So you want to study abroad, but...
What if I'm in a relationship?
I thought I'd get this one out of the way upfront because I'm the least qualified to answer it. I've traveled on short (2-3 week) trips while in a relationship and each time I came home to find out my SO had met some one else or wanted to break up. I don't blame the travel, but I think my pessimism on the topic of dating while traveling is more out of personal experience than actual knowledge. I do know this: my grandparents waited for years while my grandfather fought in WWII and still made things work. They didn't have anything more than semi-regular letters to keep in touch with. Every relationship and set of circumstances is different, so no one can tell you that you will for sure break up or that you will for sure stay together. No one. You might go abroad and stay together, you might stay home and break up. No one knows. What you should keep in mind is how much contact will be a. practical and b. necessary once you're overseas. I think that keeping in touch with any one (friends, family, significant others) is an important part of travelling. Relating your experiences, sharing what you see and feel with those at home will not only help you remember the trip later it will help you make sense of the completely normal feelings of homesickness and alienation that can come up when you're far from home. So writing long emails to your boyfriend every day might be helpful, but there is a point where spending too much time staying connected with people at home actually keeps you from fully experiencing the opportunities of studying abroad. My advice: Study abroad is still possible while you're in a relationship, but you should decide ahead of time how much communication is reasonable and stick to it. Dan Savage has some sage words on the topic, as well.
What if I have kids?
Wow am I NOT qualified to answer this one. I did some research and found a number of parents who have been able to study abroad, either by leaving their children with a spouse or other family member (and before any one leaps to call them a bad parent for this, I just want to point out that military families leave their children when they're deployed, frequently for much longer periods of time than a typical study abroad program.) A few parents took their children with them, a decision that requires quite a bit more planning (both financial and logistical) but seemed to work out OK. The parents I know (single and otherwise) are already used to making the kinds of dramatically more complicated decisions that having a baby requires, and, as a non-parent, I am hesitant to second-guess them about it.
What if I'm a vegetarian?
Now we're on to topics I'm familiar with. I've been a vegetarian for 22 years. At this point in my life eating meat isn't a choice I can physically make without, I would imagine, a pretty significant objection from my body. But that's OK. Being a vegetarian (or vegan, or gluten-free or having a peanut/shellfish/whatever allergy) is not the single most important defining characteristic of my life. When I have traveled abroad before I've generally found it no trouble at all to manage. I try not to inconvenience any one (as far as is possible) and I make sure that I communicate my needs beforehand. Flexibility is also a good thing. For example, at home I would never eat food cooked in chicken broth. In Palestine, a friend's mother made us a delicious dinner and made a special meatless dish for the vegetarians which, unfortunately, included rice boiled in broth. I made the decision to eat it anyway, mainly out of politeness but also because I was hungry and it was GREAT. My best friend is also vegetarian and currently in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso. She has had to eat meat a few times when other options weren't available, but mainly manages to remove the meat from her food or just prepare her own. If you're really worried about it, look into cultures where vegetarianism is pretty common. India is a great example of this, but there are plenty of places to go where the high price of meat makes vegetarianism fairly commonplace. My only advice is to know how to explain your dietary needs in the language of the place you are going before you get there.
What if I'm afraid of spiders?
Great, me too. Let's start a club. This is why I live in a 5th-floor apartment, because my last house had wolf spiders that thought my leg was a great place to chill while I slept. SERIOUSLY. So then I went to Palestine and found out the only thing scarier than Spiders is what has to be the most science-fiction creature of all time, as portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
That's right: Scorpions. I have this running joke with friends about how I'd rather take on a meth head with a knife than deal with a spider (I have kind of a weird job) and scorpions are basically what would happen if you gave a spider meth and attached a knife to it. So I suppose I probably shouldn't be going to a desert to study abroad but it turns out the whole world is covered in scary things with too many legs and lots of poison. Or stingers, or teeth or claws. The world is scary. My fifth-floor apartment is possibly the only safe place in the world anywhere but I can't live here forever.
What if I have a mental illness or a physical disability?
I know that depression/anxiety and related illnesses are a big concern for college students. If you don't believe me, then you can probably skip this part and yay for you!
Ok, if you're still reading it means you have/might have/know some one who has a mental illness like depression. I just want to say (again) that I am in no way a doctor or an expert or anything. But I have had trouble with depression in the past and I don't think it should stop any one from going abroad. Here's the truth: depression sucks. It sneaks up on you, it changes the way you perceive reality, it make you believe very very bad things. But, if you have depression, if you know you have it and have dealt with it for years and especially if you've ever gotten professional help or treatment, you also know what to expect. Any one who goes on a study abroad program is at risk for pretty extreme emotions; homesickness, stress, alienation, all kinds of totally normal feelings that many people don't deal with on a daily basis. If you're already some one who deals with unpredictable emotions, you might actually be better prepared to handle it than a student with no prior experience with depression/anxiety/whatever. Find out what kind of support your program offers, and make sure you ask for help when you need it. Err on the side of caution. Don't think you can handle it alone, don't try to change/go off of your meds and don't imagine for a second that you're the only one there feeling lost. Open up to your classmates or friends or advisors. I'll say this for every one and I'll say it again when I talk about health and safety but Don't do drugs. It's a bad idea for anyone, but particularly if you're less emotionally stable and in an unfamiliar place.
As for physical disadvantages, so long as you are upfront about your needs from the start, you program should be able to make reasonable accommodations. It varies from person to person, place to place and situation to situation. Talk to your study abroad office and talk to your doctor. Don't just assume you won't be able to go.
As you can tell, I'm not a believer in any obstacle being big enough to hold you back from going abroad, if that's what you really want. If any one has any questions or wants to tell me I'm an idiot please e-mail or comment.
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