Interim Abroad ≠ Study Abroad

“I’m not going to study abroad. I’m going to do interim abroad.” Many reading this post have said these very words. You know who you are. I have heard you. But BSC interim abroad does not equal study abroad. Here are 7 reasons why:

1. Duration

Interim abroad equals 2 to 4 weeks. Study abroad equals 3 to 9 months. A mere few days cannot equal or even compare to multiple months.

2. Cost

Interims abroad are expensive, very expensive, especially when comparing their costs to the short time actually spent abroad. For example, the South Africa interim costs $5,555 for two weeks abroad; the Italy interim costs $4,750 for three weeks abroad. Excluding tuition, those individual costs exceed the amount of money I spent over an entire semester in England, flying to and from the US, paying rent, buying groceries, and going out. (Information on interim lengths and costs taken from http://www.bsc.edu/academics/exp-con/pdfs/travel-bulletin.pdf.)

3. Freedom

Because interims abroad are short, itineraries are tight, restricting freedom to wandering in a designated area for a few designated hours. When traveling while studying abroad, you make the itinerary, and a part of that is making it up as you go, stepping outside a hostel without timeline or destination; meeting fellow travelers and spending the day together; creating and changing plans on unfettered whim. Interim itineraries get the most out of the trips, but they also eliminate freedom and spontaneity, two core qualities making international travel worthwhile.

4. Chaperones

Interims abroad include chaperones. You are in college. You no longer need chaperones. A part of traveling abroad is maturing. You are not going to do that with someone holding your hand. Furthermore, as a student on an interim trip, you are paying the chaperones’ expenses. Why not use that money and spend it on your own travels?

5. Mishap

Interim itineraries are packed not only to get the most out of the scant time but also to eliminate time for things to go wrong. But things going wrong is an ingrained, even an essential, part of international travel, and it is what makes moments their most memorable. When traveling while studying abroad, things will go wrong, horribly even (I’m talking missing trains not sex trafficking), and most of the time it is your fault. But you learn; you grow; and the grand adventure continues.

6. Why go?

Q: What are you doing on many interims abroad? A: Engaging in tourism at its finest with the entire experience structured, safety-netted, and interpreted for you by travel agents, professors, and tour guides. Swaddled by professors and fellow students, you leave and return within a microcosm of BSC. Movement occurs but does growth? If the objective is tourism or site-specific academia, then mission accomplished. If the objective is to replace studying abroad, then mission horribly failed.

7. Do it.

No interim abroad can compare to, compensate for, or replace studying abroad, because studying abroad requires students not only to go abroad but to create a life there within a foreign university, community, culture, and country for months with no one holding their hands and from there to set out on their own travels. Students, if given the option to interim abroad or to study abroad, then get the most out of your time, your resources, and your education and study abroad. You can do it. You will be amazed at what you can do.

[Image taken from PostSecret]