Traveling often teaches a person new things in life and this is only magnified in the case of a student. It is extremely important for a student to travel the world. Almost everyone who did not get to – or chose not to – travel will have some regrets. It is because the years spent as a student at college are probably the best years for traveling.
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There is little pressure on an individual during this period. They will have to take up several tasks later on in life. Then, the joy of traveling and learning new stuff goes completely out of the window.
Changing Preferences
Once a student graduates from college, they are immediately thrown into a high-pressure situation where they have to find a job, pay the bills, and raise a family at the same time. This certainly affects people who want to travel later in life. More importantly, it will also be tough to find company at this stage.
Often, a person is restricted to traveling with their own family, as the circle of friends – with whom they can spend real quality time – usually grows smaller and smaller. Even though the money in the bank account grows, people find it difficult to really use it and travel the world.
Being Unable to Take Advantage of Benefits
A range of benefits is available for the student who decides to travel while studying or even goes abroad to study. These may include discounts on the travel expenses, scholarship programs, internships, or even language learning trips. These are the options that simply disappear at a later point in life.
It is possible to find scholarship programs that encourage students to go abroad in order to work on some projects. It may also not be surprising to find a scholarship program that provides the opportunity for students to go on a small trip. Contests and fellowships are available throughout the globe and they primarily encourage students to take up the challenges.
Traveling Itself Becomes an Education
Students often travel in order to take up a higher education course, which may be in a far-flung country in the world. Even though a lot of the classes will take place inside the classroom, the student stands to benefit from learning more about life outside of the classrooms.
Traveling is also a much more memorable experience than reading about it in a book. Numerous customs, traditions, and celebrations introduce the student to new concepts which did not exist for them before. Such experiences can open up a world of possibilities. Traveling also can spark the entrepreneurial mind of a person.
The benefits of traveling go farther than this.
Helps Move Away from Comfort Zone
As we grow in a safe and relaxed environment, it is possible to get addicted to that position in every regard. This creates a comfort zone that we are often unwilling to leave. Apart from becoming a major hindrance that prevents knowledge expansion, the comfort zone also limits the possibility of learning new things. Traveling as a student helps to avoid the creation of a comfort zone in the first place.
When an individual is surrounded by new faces or a language that they are not comfortable with, it often forces them to adapt in a quick manner. It is a better way to learn a language as compared to staying in familiar surroundings but regularly attending language classes.
Ability to Try New Things
It is likely that the student may be devoid of the opportunity to try new things when staying in similar circumstances. This may often be down to the need or the lack of it. Need forces an individual to explore new situations. It is likely that the needs are addressed by some individual – likely to be a parent – if the student is close to their childhood home.
Going abroad in order to pursue the studies or just to experience the world will open up new challenges. In order to solve those challenges, the individual may be forced to come up with various innovations. This lets them grow and tackle the harsh world ahead.
Acquiring New Skills
The process of acquiring new skills does not start properly until the student is put in a challenging environment. It is not to say that the situations abroad will be challenging – it is to denote that any new situation will provide a challenging environment. In such circumstances, it is possible to grow skills like networking or bilingualism in order to cope with the new requirements.
Such traits increase the marketability of a person and make them much more appealing in the eyes of an employer. The employers certainly look forward to having a person with a multitude of abilities rather than just a bookworm.
Improves Confidence
The challenges of being a student who travels – either to pursue education or for a related activity – can throw a person into a completely different scenario. The responsibility of having to deal with such situations at an early stage in life not only builds a lot of skills but it can also improve confidence. One could even claim that the students who have traveled abroad are much more confident when it comes to facing daily life. They are able to take on challenges much better than people who have never stepped out of the comfort zone.
More Compassion to Other Individuals
Growing up in the same environment and continuing to live in a familiar place does not allow a person to appreciate other cultures. In many ways, the best way to end xenophobia is to promote traveling abroad for educational purposes. Interaction with students of various backgrounds results in the concept of creed and colour going out of the window. This helps in developing compassion for other individuals.
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That’s a good point that different cultures can introduce the student to new concepts which did not exist for them before. Travelling makes your ideological world bigger. My daughters do art, music, and sports to be well rounded; we may have to focus on travel as a family next for their educations.