 Let's see if this is better. Let's see if this is working now Trying to get back on here that again. I just tested my audio and it wasn't coming through so I'm trying a new one here We're trying to see if we got this working. Let's take a look. Let's see if things are going. Okay. I'm hoping I'm gonna check it out here. Just listen to myself for a second to make sure it's working Let's see so How are we doing? Are we are we getting? Getting it going. It says my health is excellent. Let me see if I can hear myself All right. Now we're looking good. Hello my people. Okay. Let's try this again. The uh, yeah first attempt didn't work too Well, we're good now. Um, so yeah, I had audio issues. I don't know why no, we don't so we're good Hello There we go. Okay, it's nice to have a little little love in the chat here. What's going on my people So yeah, uh, the point of today is to talk about what it's like to be an international student look a little bit at some of the Pros and cons up and taking some notes writing some things down here I want to share them with you guys last week I was talking about my university experience and my internet was god-awful and then it shut down on me So it didn't even record the last part of the live stream so I kind of wanted to pick up where I left off there and Also wanted to share this experience because like if you were Contemplating studying abroad then it's like nice to maybe hear, you know, what it's like to be an international student what it's like to be Sort of the minority in another country and I think that It will be a very different experience from what you might be used to I mean if you think about your current experience in school You are probably not an international student in school. Maybe you are but Most people watching here probably studying in school in the same place. They were like born So you're kind of just one of many people, but then when you go abroad you become one of few people And that was my experience when I studied to be a real like I was one of the only gringos in that institution I think that When I was there, I probably saw three or four other foreigners in the time. I was there There was this one guy who I knew so Joaquin. Yeah, mr. Bitosky by the way. I said hi in the chat But hello formally so in those cases right like I was I was one of the only foreigners in the school, you know This weather guy was a teacher that I knew I actually worked with that guy So it was funny when we saw each other there for the first time. We're like You're here And and that kind of brings me to like one of my first pros that I want to talk about is like the fact that you are This minority the fact that you are Not the majority of people Is kind of an awesome thing, okay, it's it's kind of sweet and I want to explain why so First of all, you got to understand that like by being an international student You're going to be kind of an anomaly Right, you're you're gonna stand out people are gonna look at you People are gonna go home wonder what that person is. Where are they from like? They're not going to know exactly what to make of you at first and that makes you an interesting person by default That's kind of cool. Like that works to your advantage in a few different ways for one I mean, I'll just say it straight up in the dating game of people. That's that's a plus Okay, being exotic is kind of a plus. All right being being a little different from the rest is interesting You know, it's it's a little easier to meet some people and it also translates to like more interest in you Right because people look at you and go wonder wonder what's up with this person I wonder what their story is. How did they get here and that? Is actually really useful because it helps you make friends. It helps you connect with people If you're an international student in a let's say a university in the United States, right? You're gonna get there. You're gonna feel a little out of place But there's other people probably from the same regions or areas as you so you might be able to just click right off The bat with people from your own community, right? Let's say you join for example Latin American Student Association, which there's one of those in just about every university in the States Well, right there You're gonna be able to connect really quick with people that are closer to you I guess more similar to you and and that will allow you to make some friends right away But even if you don't do that, let's say you go in with the mentality of like I don't want to just be friends with other Latino students I want to make friends from this culture and other cultures You're also going to have the ease of doing that because there's gonna be other international students Who are looking for the same thing? And so you're gonna make those connections really quickly Locals will also want to sort of adopt you as your as friends, you know, there's a lot of people that Pardon the reason there at university also is to to learn about other cultures and to meet people from other cultures So you'll find that there's a lot of local people that are interested in becoming friends with you or getting to know You and and that's something that one of the things that got cut off last week That I wanted to say big shout out to La Buenonda like my group of friends from a university That was super cool because like The first maybe the first semester I didn't like settle in right away with any group of people But as I started working with some people and started doing some projects and assignments with people I started getting into this group of friends here and they're about what six of us or seven of us something like that and the The group, you know got very close over the years and we became sort of the friend group Right. We always would do our assignments together always working our projects together We even got together after classes sometimes to to have some food. I just saw them not too long ago my place So these are people who I've known now for more than five years since that's how long it took me to study here And they're still my friends today people that all you know happily get together with and have lunch with or talk to over the week And stuff so that's something that you're gonna get as an international student You're gonna find that