Hey there from LeadAbroad!

We hope as you’re reading this that you are either taking a break from finals week or that you’re finished! And what better study break (or post-finals celebration) than signing up for the trip of your dreams?

Here at LeadAbroad, we have been so lucky to have students who have loved the program so much that they decide to join us on another program. Each trip is unique, from sailing the Greek isles to serving children in Africa to exploring the Coliseum in Rome to practicing your Spanish in Barcelona. Each trip has a different group of wonderful people year after year. Whether you’re abroad for 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or 5 weeks, LeadAbroad can guarantee that no two trips are the same; they are all different and special in their own way! More and more students are making that leap of faith to join us in another location or another type of trip to continue their journey of growth and have yet another “once” in a lifetime summer. You, too, could be one of those students. Click here and take that next step.

Caitlin Toomey, a business marketing major at the University of Mississippi, joined us on LEAD Cape Town 2015 and will be traveling with us again on DIRECT Greece 2016! Caitlin is a senior, and after she graduates in May, she wants an exhilarating adventure with enriching experiences and insightful new friends. Her solution? Go on another LeadAbroad program! Read our guest post by Caitlin, below, to get a feel for why going on a LeadAbroad program for the second summer was a no-brainer.

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Around this exact time last year, I checked one of my biggest items off of my bucket list – “Study Abroad.” The thing is, this wasn’t an odd thing for someone’s bucket list. Many people have some hopes of going abroad sometime in college. What made it unique is who I chose to take the next step with… LeadAbroad. It was like no other program I had looked into. It was offering every aspect I wanted in my trip abroad and even more. However, as a rising senior, you hear things like: “You should be doing an internship,” “You should spend your summer interviewing for jobs for when you are out of college,” “Isn’t it a little late to be going abroad?” Thankfully, I followed my instincts and decided that this was not an opportunity that comes around every day. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I made the ultimate decision that I had my whole life to interview, intern, and prepare for my future. The ironic thing is: I had never thought that my trip to Cape Town, South Africa would be the ultimate preparation for my future.

If you are reading this and have already experienced a trip abroad with LeadAbroad, you know how difficult it can be to put your experience into the words that will somehow do it justice. I met people that I never would have gotten to meet that now mean the absolute world to me. I had roommates from my own university, but it took me flying to another continent to meet them, and I get to call them some of my closest friends now. I learned more about what makes a good leader, what makes a great team player, and what values I already have that can be more beneficial to my success than I ever thought.

So the question could be, “If you already learned and saw so much… why go again?” I have come back home and adjusted into my last year of college. I am still using tools that I learned last summer in my everyday life here at school. I will be graduating in May, which may make my decision to go abroad even more questionable. The thing about going to Cape Town for me was how much more I have to learn – how I can never stop learning as long as I have my open mind and my passion to always see more. I don’t want to say that this is the last chance I will ever get to travel because I don’t want to think of a future that will be without travel. But I will say that these are some of the few years we, as young college students, have before diving into our lives after graduation. I chose to go on DIRECT Greece this upcoming summer because it is perfect for someone who doesn’t need the class credits but still wants that unforgettable experience again. It also is perfect for someone who may not have a full month to go explore. What got me to go on LEAD in the first place was the service. The amazing thing about service is that it is everywhere. I can go from Cape Town to Greece and still get to give back, which is incredible. I also can’t think of a better way to spend two weeks before applying for jobs than to get submerged in yet another culture that this world has to offer.


So, what do you say? Are you ready to take that next step and sign up for what could be the best summer of your life…again?! Take Caitlin’s advice. But don’t just go – LEAD!

-The LeadAbroad Team