Update on Study Abroad

University of Innsbruck

As most of you know I've been planning to study abroad in Innsbruck, Austria during spring 2013.

I'm happy to say that it is still very much my plan. I hadn't done much other than meet with a Study Abroad counselor because I had been planning so far in advance. And now I've finally taken a real first step: I've completed my Study Abroad application!

It was probably very foolish but I decided to do the application at 3am the other night. They asked about my Academic work, language profiency, international experience and which classes I would be requesting in short answer boxes as well as two references with their emails. I also wrote a personal statement of 300-500 words answering this prompt:

Introduce yourself and explain your goals for studying abroad and for integrating into the host culture? What specific situations from your past (i.e., coursework, job experience, travel, intercultural experience) have helped you prepare to accomplish these goals? 

Well let's see how I did:

My name is Carly Crosby and I am going into my Junior year at Utah State University as a Creative Writing major with an Art minor. I wish to go on study abroad because, quite honestly, it has been a lifelong goal. I seek to enrich my educational experience as well as life experience by venturing out of my comfort zone to explore different cultures. I see these real travel experiences (immersion into customs and culture) as invaluable in a man or woman’s knowledge of the world around them. I hope to displace my own ignorances and assumptions with enlightenments on the subtleties of a different way of life, even if it is not too entirely different from my own now.

I also seek to improve my German language skills in an environment where I will be able to converse with locals and native speakers. I have enjoyed my learning at a university level but there is only so far a book can go with language. I hope to learn not only the perfect grammar of the classroom but also the dialect and slang of my city.

Being an art minor, I also have a large fascination with the unique opportunities in art history that would be at my fingertips in Europe. The influences in old architecture and in modern art galleries seems to be beating at my door.

As for my experiences that will lend me advantage on this trip, I have traveled out of the country without my family and feel confident that the procedures of traveling would not be daunting. I also have held a job since I was fifteen and know how to work hard with and without constant instruction. I can self-motivate and know how to handle myself. I am determined that I will maintain my high GPA while abroad, as I am good at balancing studying and recreation.

I have learned the benefits of research and planning and one would not catch me making waste of my time abroad by sitting at home after my homework was done and not going out to experience the people. I look forward to meeting and interacting with the locals, college students and professionals alike as it is the people who make up a culture. Most of all I want to represent my country and my school well. I don’t want to be the stereo typical American, I want to excel.

All in all, I would say that this is one of the most exciting decisions I have made in my life and I have been looking forward to it for a long time. I hope you can get behind my enthusiasm and send me out to represent you well. I won’t let you down.

                                                                                                Carly Crosby

Well I did write it at 3 am...not a smart move but hopefully the study abroad lady wont feel I am a pretentious little prick. I think I used the wrong "to, too, two" some where...oops. Oh well, it is done.

I submitted it and this morning I went up to campus to pay the application fee. $125 for the application to the study abroad dept. I guess the ladies need to get paid some how. It was very simple, I printed a form and took it to the registrar's office, paid and got it stamped then took it to the Study Abroad office.

I'm glad to get it over with but at the same time it feels weird because I believe they don't actually accept you/start working on everything till October for the spring semester so I will just be sitting here for 4 months...

Well, wish me luck!

Carly