it's a little easier to make friends than you might think and while I feel like Some people think that you know, you're gonna be an international student gonna feel a little lonely a little excluded The the reality is you're not you're not gonna be excluded You're gonna be included in a lot of things and that's really cool While you might feel a little lonely that kind of brings me to the the first con that I wanted to talk about was like the distance, you know, there is a I Would I put this there's I don't know if I would call this necessarily a con or a disadvantage But there is this feeling of wow, I'm far away from home, right? I'm far away. I don't have my family around Your friends from before they're gonna leave they're gonna be gone out of your life a lot of them Okay, won't lie and that's that's a normal part of life You you know even in the US you have friends from high school and you guys go to different colleges and you drift apart a little bit You know, maybe maybe some really good ones will stick with you for a long time But I'll be honest. There's you're gonna lose touch a little bit with some of your old friends you're gonna lose some of that bond that you've had with people because At the end of the day you you do start to surround yourself with your new life, you know, you don't have The luxury of constantly being in touch and being on the phone with friends I mean if you can't go out and hang out with those people Actually, you're gonna Contact them a little less frequently You're gonna reach out a little less and little by little you kind of drift apart There's people in my life that you know super close buddies from like high school that I don't really talk too much anymore I should I should be better about that part of that's on me but part of it is the distance the Distance between you and those people is gonna mean that you have to focus more on the people around you Not the people that are 4,000 miles away in the other country. So That's something to keep in mind as you as you embark on that journey of studying abroad like You're gonna make new friends, but you might lose some other ones That's that's one of the cons that I see out there and it's something that I think is fair to say, you know I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I think it's a normal part of life I think that as I've lived you realize you do make new friends as you go through life and some sort of drop out And it's almost like a football team, you know, like ten years after the team you fell in love with It's different. There's different players new people new faces new coaches, but like it's still the same team It's still your team and so I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives when we talk about making friends and that kind of bond that you form with people Look at him at least here. So I want to continue down the con road and talk about Complex topic here, which is stereotypes. All right As an international student, you will be faced with some stereotypes. I don't care what you do I don't care who you are where you're from There are gonna be some stereotypes that will affect you and even when those stereotypes are kind of more positive They can still be a little bit negative for you and I can give plenty of clear examples of that in my experience here so I Have the benefit and I openly acknowledge this benefit of being a gringo in Peru That comes with a lot of positive Associations, you know generally speaking in this country if you're an American your European foreigner People look at you positively, you know, but that that positivity comes from assumptions, right? So what do they assume? They typically assume that I must be rich because I'm a gringo in Peru, right? Can't be poor in Peru If they had seen my bank account statements in like 2013, they would have had a very different idea But people just kind of assume that you have a lot of money Which isn't much of a problem, but you know at the same time there's that sort of pressure on you in a way like do I have to live up to this expectation and if I do am I Like fulfilling a stereotype and it's not what I want to do But I don't want to like be poor just to be not a stereotype like it doesn't make it puts you in a weird position Similarly, there's other I think other positive perceptions about Americans in Peru that typically Will will manifest themselves and for me. I feel like the money thing is the number one thing but then also a little bit of like maybe our Nationalism kind of comes through there's an expectation on Americans to sort of be punctual and do these things that maybe you don't normally see in the Culture here as often and I I also found that that would manifest itself in classes like the It was weird. I as a one of the only Americans in my program My program was bilingual, right? I had English courses and I had Spanish courses the Spanish courses would typically be about the Peruvian curriculum or like Psychology and what have you while the English courses were often more about teaching and actually how to teach English And so I had this mix of classes in two different languages. I Noticed an interesting trend My grades would be worse in the classes that were English based and they would be better in the classes that were Spanish based I Started to question this like why would my grades fluctuate and Most notably why would they go in the opposite direction of what you would expect, right? You would expect that your grades in English courses if you're a native English speaker would be better Right and your grades in Spanish would probably be worse You guys if you go travel abroad, you know and study abroad Maybe you would take a Spanish course and you would think well I should ace the Spanish course because like I'm a native Spanish speaker but what the weird thing that happens is The teachers sort of project this stereotype on to you that you should be good at this, right? So what I noticed was I got graded harder when it was English. It was like the teachers I don't know if they wanted to challenge me or if they just expected me to be awesome and do everything perfectly But the problem with that is like we're not testing my English ability in class We're testing my knowledge and understanding of these complex concepts. It's not about can I speak