How To Earn A Degree While Traveling
Whether you’re in undergrad, grad school, or simply love continuing education, there’s no reason you can’t travel. Quite honestly, studying has been one of the major reasons that I’ve gotten to travel so much in my life. Here are some of my tips and tricks to earning a degree/certification while traveling.
Language Schools: When I was 21 years old, I wanted to move to Barcelona, Spain. So what did I do? I found a Spanish language school, applied and moved to Barcelona. The school handled my Visa, lodgings and class schedule of course. Every day I rode my bike to school and took about 3-4 hours of Spanish per day, which left me with a full afternoon and evening to explore Barcelona and other countries within Europe. In addition, I made a ton of friends from our shared apartment, the school and locals around town. I even picked up a side job by teaching English at a neighboring school. So just like that I now have certifications in Spanish, Business Mandarin Chinese and more. Two of my favorites are Sprachcaffe and EF.
Studying abroad programs: When I was in undergraduate, my Chinese studies professor encouraged me to study abroad in Nanjing, China. This study abroad program changed the course of my life. I spent a semester traveling throughout Asia and immersing myself in such a rich culture while accelerating my knowledge of Mandarin. If you’re currently a student, your school likely has a study abroad program. Set some time aside to go speak to the study abroad department and find out which programs you can apply for and what options exist for helping to fund your travel. You can also look for global internship programs to set yourself up with a summer or semester internship abroad. Who knows, these internships might even lead to your dream job abroad! Pictured above, I’m at Google Shanghai spending my study abroad time building relationships and learning from their team in China.
Grants: Do you love research? If so, a grant can be a great way to fund your time abroad. If you’re passionate about advancing global knowledge on a specific subject, applying for a research grant might be perfect for you. Sitting out there online there are tons of grants and free money just waiting to be found. Take some time to look up grants that you think may apply to your research, passions or communities that would be positively affected by your work or big idea.
Online courses: If you’ve got the travel bug, but don’t want to fall of course in earning your degree or want to get a head start on some of those course credits, you can always take a class online. Depending on your course of study, you can find a specific online program that will count towards your certification or degree. These online courses are for the self starters who can really hustle on the go!
Whether you’re working towards a degree, interested in earning a certification, looking to volunteer, or you’re just a student of life, schools can be a great method for seeing the world. When we put education and passion first, we’re unstoppable. Get out there and see the world, you might learn something.