds students, “Its not as difficult as you think it is.”

Kate Jones can be reached at [email protected]