the language? It's about do I understand the material and Even though I think I really did understand the material and I demonstrated that really well. I had this sort of Weird grade, you know inversion So teachers on the flip side when I got into a class that was in Spanish They kind of took it easy on me. They would they wouldn't challenge me as much or they would always be like wow Your Spanish is so good And they would kind of give me extra points just for speaking good Spanish Doing a decent job in the course I feel like my grades were inflated in Spanish and then deflated in English because they had this higher expectation of me So I think the same thing could happen to you as an international student going abroad You would have you know some of these expectations that people already have even Subconsciously and they'll come out in these weird ways. I don't again I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing It's just something that you should be aware of and that trickles into other aspects of the class like anytime Time I swear anytime Something came up related to the United States. I was expected to give my opinion on it I was expected to speak out about it And you know when you study a lot of the stuff you're reading is from American authors So pretty much all the time they were asking me to give my take on these things and you know There's days in class where you're just like, I don't really feel like participating today. Can I just can I just chill? Can I just not and they would always make me say something You know, I always always had to comment on whatever the news was coming out of the States or whatever the American author and teachers would throw out these like ideas about why they think the Americans think this way or feel this way And I'm expected to give my take on it as if I represent an entire country like I'm one of 330 million Americans or so I'm definitely not able to speak on behalf of an entire population But that's sort of what was expected of me So I guarantee if you were in a class and something about Peru comes up, they're gonna be on you They're gonna be like, hey You know Tells what you think and you're gonna be like, oh, do I have to do I have to do this? Yeah Yeah, I do. Okay. Sometimes it do be like that So I Think if you now addressing possibly stereotypes that you might have to face, you know, obviously there's there are some people with less than positive perceptions of Latinos But I will say this that when you go to a university in the United States, it's a very different environment It's not the typical kind of I don't know I think even if you go to a small town university You'd find that it's much more open and accepting of international people than you would realize I have a friend who studied at a community college in North Carolina And she told me about that how like in the neighborhood in the area Sometimes she would get some dirty looks and stuff, but on campus. She felt good and she didn't have that problem So I think that if you're living on campus if you're staying with open-minded people at a university You don't have to worry much about being discriminated against or being excluded because of being a Latino in Or whatever you are if you're somebody who's not Latino watching this and you know I'm just saying Latinos because I know a lot of Peruvians are watching this But that's my point you don't have to sweat that sort of discrimination thing because really universities are very Open-minded very progressive about that stuff and I don't think it's an issue. I Certainly never felt excluded or discriminated against even though I know that I come in with more positive than negative perceptions Well overall was good So so that would be like my other con I guess is stereotypes or something You're gonna have to deal with even if they're positive you still have to kind of deal with them So don't let it bother you pros that gives you an interesting perspective like you're You as an international student have a unique perspective on Everything really like the class, you know the contents and and that perspective is welcome in those spaces So even though it can be a little annoying when people are constantly asking you to give your take on things Your take is also valued and that's a positive right that people want to hear what you have to say about something and and your International perspective is gonna give you a different set of eyes when you look at issues I feel for example that I can objectively analyze Peruvian culture better than a lot of Peruvians can Because I'm not from here. I didn't grow up here I I grew up in a totally different environment. So I'm seeing it from a colder more objective perspective Now that I've spent a lot of time here. I think I've analyzed it quite a lot And I think the same is true of my home country I have a better perspective on the United States because I have lived abroad and That enriched my understanding of a lot of the topics that we discussed. I think I was able to analyze Where that information was coming from coming from the US and analyze it better Because I had this different perspective of being an international student. I think if I had just studied in the States I probably wouldn't have had that same Diversity of perspectives because I had two different ways to look at things I had the Peruvian way in the American way and that duality was useful I could think about my experiences in Peru think about what I saw in my classrooms Think about what I experienced as an American student and compare those two things and think about okay as a student I lived through this. This is what I experienced as a teacher in Peru I've seen what students experience here and it's quite different. So that I think is Important it's it's valuable and it's something that you can only get by going abroad So that's something that's one of the big reasons I encourage people to do it is you get that broadened perspective That most other people will not have and that's gonna be useful for you throughout your life I think just your the way you see the world the way you understand things is gonna get better It's something I talked about in one of our early videos where we talked about You know how you change when you study abroad and that's one of the things that I I feel