By Sometimes the most memorable experiences in our life are those we never expected. This was true for Emma Walker, a senior business major from St. Paul, Minnesota, who spent the fall semester studying at the University of Galway in Ireland.
“It was spontaneous,” Walker said. “I was never actually considering studying abroad when I came to Carroll. Then finally I woke up one morning and was like ‘wait, should I do this?’”
Having only traveled to a few countries, this was a brave adventure. Walker not only traveled to Ireland but many other countries, from the Swiss Alps to Italy.
“We would basically be taking a middle-of-the-night bus to get to the Dublin airport every weekend to then get on an early morning flight to get to wherever I ended up going. I think I went to seven different countries, and that was every weekend,” Walker said.
Studying abroad also opened Emma up to a whole new world of education.
“I had classes Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays only, and my Friday class was only a couple hours long, ending at noon. You had to hold yourself accountable and study because your grade is 100% determined on whether you pass the final which makes for a stressful end of the semester, but that was way different compared to here where you have weekly assignments that count toward your grade.”
Her class schedule allowed Walker to spend more time exploring with the three other Carroll students who were also studying abroad in Galway.
“No day was ever the same. People say that, but it really wasn’t,” Walker said. “This was the first semester since literally third grade that I didn’t even use a planner. I feel like I was doing way more and way different things than I’m normally used to, even the simple things like walking to the grocery store because our fridge was quite small and there were four of us.”
Walker was also able to immerse herself in the culture and community of many of the places she visited.
“My initial perception of Galway was that it was a quiet, little town, and it is relatively small, but it was super lively and everyone was always out doing something, and everyone was always really friendly, smiling, so it was fun getting to know other people in the town,” Walker said.
This experience also helped Walker gain a lot of self-confidence by doing so many different things.
“You’re navigating different countries and different languages, and sometimes I was by myself, sometimes I was with friends, but it was empowering when you found ‘hey I did this, I was able to travel to London, Switzerland, Venice, Paris, Germany—all over,’” Walker said.
“I overcame the language barriers, the obstacles, and nothing goes perfectly. There are always going to be some things you have to adapt to and overcome that weren’t in your vision and I was like ‘alright, I’m a lot more comfortable traveling the world now.’”
Walker found that going on this journey abroad, while not in her initial college plans, was so enjoyable.
“I was actually kinda bummed that I wasn’t able to extend it or do the full year or even go elsewhere so I almost wished I had considered studying abroad sooner so that I could see if I could work with that in my schedule,” Walker said.
She has emphatic advice for all her friends at Carroll.
“Studying abroad is absolutely something everyone should do in their time at college and experience.”
