josh817 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) So I was browsing around between classes today and I got to thinking I really want to go visit other countries like I use to do when I was younger. Only problem is, when I was 8 I didn't understand much of anything and the value of international travel. Curiosity struck and now I really want to try to study abroad! I don't know if it is a realistic thought considering there are the obvious high standards for grades and then I'm getting the impression that it's one of those situations where a lot of people sign up however only a few get to go. Unless if I'm brilliant comapared to other applicants, chances are a no go? Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up because I'm doing well, here at a community college. All A's on everything! It's a shame the GPA doesn't transfer over into the university! Could be I get back to UTA and get my **** handed to me... But I feel like I have gained a lot of responsibility! It's a moral booster, these good grades. Makes me want to push harder. Anyway just curious if anyone else has experienced one of these programs. The information site makes it sound like a cake walk but I'm skeptical. Apply >>> get advised >>> they check to make sure you aren't a bad kid and to make sure your grades are high enough >>> get accepted into the abroad university >>> go. By the way if I did apply it would be for Auckland, New Zealand for a spring or summer semester... Northern Hemisphere that is... Any thoughts on the matter/suggestions? I should probably be asking my advisor this... lol Edited February 23, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Go. End of discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Come with me and the GF/fiance/wife to Europe this summer. Pay your plane ticket and for a meal or two and you'll have a place to stay and crap to do. Luxembourg (home), Paris, Belgium and Germany are on the list. I want to go see some more castles and make the owner/operator some ridiculous lowball offers in horrible French. No tests or homework. Edited February 23, 2011 by BLOZ UP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Luxembourg if I remember correctly, Nick? Even in a castle/mansion, you will hear the suttle roar of my snore reverberating through the walls. That's a dangerous offer you have just made. How long do you guys stay? EDIT: By the way Nick, once again out of curiosity I checked airline tickets to Paris, France (where I originally went when I was 8). On Orbitz.com they had ones in the $400-range but then it said $500 in taxes and fees... I've never seen taxes and fees worth 125% of the original ticket. I don't remember what my mom paid when we originally went. We went with our church so I think we got a good group price. The bad part was even then, at 8 years old, I didn't like boring church stuff. We went to some holy town in the south and there were no TV's. Just hot springs, holy candles, and a Mother Mary statue. High point of those few days? I got to eat pizza. Mmmmm Apparently the hotel served salad with what I thought was chicken... When we got back to Texas our priest informed us it was horse. Epic Sunday Mass, watching a thousand Catholics hold back the vomit all at once. I thought it tasted delicious, could have been hungry. Your offer Nick, I can certainly think on it but I have a hunch I probably couldn't go. I think I need to take summer classes and I'd also have to dig deep into my Z funds which just happen to be my emergency funds too in case if a bus falls on me or something. I also have some personal matters needing to be taken care of so the all of my March pay will basically go to that. Edited February 23, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Josh, if you find out anything, report back. I'm in the exact same situation. Crap grades, but wanna go abroad. My backup plan is to just get a one way ticket to europe and screw around until I'm bored or broke after I eventually finish college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yeah it was about 900 for each of us round trip DFW to LUX and back, 15 days. We're leaving before Summer I, I think (or was it Summer II...). I suppose I'll have to ask the Mrs. if this is okay before I go around offering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS30-H Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 So I was browsing around between classes today and I got to thinking I really want to go visit other countries.... Why not combine two of your interests, and join the military. That way you can visit "Abroad", meet foreign people, and shoot at them with guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt K Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Why not combine two of your interests, and join the military. That way you can visit "Abroad", meet foreign people, and shoot at them with guns. Bad idea to just see the world...depending on which branch you join, the only overseas you'll see is Afghanistan & the stopovers on the way to/from there...It isn't like it used to be. It took me 10 years of trying in the AF before I got to go overseas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Josh, if you find out anything, report back. I'm in the exact same situation. Crap grades, but wanna go abroad. My backup plan is to just get a one way ticket to europe and screw around