is absolutely true You you change your perspective on things and it becomes a more nuanced a more Objective perspective in a lot of ways because you're seeing things from from two different angles You know you only if you only see things from one direction. You're not gonna have the same perspective so that's a plus So yeah, we've talked about like you know you're a little more exotic You're more interesting person so a little easier to make friends and so you're gonna have you're also gonna have this weird perspective I think that's a positive Con that I think is worth talking about but could also fall into the pros category is your language barrier now Obviously if you study abroad, you know, you're probably gonna study in another language That's not yours. Maybe you go to Spain and you study in Spanish and that's not a big deal But if you study in the States or you're up in most places you're gonna study in English That will create a bit of a language barrier that can be a little difficult at first. I think that For a lot of people there's an adjustment at the beginning I know there was for me when I started studying in Peru I had already been living here for about four or five years So I had a pretty my Spanish was really good, but it also wasn't Flawless and it wasn't how would I say this it wasn't as broad Vocabulary speaking right so Studying here in Spanish kind of challenged me especially in the first few Semesters and I had a couple of teachers that were not very tolerant of some of my writing mistakes Like I had a couple little errors in my writing and stuff and they would they would knock me down a lot of points for that And I even have one teacher straight up asked me like, you know, like she didn't realize I was a foreigner So she was thinking that my Spanish should be perfect and she kind of had this like Negative view and she one time asked me like, where did you go to school? What kind of crappy school did you go to? I was like, oh, thanks but I Will say this like the reason I say this could also be a pro is that you get better Your your language skills are gonna go through the roof Through the roof my people. Let me tell you like I saw my Spanish Greatly improved from studying abroad and that's after I spent a lot of time here already and it already I think got into a very advanced level in Spanish so the Benefit of that challenge is that it makes you better, you know I feel that people tell me now that my vocabulary is very good in Spanish And I think a lot of that is because I studied here and it gave me more opportunities to learn more technical terms and things That I wouldn't probably have learned by just conversing with people Your conversational language is much more limited so to have that opportunity to explore academics and Practice using the language in that context expanded my understanding of the language Which also helps you out a lot in other ways and I feel that it's made me better for that reason as well So while there is this initial barrier, you know that you have to get over this Difficulty at the start it does get better It does, you know Get easier and as it gets easier you're getting better at the language and it stops being a problem So it's only a problem I would say for a little while and if your English is already really really good probably won't be much of an issue But there is that you know, there is that little barrier and I will say that You know, it's nice to have the opportunity to speak your native language with people So you should still look for some people who speak Spanish and hang out with them and stuff because it it's your brain It's how you think it's how you function in a lot of ways and it's it's good to keep that I You know, I've always had American friends while I'm here in Peru I've always had even my some of my Peruvian friends my best friends are like people who speak English also We use both and I think that that's nice, you know, thanks to have the opportunity to Speak naturally because no matter how good I get at Spanish There's always going to be little things that it just want to come out in English And so it's nice to have that opportunity to speak with those people So again, you got the opportunity as a foreign student to Connect with people who come from the same background as you and and you can use that to have some balance in your life So it doesn't have to just be a full 100 English experience You can keep a little bit maybe save like 20 for Spanish, you know and take a Spanish course and get like an easy credit You know, why not? Um, another negative that I think is worth pointing out that we need to talk about is cost so money people We won't sugarcoat this International students will spend more than their domestic counterparts to study abroad And so there is a cost component to consider here when we talk about cons It's more expensive to be an international student probably I say probably because there are some exceptions to that There's definitely ways for you to spend less abroad than you would hear in some circumstances, you know If you're looking at the pacifico and they're you're they're putting you in the most expensive category because your family makes money You probably could go to Germany study for free and just pay living expenses and be cheaper You might be able to get really good scholarships in some places and pay less like there's There's opportunities for you to spend less But in general it's safe to say that you're going to spend more as an international student And that's just the cost to do in business You got to cover living expenses a lot of your classmates are getting federal funding in the united states or from their local government So they're not paying as much as you if you're going to the states You're going to pay out of state tuition for public universities We're going to make a video on that soon So make sure you're subscribed to hang out for that because I want to tell you guys about how much it really costs To study in the u.s. I see a lot of misinformation out there on that. We got to clear that up I touched on it a little bit when I did the how to study in the usa video But I don't think I went fully into it and I want to go into it in more detail But the you know an international student at a private university will spend the same