Travel the World

On a mountain in San Sebastian, Spain.

Hello WEPO Girls!!! I'm here to tell you all something very important...STUDY ABROAD! I know, I know... sounds scary enough leaving your family to go to school, now I want you to go to a different country! Well trust me, I thought the exact same thing. I'm extremely close with my family and I almost didn't even consider traveling! After freshmen year I went to Europe and my love for traveling grew from there.

I was very unsure about studying abroad with all people I didn't know and being away from my family for a whole semester. I knew a lot of people who have done it and were homesick but did not once regret their decision! I thought a whole semester would be too long so I decided to take the 2.5 week class for engineering this summer. This way I wouldn't be away for too long and I still got the experience of studying abroad. The group of students and I decided to travel for a week before going to our destination San Sebastian, Spain. We went to Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona! The entire experience was amazing! Looking back I would have been fine going for a whole semester, that's just how much fun I really did have! The day I got back I already started planning my trip next year to Italy and Germany and a few other places!

Surfing in San Sebastian, Spain

Here are a few reasons why you should study abroad if you aren't sold yet:

·                     Experiences: I did things on this trip that I may have never been able to do if it weren't for this trip. I even got to go surfing, which I was very scared for and almost didn't do it! There are just some things you have to do without thinking, because in the end you won't regret it!!! We also got to go to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain which was breath taking!

·                     Meeting People: I met people from Spain that I would have never met without going on this adventure! You get to see firsthand how they live every day. You see how different it is from in the US, something you can't grasp from just watching a movie or reading a book.

·                     Skype: If you miss your family, you always have the option to skype with them or call them. That is exactly how I survived through the trip. When I started missing home I would just skype with them, it makes it so much more bearable! You'll feel like you're at home again!

·                     Well Rounded: You become a lot more well-rounded and learn how to solve problems (the thing that engineers are experts at) in different ways than you would in the US. You see how differently engineers in different countries do things, and it's an experience that will help you become a World Class Engineer!!

If you're still questioning studying abroad... ask someone who has and you'll know what to do.(:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Megan Hinterberger is a senior majoring in Industrial Engineering. She is a Mentor for WEPO 2011, and is also involved in SWE, IM Volleyball and was previously on Penn State Altoona's Varsity Volleyball Team. She has completed internship rotations for Corle Building Systems and Sheetz. Feel free to contact her at mah5377@psu.edu .