until I'm bored or broke after I eventually finish college. I'll keep you informed with any info. I'm also really curious what people usually take with them. If I needed to bring a computer I'd either have to buy a laptop or somehow pack my desktop... Then clothes and stuff... and I guess they advise you not to pickup stuff while you're over there because you have to bring it all back..? Nick, that would be a good idea of asking before you invite someone to hang out with you for 15 days. Though I think with a $900 ticket + food + hotels + travel, I can't afford it. Edit: Sigh. May be way out of the picture for me. For Auckland, I read that I have to pay the obvious tuition for my home university, UTA. Then NZ requires travelers/health insurance and then it says something about another $11000, plus living expenses. No wonder they talk about scholarships when discussing abroad studies... Oh and rturbo, what I'm finding is each GPA requirement is different for each program I think. Auckland is 3.0, saw one in South Korea thats 2.75. Finding Auckland is a very popular choice so it would be more difficult to get into compared to others... Edited February 23, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 There are tons of study abroad programs out there but beware that some will not give you any transferable college credit. This is all fine and dandy if you just want to go to go and there is nothing wrong with that, but as you get further into your college career you may find a chance to study abroad through your department. Almost every institution has a study abroad office, check with them on your options, they may even have an exchange program with other schools that will save you a heap of money. I spent a semester + in Italy during my undergrad and cannot stress enough how beneficial it was for myself in an Architecture major but there were more than art and archtiecture nerds in my Italian school; law, chemistry, english and finance majors were all present. so yeah, do everything you can to travel. travel lite, there is no reason to take more than a weeks worth of clothes. Laptop was helpful seeing as how the internet cafe was always spotty and you also need a place to download your photos to, but it can get heavy in a backpack depending on how much you get out. Some schools abroad even hire students to stay over a semester or summer to help run the school and guide the new kids that come in. travel all you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) That's one of the main things I was looking at. The different programs ranged from being able to use financial aid and being independent, whether its study or internship, whether its a pass/fail credit, letter grade, etc. UTA offers a search thing for it so I was just entering the basic "Engineering departement" "English taught" and I was fixing to say "transferable letter grade" but then I was thinking why do I HAVE to get a letter grade, pass/fail is just as good unless I need to work on my UTA GPA but if I'm going abroad then my GPA shouldn't need too much work theoretically. What I'm doing now in community college is pass/fail as far as transfering credits into UTA. http://studyabroad.uta.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.AdvancedSearch Currently, after a rough freshman first semester, I'm sitting at a 2.5/2.6 GPA. If I do well and make A's and B's again I should be to a 2.75 by next Spring. With that said, if I wanted to do any abroad studies, then obviously their minimum GPA requirement must be met. Saw a place in Germany "BTU" that would take 2.5 min. and Florence, Italy and Australia. Still lots of options but the money part scares me. That's something to talk to an adviser about. I think I should also look into international internships. I've been wanting one for over the summer to make some extra cash and experience or to just get out and see some places, on someones dime. My buddies brother got a nice deal where they paid for his living expenses in New Orleans and he also made a large chunk of money. Pay for my housing and my food, internationally, and you have won me over. Edited February 24, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOZ UP Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) room and board would be free. Edited February 24, 2011 by BLOZ UP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 room and board would be free. She has family/friends in all those places you're visiting I'm guessing? Any attractive friends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 If you plan on Engineering... Flag Auckland and head for Dunedin instead, better Engineering school at Otago Uni than at Auckland Uni... Auckland is best at liberal arts, social sciences, Second equal with Christchurch for Medical (except that Chch is a bit disrupted with the quake at the moment) and Second equal with Law with Victoria Uni in Wellington, Waikato Uni in Hamilton is tops countrywide for Management/business and Dunedin in Earth Sciences. Victoria Uni is tops in Political Science and History. NZ is small enough most unis tend to have a field in which one of their departments is bigger and better resourced. A bit like MIT is known for Science/Physics and Harvard for Law... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) ignore, double post... Edited February 24, 2011 by kiwi303 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaZeS30 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I went through an exchange program to Japan, that was while I was at community college. It was costly, though. It ended up costing as much as it would've been to go to a private school here in California. I also joined the Navy shortly thereafter. Being an exchange student is fun, but expensive, sometimes prohibitively so. I know that you can use FAFSA and other financial aid programs to help cover the costs. Joining the Navy is free, in fact, they pay you. And, when you're done, school is basically paid for and it'll give you focus and drive in your studies. If you WANT to travel, the Navy is the best branch for that. AF depending on your specialty you might end up getting stuck on one base for your entire career, marines go where there is gunfire so Afghanistan, and army is the same thing. I might actually be going on exchange again at the end of my Junior year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) Bad idea to just see the world...depending on which branch you join, the only overseas you'll see is Afghanistan & the stopovers on the way to/from there...It isn't like it used to be. It took me 10 years of trying in the AF before I got to go overseas... That was not my experience, I put all Northern Tier SAC installations on my Dream Sheet and the CBPO guys said "you want to go here? Oh, you're GOING to go to one of these!" I got orders to Japan. The rest is history. <EDIT> the only guy in our two tech school classes that put an overseas assignment on his dream sheet got it: Hickam Hawaii. He sucked. If I knew I was going over anyway, I would have chosen, but all I knew was if I put 'open overseas' I was going to Inclric Turkey. I knew it. Positively! LOL Edited February 25, 2011 by Tony D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschiltz Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I haven't read the whole thread because I'm sick and have a headache, so if you or someone has already mentioned this then nevermind. Check and see if your school has shorter international trips as well. I'm taking a three week trip to Namibia in May through UNL and I know there's a Christmas break trip every year that goes to NZ or Tasmania (alternating years) which is 2 or 3 weeks. You won't get to really study and spend a lot of time there, but it's a great way to travel. On my trip we get to see about 3/4 the country in three weeks and meet a bunch of local students and their families and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 So I was browsing around between classes today and I got to thinking I really want to go visit other countries like I use to do when I was younger. Only problem is, when I was 8 I didn't understand much of anything and the value of international travel. Curiosity struck and now I really want to try to study abroad! I don't know if it is a realistic thought considering there are the obvious high standards for grades and then I'm getting the impression that it's one of those situations where a lot of people sign up however only a few get to go. Unless if I'm brilliant comapared to other applicants, chances are a no go? Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up because I'm doing well, here at a community college. All A's on everything! It's a shame the GPA doesn't transfer over into the university! Could be I get back to UTA and get my **** handed to me... But I feel like I have gained a lot of responsibility! It's a moral booster, these good grades. Makes me want to push harder. Anyway just curious if anyone else has experienced one of these programs. The information site makes it sound like a cake walk but I'm skeptical. Apply >>> get advised >>> they check to make sure you aren't a bad kid and to make sure your grades are high enough >>> get accepted into the abroad university >>> go. By the way if I did apply it would be for Auckland, New Zealand for a spring or summer semester... Northern Hemisphere that is... Any thoughts on the matter/suggestions? I should probably be asking my advisor this... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 P.S. I never fired at anybody abroad when in the military. On the other hand, as a civilian contractor after my discharge...yeah. I know people who went through their trades apprenticeship abroad. For an engineering occupation I would highly recommend any former British Commonwealth country, i.e. NZ, OZ, UK. The apprenticeship program is very well developed. I know people working for compressor companies in Canada (Scottish emigrants) who apprenticed their engineering technical in the same factory where James Watt built the first steam engine. When you have 400 years of tradition working with you as you learn, it instills a special kind of pride. Do it sooner rather than later, as in many of the countries they are rapidly substituting a relatively quick University Education Requirement in place of the traditional hands-on experience and work requirement. The lie that education is a substitute for experience when you are starting out is being sorely revealed because of this. Find a traditional 5 year apprenticeship program and beat your head into that for a while. At least you're getting paid something while you're there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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