The best way to get to know a country and its culture?  Go there!  There are many study abroad programs at the university level and at the high school level.  Our school is very lucky to have an incredibly active Rotary Club that sends many students abroad and also brings many here to our school.

The program that Señora highly recommends is the one she studied with:  IES Abroad.  They can be found at iesabroad.org.  Along with semester and full year programs all over the world, they also have some summer internships which might fit into your college program better.  Check out the student blogs and photo albums to get a fuller idea of the programs from actual students.

For a giant list of programs, try goabroad.com.

When you’re looking at colleges, ask about study abroad!  Many colleges and universities have them.

For an article about the benefits of study abroad, click here, here and here.  Finally, CNN weighs in here.

Finally, there are many TEDtalks on the benefits of studying abroad.  Try this one by Marina Meijer, Jean Fan and Ben Long.