Young adults (18-20) abroad

[Anonymous]

Mine was 17 in high school and yes, I worried. Also tracked compulsively by iPhone but never said anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wandered around for four months alone in Europe before email and the interwebs. There's more ways to stay in contact now.

We had phones back then.

Telephones. It cost a fortune to call home from a pay phone.

Yea that poster is just being an ass. Pre-Internet nobody called home from study abroad. It cost too damn much. You used air mail.

+1
I had my parents' phone card number memorized but only called about once a month over the course of a year. Other than that it was air mail, in those thin air mail envelopes and paper. SMDH that people don't remember or care to look up how expensive these kinds of things were back then.

I remember talking to my parents twice during a 5-month period: Once because I had gotten an internship and the employer couldn't find me to accept (ha!). They called my parents, then my parents called me. And once to tell them my flight information when I came home. We wrote a lot of letters!

[Anonymous]

When I was 16, I spent the summer living with a host family in a small town in Spain. I was with a group with about 10 other Americans, but we were in different houses. It was great. I sent my parents a couple postcards and I called them once from a pay phone. It was fine.

I do recall that a couple of girls from Los Angeles make appointments with their hairdressers. We all thought they were ridiculous and spoiled.

[Anonymous]

When I (F) was 21 I went to the Netherlands for spring break with 3 (M) friends including my then boyfriend / now husband. He’d rarely flown and had never been out of the country. By contrast the other two men had both spent time living outside the country (they had studied abroad in the fall and one had grown up living in Germany for a few years and the other had lived in the Netherlands way back in kindergarten and later lived in Canada for awhile). It was great and we figured out logistical challenges as they arose. We were mostly together but had a day we split off to do our own thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did it go for yours when they first went abroad? Were they fine? Did you worry?

DD did 6 months abroad on her co-op at NE, started at 19, turned 20. Yes, I was worried (DH was not). She did great, had a fabulous experience, and is now working in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did it go for yours when they first went abroad? Were they fine? Did you worry?

My ds spent 6 months abroad. This was a big deal for our family as we are not international travelers.

He did great. We didn't speak on the phone much to not run up intl roaming charges. But we did check in regularly. Yes, I worried a lot. But he was probably as safe if not safer than in some places here. I did make sure he knew where an embassy was. He was with his college program so they had support on the ground there.

The only problem I ran into was getting his asthma meds mailed to him-in retrospect I would have obtained a 6 month supply and sent it in the luggage.

[Anonymous]

I think OP is looking for relatively current experiences, not ours circa 1990.

My older is going to Barcelona this fall, so no advice yet but his program doesn’t seem to be providing a lot of info (or he isn’t opening the emails- either is possible!). I’d love a separate thread where we can exchange tips on packing, cell phones, money, etc.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking for entire semester abroad type experiences?
Or just a week or two over summer/spring break type experiences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is looking for relatively current experiences, not ours circa 1990.

My older is going to Barcelona this fall, so no advice yet but his program doesn’t seem to be providing a lot of info (or he isn’t opening the emails- either is possible!). I’d love a separate thread where we can exchange tips on packing, cell phones, money, etc.

OK, but we survived with very little communication in 1990, so it's even easier for kids today.

Put him in charge of packing, cell phones, money etc so he can be independent. You can play back up quarterback if you're worried, but don't take the lead.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid with severe inattentive ADHD going abroad for the fall semester. Thankfully, he will have relatives in the same city looking out for him, and I hope he won't lose his wallet, wander in a dangerous part of the city, or do other silly things. His cousin with the same diagnosis did a study abroad in China and lost his credit card on the first day, apparently. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wandered around for four months alone in Europe before email and the interwebs. There's more ways to stay in contact now.

We had phones back then.

Telephones. It cost a fortune to call home from a pay phone.

Yea that poster is just being an ass. Pre-Internet nobody called home from study abroad. It cost too damn much. You used air mail.

This. My parents called every few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is looking for relatively current experiences, not ours circa 1990.

My older is going to Barcelona this fall, so no advice yet but his program doesn’t seem to be providing a lot of info (or he isn’t opening the emails- either is possible!). I’d love a separate thread where we can exchange tips on packing, cell phones, money, etc.

A lot of tips are place and program dependent. There is likely some sort of FB group for parents that you can join. Ask on the parent facebook group for your kid's college.

[Anonymous]

Both of our children spent three weeks in Europe at 19 and 20 - in 2021 and 2023

Kid2 is considering a semester abroad.
Husband and I have no concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did it go for yours when they first went abroad? Were they fine? Did you worry?

They'd take the bus or fly alone to Mexico once they were 12-15ish. By the time they were early 20s they were well accustomed to traveling alone abroad.

[Anonymous]

Much less of your child being shot abroad than here in the US so that’s a positive.