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Student Reflections

How to Balance Five Courses Abroad

Jolaade Okanlawon
February 8, 2018

If you’re like me, in order to fulfill 16 Northeastern credits abroad, you might have to enroll in five courses during your study abroad semester at your international host university. Luckily for me 1 credit at John Cabot University = 1 NU credit; in order words, taking an evaluated three credit JCU course would equate to taking a 3 credit course at Northeastern. Therefore, since JCU offers a majority of three credit courses, most students who participate in the program end up taking 15 credits abroad. However, if you’re interested in learning a new language like me, I would suggest taking a 4-credit intensive language course in either Spanish, German, Italian or French. For my semester abroad, I’m taking 4 three credit courses: Health Psychology, Social Psychology, Child Development, Intermediate Italian II as well as a four credit Elementary Spanish course. Therefore, you’re probably wondering how I’m able to balance my heavy course load with community service, extracurricular clubs, and traveling. Well you’re in luck, because for this post, I’m giving you my tips and tricks for balancing five courses abroad.

1. Buy a Planner! (Compra un’agenda!)

It’s quite unlikely for anyone to remember what they have to do for homework in five courses without writing them down. Therefore, I would suggest buying a planner at the nearest “Cartoleria” if you end up studying abroad in Italy. The Cartoleria has a diverse supply of notebooks, planners, pens as well as any other school utensil you would need for the semester. Therefore, the closest one near JCU is right across the Ponte Garibaldi called the Cartolerie Internazionali. If you leave from Tiber Campus it should be about a six minute walk. However, if you don’t have any background knowledge of Italian I would suggest walking in with a couple of handy phrases to make the process more facile since some Italians speak little English.

Here are some phrases I use:

Quanto costa?: How much does it cost?

Dov’ e` (school supply)?: Where is …..

L’agenda: planner

When you purchase your planner make sure you bring it with you to every class. During the end, you will be able to write down any homework that is assigned to you so that you can look at it later. Once you’re ready to start your homework the planner will already contain a checklist for you to go through and cross out.

2. Prioritize! (Dai priorita` ai tuoi compiti!)

There will probably be many times during the semester in which you will have to choose between traveling for the long weekend or staying in Rome to finish up any remaining homework. I would suggest prioritizing what matters to you the most. For example, as much as I want to travel to Paris for the upcoming weekend, I know that wouldn’t be the best idea since I have an exam that next Monday. Therefore, if you want to succeed during your semester abroad sometimes you have to prioritize your school work over socializing, traveling or volunteering. Instead, why not take a day trip? Day trips are these quick excursions to nearby cities that can be completed in one day instead of taking up your whole weekend. Once you return from your trip in the evening it gives you an ample amount of time to study for any upcoming exam you may have for the next week. Also, giving up the desire to socialize is not easy as well. As much I want to make friends during my time abroad, I unfortunately have to turn down many requests or invites to go out if it interferes with my studying or any of my assigned work. Therefore, it’s important to let your friends know that you’re quite preoccupied with the heavy course load on your shoulders so that they don’t end up getting offended or misinterpret your decline as rejection. In addition, as much as I may love to volunteer and commit to community service, this semester abroad has limited me in doing such. Most of the community service programs I would like to participate in through JCU have a heavy level of commitment. For instance, I desperately wanted to volunteer with an organization called L’arca, an organization that aims to empower people experiencing disabilities to become a vital and active role in our society. However, this commitment would require me to travel to Ciampino through the Roma Termini train station for more than 4 hours. Not only, would this affect my ability to travel as much while I’m abroad but it would also take up a huge chunk of my day that I could use to study or do homework. Therefore, as a suggestion, try to do volunteer activities that require a low level of commitment. JCU offers a variety of these activities that include: teaching English to Italian women or distributing food to the needy. Either way, balancing five courses abroad shouldn’t limit your ability to travel or volunteer, you just have to figure out what works best for your schedule.

3. Don’t Procrastinate! (Non procrastinare!)

I know what you’re thinking… but we are all guilty of it. Procrastination is the thief of time that leads to stress and anxiety. Therefore, if you want to succeed in taking five courses abroad then I suggest not making procrastination your best friend. In order to avoid it, I would suggest taking short 30-minute breaks between your assignments. For instance, when I’m completing my homework assignments, in between them, I prefer to watch short YouTube clips, listen to music or read a chapter of my favorite new book. All of these things help me relax without feeling too overwhelmed. Another tip I would suggest is to make sure you start with your easy tasks first. If they’re easy you’ll be able to get them out of the way faster and cross them off of your to-do list. Overall, resist the urge to fall into temptation because procrastination is beatable with determination and diligence.

I hope you enjoy your five courses abroad!

Jade ❤

Italian Words:

cartoleria – stationary store

internazionali – international 

procrastinare – procrastinate

non – not

dai – give

priorita` – priority

compra – buy

i tuoi compiti – your homework

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