as everybody else But even then those those other students have access to grants and funding from the government that you aren't going to have So there is a cost factor. You have to acknowledge that Having said that it is possible to minimize that it is possible to reduce the negative impact on your family's finances And I think that it's worth it, right? It's it's a good payoff if you do it So I wouldn't let that stop me necessarily I realize that for some people some families that is going to be an obstacle that you have to overcome That might be the biggest con of trying to study abroad is overcoming the cost and if that's difficult for you I get it, you know, and I feel for you We want to help make that easier for people We're trying to hook people up with as many scholarships as possible You know every time I do a university episode, that's one of the first things to ask about is like tell me about your scholarships Let's break it down. How can we get people in here and reduce that cost barrier? But it is a real thing, you know, you got to acknowledge it. So I would say that uh That's one of the bigger cons of studying abroad now in my case I was kind of lucky in that I didn't have to pay more than the locals because of the design of the program that I was in Uh, so that was kind of nice Because of it being this like semi-persensial thing. I didn't actually have to pay more than anybody else. So that was cool Uh, but but yeah, I also, you know, wasn't living at home with my parents For example, like a lot of my classmates were so I have living expenses that I would have to take care of So that is another con on the list. So I covered some of these other things I don't know if you guys have any questions or anything you want to hear about in terms of like these pros and cons If you got any any ideas or anything bugging you I think you're curious about I think the uh another one that Again, I don't I don't classify this into pro con sort of thing because I think it has both Is the cultural factor, right? You are going to enter a new culture with different codes different social norms and rules And that Is both a pro and a con again It's a con in the sense that you're going to have to adapt to a different environment Like if you go to the united states, you're looking to be punctual Okay, don't none of this crap where you just show up late and it's like no problem Uh, that would drive me insane when I was at university here Like you'd have people roll in an hour late hour and a half and then they would just beg the teacher Be like, yeah, don't mark me late please and it's like dude Get get get your butt up. I'm here every day on time like I'm never late to this class How come you can't be you know that that would drive me nuts Um, that's a little culture barrier thing that I will say that you know, despite my 12 years of living in Peru I still can't get over that. I'm still a very punctual person I believe it's like respectful for other people's time and it's what you should do but Um, you know, it's the kind of thing that you take time to get used to if you get used to it And so there's going to be little cons and pros within each culture, right you You go to the states you might find some things annoy you but you might like some things And so that's why I don't really classify this as one or the other I just see it as a mixed bag some of these things are going to be You know things that drive you insane There might be some things that really drive you nuts. Um, like I another good example of a cultural difference, right? That kind of bugs me is um a dating thing, right? It's it's a weird thing here where I've noticed in Peruvian culture You have to sort of declare your intention to be with somebody you have to like ask them If they want to be your boyfriend or girlfriend and And it's like you have to formalize it by asking that question to the person And it's weird to me because in like the states, you don't really do that Like you might talk about it at some point, but the most likely thing is like Your the girl or guy or whatever you're going out with is going to talk to one of their friends Who's going to talk to one of your friends and they're going to exchange the information that you're together And then your friend is going to ask you hey are you together with this person and you'll be like, yeah I guess so and then you'll tell your significant other that same day like hey, yeah My friend was asking about that. So I guess yeah, we are right and they'll be like, yeah Yeah, I guess we are and that's just how sort of organically happens But like here it's this formal declaration thing. So That's the kind of stuff that I think goes unspoken a lot when we talk about Studying abroad. There's these cultural differences. Some of them are going to be Little things that you'll probably get over some of them will be minor Annuances that will continue to stay with you. There might be some things that you hate And then there's going to be stuff that you love and stuff that you think is great And so ultimately I think it comes down to doing some research learning a little bit about the country and thinking what Kind of environment you want For me, I think that most of the cultural differences are not so great as to Be a problem And I think a lot of times you'll find that more of them are positive the negative again, I go to positives here in Peru I think Peruvians in general place a high value on friendship and Socializing and that makes it easier to make friends and and go to parties and hang out with people and stuff like I found myself Always having invitations to go do stuff with people after class and You know, that's nice It's nice to feel welcome and feel invited into the social environment here And that's something that I find is very nice about the culture here So Are there some things that maybe I see as negative? Sure But there's also things I see as positive and I think they balance out at the end of the day If you're pretty open minded, they shouldn't be much of a problem for you But there are going to be some things that you know bug you so be prepared for that Um, I would imagine you guys probably would feel a little bummed out about the the food even though Our american food is like we just take the best of every other country and and