4 Benefits of Volunteering While Studying Abroad

By Julia Dunn on May 18, 2017

These days, “study abroad” does not just mean “study abroad.” It suggests a dynamic experience that does include studying and engaging in courses in a new country, but it also involves co-curricular aspects that can fortify your trip.

Why would you go to Japan and spend all of your time pent up in your room when you’re not in class? Studying abroad can offer plenty of growing opportunities both socially and culturally, and volunteering while abroad can greatly enhance your experience.

While there are many reasons to volunteer during your study abroad experience, here are four benefits to consider.

Make friends and gather alternative perspectives

Feeling lonely in the country you’ll be staying in for a few more months? Volunteering is an easy way to make friends in a community that doesn’t yet feel like your own. You’ll find yourself making tons of friends after just a few days of volunteering, and if you’re passionate about the cause, you’ll likely find that your new friends care about the same issues you do.

This can create a stronger sense of belonging to you in your study abroad country, which makes every other aspect of life easier. Support systems are even more necessary when you don’t have your immediate network of loved ones from back home –volunteer and a second support system might just materialize for you!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Aside from simply making friends, you’ll gain different perspectives if you join a volunteer group. For instance, if you’re volunteering for a political organization, you might engage in conversations with individuals whose politics do not completely align with yours.

In other cases, you might volunteer with folks who agree with your beliefs but for reasons different than yours. These experiences can be more memorable or meaningful than strictly academic experiences you might have in your own program.

Contribute to the community and it will contribute to you

The amount of enrichment you get from study abroad truly is proportional to the amount of effort you dedicate to immersing yourself in the place you’ve gone. Volunteering in the community may present you with experiences you haven’t considered before.

Depending on the type of volunteer work (for instance, helping houseless folks access food in the evenings), you could really be making an impact in someone else’s life. There is no substitute for the fulfillment students can get from helping others, especially those living in part of the world you may never have visited before.

You can make professional connections

Volunteering abroad is great professional experience you’ll be able to reference in future job interviews. You’ll learn communication skills as well as problem-solving skills (which are even more valuable during study abroad trips, where the environment and culture are not familiar to you). You’ll learn to adapt to cultural norms and be able to think quickly when things go awry. These are all valuable and marketable skills you can transfer to any position, even ones you find back in your home country.

Additionally, although it might be unlikely that you’d want to move abroad permanently, volunteering abroad could lead to job offers or longer term projects from the organization for which you’re volunteering. Exciting!

You’ll learn new languages in context

If you predominantly speak English and all you do while studying abroad is hang out with your English-speaking friends in your same program, you will most likely speak in your dominant language. This is bad for students wanting to study abroad to improve their use of a new language!

The best way to get better at your German, Spanish, Russian, any language you choose? Volunteer in the community with folks who only speak your target language! This can be challenging and even uncomfortable at first, but you’ll adapt quickly and become more confident in your language skills during your interactions while volunteering.

This again helps you make the most of your study abroad trip, rather than allowing you to stay in your comfort zone. You may never again be presented with the chance to speak another language in a country where that language is dominant, so make use of your opportunity to do so! Folks in the country will (usually) appreciate your commitment to language-learning and help you along the way.

When selecting a study abroad program, explore opportunities to volunteer in your country of choice. You might find that your program has volunteer opportunities built into its structure, or you might find your own volunteer opportunities outside of your actual program.

If possible, try to contact study abroad advisers at your home university and see if they can provide you with a list of organizations that accept volunteers in your country. Alternatively, you might find adventure in wandering around once you’ve arrived in the country and looking for opportunities on the spot.

Whichever way you pursue volunteer opportunities, you’ll find there are countless positives to community engagement while abroad.

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