The Subtle Side of Study Abroad

Recently, I was asked to give a talk on study abroad as part of a Mount Royal University Alumni Webinar. Outside of design, slow travel and connecting with people from all over the world is my biggest passion. In this talk, I discuss some of the more subtle ways that study abroad has impacted my life and work. You can watch or read the talk below.

You can watch the full webinar, including the other thee talks, here.

Hi, my name is Gabrielle Dickson. Currently, I am a designer at J5 Design + Innovation where I help a variety of client to use human-centred design to do new things. I graduated from MRU last year with a Bachelor of Communication - Information Design last year. 

While at MRU I was very involved with the international community. In 2017, I did an exchange semester at FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria. When I came back, I spent a year volunteering and working with the Office of International Education. Then, I finished my degree with an exchange at L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique in Nantes, France. 

Now, (or I guess pre-COVID,) I host a series of Meetups for all exchange students in Calgary. As you might be able to tell, there is a theme here - I am very passionate about travel and international connection. 

Studying abroad has transformed my life - as I am sure that most people who have had this experience would say. In preparation for this talk, I spoke with a few of my friends from my exchanges and they all said the same thing: doing an exchange semester is an incredibly unique experience that is almost impossible to explain to people who haven’t done it, or something like it. 

You have four months jam packed with self discovery, meeting cool people, exploring the world, and having tons of fun. That is kind of the generic picture that you will get from everyone. 

Study abroad is also about the invisible things…

But between all of those great, instagrammable highs, there are some more subtle things that for me truly make the experience. Today, I will  explore the three that I found most impactful. 

1 . Studying abroad teaches you how to see yourself in a new way.

Moving to another part of the world disrupts almost all of your routines. This provides you with a unique opportunity to create a totally new way of living. Without your usual context, it is easy to see what might have been an old, bad habit and what is truly something that you enjoy. Like any big change, you have a blank slate and no choice but to try a bunch of new things, totally new things because you are in a foreign place. 

As you settle in to your new environment, you make thousands of tiny, choices that create a brand new life for yourself. 

For me, for example, mobility was a big one. Here, I have a very strong habit of driving everywhere. But in Graz, Austria I was lucky enough to live in a totally walkable area called Lend. I could walk to the university in 20 minutes, downtown in 10, and the grocery store in two. While at first I started walking places out of convenience, I quickly realized that I actually loved it because it provided a unique moment of peace and reflection that left me so much more calm in my life overall. This has remained a habit beyond my life in Graz.

Another big one for me was the work and design culture in Austria. I could not believe how engaged, passionate, and skilled the students I studied with at FH Joanneum were. They were consistently motivated beyond what was required of them driving them to create truly unique and interesting projects. One major thing I noticed was that they would start their projects very early and then discuss their progress and evolving ideas with their classmates, creating a collaborative, encouraging work environment. This made working on big projects not only manageable but also fun, instead of overwhelming, as you saw the collective progress and excitement around the work instead of stress and procrastination. Being immersed in this way of working for an extended period of time lead me to reconsider and transform my own approach to work. I stopped procrastinating and realize that I thoroughly enjoy the process working through projects over time.

Experimenting with different ways of living has impacted me well beyond my time abroad. I have kept both this mindset and many of the habits I built during my time abroad. Doing all of this has made me more confident, resilient, and happy.

2 . Studying abroad teaches you how to see the world around you in a new way. 

Similarly to how your internal world changes when you move abroad, everything around you changes as well. You are suddenly embedded in a new every day life and are learning all of the systems and norms you need to survive. Every day, you see and experience things that challenge how you think things should be. For me, this pushed the boundaries of what I thought was possible. 

For anyone who does any type of creative work, this can be an invaluable experience. This constant stream of novel people, places, things provides an equally constant stream of ideas and inspirations. And if you are a curious person, it is like heaven. You can spend all day asking locals about how and why things are, and discovering perspectives you never would have considered. I don’t know how else to explain it but my brain has never felt as engaged as does when I am overseas. 

