How to Channel Your Study Abroad Excitement at Home

When studying abroad you don’t always think about what to do with your experience when you get back. When you’re on that plane ride back home you’re feeling mixed emotions. You’re sad to be leaving but yet happy to return home and share your experience with the people around you. But once the dust settles and you’re back in your normal routine, you kind of lose the luster of your trip.

The thing is, you don’t have to lose it. In my case, I kept the excitement of my study abroad experience alive by becoming an alumni ambassador with CEA on my campus. What is an alumni ambassador you ask? It is a wonderful way for students who have studied with CEA to interact, spread the word of CEA to other students on your campus, keep the spirit of your experience alive, and many other wonderful things. One of my favorite parts of this program is that I get to meet and interact with people all over the country. It’s great to meet wonderful people who, I otherwise I wouldn’t ever meet. Just being able to get people on my campus inspired and excited to have a trip of their lifetime makes me happy. Knowing how much studying abroad did change my life, it inspired me to want to help other people get the same experience.

Another great aspect of being an ambassador is getting to make connections on campus, networking, and getting to work the CEA booth at our study abroad fair once a semester. Getting to talk to students ranging from freshmen to upper classmen is great and it’s never a dull moment.

Aside from being able to network, promote CEA, and working with (super awesome) CEA employees, being an ambassador has helped me personally, too. I have grown even more as a person and leader. Setting up events or other promotional events always gives me something to look forward to and helps to break up my schoolwork as well. There are so many things that I am coming away with from being an ambassador and I will never forget this experience. Being able to relive my memories from my trip alongside fellow students and getting excited about it all over again is so wonderful. It’s great that this program exists and it’s great to see it growing and thriving from where we started. Everyone is so enthusiastic and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

Chelsea Mrozek is a Senior Alumni Ambassador at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She studied abroad with CEA in Rome, Italy, during the Summer 2012 term.

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