Hello cardinals! It’s Savannah again. I am still in Rome studying at the beautiful John Cabot University. As the most important part of study abroad is the STUDY part, here are three things to know about taking classes abroad:

1) Not too soon, not too late!

Back home, I definitely opt to have classes later in the day so that I can sleep in. I assume most college kids feel the same way: sleep is a gift! While studying abroad, however, I took the earliest class possible. This is only 9am here, but being done at 10:50am and having an almost three hour lunch break is such a gift! I also get done around 3:30, so I still have time after class if I want to go see some sights before dinner. Plan your classes (if you can) to have free time during the day at some point. You will want to spend time in your beautiful city, you chose it! I have friends that don’t start class till 3:30 and get done at around 5, so they go before hand. Just make sure you have a plan to get to class on time if you decide to have later classes.

2) Do your homework

Do just like you would back home: do research about your classes before committing. If you are lucky like me and have options you can do this, but if you are taking a required class, you may be out of luck. Check the teachers: are they lecture heavy? Test heavy? Just because you are abroad doesn’t mean all classes will be to your liking. Also make sure you are actually interested int he topic! I love my classes, but there are some people in my program who dread going to class every day because they didn’t do their research.

3) Don’t expect everything to be the same

While some things will be the same, classes abroad are not 100 percent like back home. You will need to study and do your homework just like back home, but depending on your teacher your class may be run differently. As for me, my classes have a ten minute break in the middle to rest. I never get a break back home. But not everything could be positive like that. Just mentally prepare that your teacher is not a Louisville professor; respect them and know that they know what theyr’e doing. Another thing that won’t be the same is the speed at which material goes: my program is only five weeks! Learning the same amount of material you learn in fifteen weeks in a third of the time means material will go much faster. Just be prepared, and if you need more help your professor should be glad to help.

Thanks for reading! I hope you learned something new about study abroad!

-Savannah T, Class of 2020