I am actually reading a book about innovation right now called The Medici Effect. The author cites exposure to a range of cultures as one of the main ways that we can prime our brains to make novel connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and come up with creative, innovative ones. Every culture comes with its own embedded rules and values that are so deep we are not even aware of our own. As we learn the rules and values of multiple others we are better able to separate ourselves from our defaults and consider multiple perspectives.

I found that while I was overseas I observed the world around me at a whole other level because I was never just ‘going with the flow’ mindlessly doing things I had done 1000 times before. As a designer, this was a fascinating experience as it taught me to see all of the elements of services and products that we are so used to that we don’t even see here, ranging from how transit systems work to everyday product packaging. 

The whole time you are rapidly amassing an extremely diverse library of things to reference and inspire you on future projects. One of my favourite passion projects was inspired by something I experienced abroad. 

In Europe, there is one organization called Erasmus that connects exchange students from all universities in each city. This enriched my experience in Graz tons as I was able to meet literally hundreds more people through the events they hosted. Upon returning to Calgary, I realized that type of connection could be valuable for the exchange students here as well, but it did not exist - so I started it and created meetups that brought together exchange students Mount Royal University, University of Calgary, and SAIT. My experience overseas allowed me to see a gap and how to fill it - a skill that I use at my job every day to solve all different kinds of problems.

3 . Studying abroad makes you feel connected to the world. 

I don’t think anyone can talk about their exchange experience without mentioning the people they met while abroad. You meet tons of people, have a great time together, and learn a little about their culture. And then, you really get to know a few people, spend a lot of time together, and get a deep appreciation for their culture.

I called my friend Mickey, one of my old roommates from Austria, this weekend to discuss what I was going to say today and he put it best “People come from all over the world with a positive attitude.” You are automatically part of a cohort who also want to connect, explore, and live their lives as a big adventure. 

Hanging out with international people is so fun. Going to an exchange party is like going on 20 weekend trips in a matter of hours. My group of friends in Austria included people from Europe, Asia, and South America. It is fascinating watching all of these cultures intersect and blend together. 

Here is a funny game my roommates and I used to play, it’s called the Idiom game. You say the English translation of an idiom from your language and everyone guesses what it means. From Serbian, I learned ‘toothy sun’ which is when it is sunny outside and looks warm, but the air is cold - it bites you because you are not expecting it - toothy sun. One time, I offered ‘Bob’s your uncle.’ Mickey, my Serbian room mate did not believe me that this was a real idiom and insisted on trying it out the next time one of native English friends came over. While he didn’t use it exactly correctly, he and our friend were equally shocked by the other’s reaction - Mickey that our friend knew the saying and our friend that Mickey used it. This is a funny light hearted example of how we shared and connected every day. 

But sometimes, the connections help you learn very important things. The most impactful history lesson I have ever received was at The Office Pub in Graz on Erasmus Student night. I was sitting at a table with friends from different Balkan countries when they started explaining the history of their countries. About Yugoslavia, separation, difficulties their parents went through and how this shapes their culture today. I will never forget this conversation, because it wasn’t just ‘history’, it was their-stories. The lesson continued years later when I visited Mickey and his family in Serbia, and his grandmother told stories from her life. 

These interactions change the way you watch international news and see the rest of the world as these aren’t mystical far off places anymore, they are places that people like your friends live - and all places that you now have a personal tour guide.

I am still very connected with many of the people from my exchanges. Last year, I travelled through Europe for two months and met up with someone that I knew in every city along the way. Today, I message friends overseas almost daily which keeps me in this international mindset. 

Study abroad teaches you so many things…

Combined, all of these elements of study abroad teach you to think in new and different ways, appreciate and feel connected to the world around you. This has had clear benefits for me in my personal and professional lives. 

Some people say that ‘studying abroad’ is not real life but I could not disagree more - I just think it shows you a new way to live and if we try, we can take a lot of the lessons and apply them to our everyday lives. 

Needless to say, I encourage you to go out and do something like this.