Learn and Travel: Tips for Those Who Want to Participate in Educational Programs Abroad

You can both learn and travel if you put your mind to it

Who doesn’t love traveling? Moreover, who doesn’t love giving their traveling some true meaning? Wouldn’t it be great to see your next trip as a reason to collect some material for your paper writing or a possibility to improve writing skills while blogging — or, more importantly, a chance to both travel and continue your study? Did you know there are lots of educational programs that will make this dream of yours come true?

Of course, you’ll need to do some research first. What kind of program should you choose? Where will you get money for traveling? Here are some tips that may help you while you are trying to make a decision.


1. Don’t be afraid to start.

It’s always extremely hard to make that first step, especially when you step into a strange environment, where they most likely speak a different language. It will take time for you to adjust and start enjoying the quiet walks along unknown city streets, short conversations with locals or hitchhiking. There are lots of challenges out there, from walking in circles trying to find the right place to misunderstanding some rules and cultural specifics that can get you in some awkward situations. But think what great adventure this all would make! This will definitely give your blog posts an edge that will beat any professional writing.

2. Learn languages.

It’s quite understandable that the better you are at speaking a language, the easier it is to get around and talk to the locals. As a result, you get much more pleasure from traveling and from the educational program of your choice. Besides, it’s kind of pointless to enter into an educational program if you have no knowledge of the local language whatsoever.

3. Choose educational programs that really catch your fancy.

It just wouldn’t do to decide to enter a program, come to another country and… spend your time being bored. Would you really like to do tons of descriptive essay writing on topics you are not interested?

4. If you are not sure about the educational program’s quality or the level of competency of organizers, it’s better to choose something else.


Yes, choosing the right project is often like gambling. Bad projects are easy to notice, though. Anyway, it would be better to use a simple rule of “when in doubt, don’t”. A legit project will definitely have a detailed description and schedule. If we are talking about a 6 months long project, it’s possible to find people who participated in it last year and ask them questions. In other cases, it’s usually possible to view websites and information about their previous projects and read some feedback.

5. When collecting papers for participation in an educational program, describe your experience in as much detail as possible; don’t miss anything out

Sometimes people who want to apply for a program think they won’t be attractive as candidates because of their lack of experience. At the same time, more often than not, they have some experience of participating in student unions or volunteering. So here’s some writing advice: add experience in every kind of activity you had in your motivational letter or your CV. Don’t be afraid to present yourself in a favorable light and don’t forget to mention experience that fits this separate project you’ve chosen

6. If you want them to choose you, be responsible about the papers you are preparing

This is especially important if you want to participate in an academic program. When considering applicants’ papers for the first time, admission committees reject those that don’t meet formal requirements: incomplete documentation packages, incorrect format of letters of reference etc. Another advice: proofread your papers to eliminate mistakes.

7. Meet deadlines

Just send those documents in time.

8. Talk to people

Participation in an international program is a great chance to improve your foreign language proficiency and establish lots of useful contacts. So never avoid taking part in discussions, tell them about your country, and go to parties and tours.

9. Try something new

By “new” we mean talking to people from other countries, getting to know new cultures, getting new specialization. There is a limitless opportunity to get many new skills.

While it may be scary to take the first step, think how great it will be when your dream comes true. There’s really nothing to lose and so much to gain!