eat it You're going to probably miss some Peruvian food unless you like live in an area that has a lot of it and even Like even if you go to miami and study in miami and go to peruvian restaurant It's not going to be quite the same. It's going to be just Just a little different But that also makes it nice for when you get to go back Yeah, so you're going to go back home visit your family visit your friends and eat all your food And I do the same thing today even though I have taco bell here It's nice to just have one every you know every five minutes and be able to pull in and get some hot fresh taco bell in the united states Uh without having to go to the yoke plaza here So, you know little things We've got some cultural things got some money things got some like personal things. I think the uh Another big pro that's worth talking about is the educational quality when you go to study abroad Now this is one that's more of a con in my case as I talked about last week Some of the experiences and being around were not that great um you on the other hand are probably going to go to A much nicer university abroad than you would hear and so that's going to be a big pro for you as an international student Like gonna be at a nice campus much bigger open space You know in the united states We have these big sprawling campuses where you can take long walks and go from building to building and you get these Very relaxing environments when I was at university of pittsburgh It's like you're downtown, but it doesn't really feel like you're downtown It feels like you're just in this campus bubble that's massive And you got all these cool open spaces and gardens and stuff to hang out in And I think that's awesome that you have these nice comfortable spaces Another big pro if you're coming from peru or or you know coming from a developing country Security it's nice to know that your stuff is relatively safe now The u.s. Has people that steal things and there's there's crime and stuff too, but campuses are extremely secure You don't have to worry about leaving your stuff out I look back to when I taught english at la utepa la universidad tecnologica del peru when I was there I It was like I was broke and I just had the cheapest flip phone that you could get It was like a hundred solos or something And I had class in the same classroom with like a 20 minute break in between the classes I left my phone charging on my desk Went downstairs grabbed a drink at the bodega and then went back up and it was gone and I was like Man somebody stole my cheap stupid phone You know, it's not even worth hardly anything and and mind you like if you steal that at the university That means you stole it from another student or a teacher Like neither one neither case no case is acceptable But that in particular really irritated me like that. I can't just leave a thing on a desk for 10 minutes without it disappearing um, you'll learn from that But that's the kind of thing that you don't necessarily have to worry about so much in the states, you know You can be in the us or europe and kind of leave your stuff I mean you should still keep an eye on your things don't be dumb But it's not as likely that that's gonna happen. So that's a plus, you know You got a little bit more security around you a little bit of a safer environment. Um, I know that There's tragedies that make the news and major events that you see in the news But those are very rare occurrences say universities for the most part campuses are very safe They typically have their own departments even like the university of Pittsburgh police department is its whole thing It's not just campus security. They're actual police like they're real a real department. So you have These like people there that are always looking out for your safety and trying to make sure that everything is cool And there's usually, you know services there to help you with those things That's another thing too. I think that is a big pro of studying abroad as they support their international students a little more You look at an environment like Peru where if you're a student here domestically You probably get some support from your university, but not a ton and if you go abroad They're gonna put a lot of emphasis on helping you out as an international student So you'll find that there are plenty of people who are dedicated to helping you whether that student organizations There's you know international ambassadors who are international students themselves Maybe in their junior senior year and they make it their mission to help it Help out the freshmen who just come in for their first year So there's this whole network of people that's sort of ready to support you And that's going to make your transition a lot easier I think that that's one of the nicest things that I've seen when I've interviewed these universities is how They have these teams dedicated to that and they really try to make it easier for you to be an international student and not feel You know lost abroad and it's easy to feel that Um halloween meet him. Yeah, that could be a good line. I think that that could be good Yeah, take that w and just turn that into something. I like that idea Trying to think well other pros and cons. I've exhausted my list I'm trying to brainstorm some more on the fly here, but I wrote down like eight things I've talked about all those eight things. I think um another major pro that's worth talking about is just the fact that a foreign credential has a It goes farther in some ways If you get a degree from english-speaking country, it's going to open even more doors because Other net other countries are going to agree on what those mean, you know If you get a degree from peru and you try to go do masters abroad You know, you probably can but there's going to be some places that say, eh, we're not sure about your program or I don't know about this If you get a degree in the states or in europe or something You can go do whatever you want anywhere after that and that's a nice plus Employers if you come back to peru and you want to get a job They're going to look at that foreign degree and you're going to have no problem finding work And you're going to get paid well because you not only have language skills But you have this international experience and that's going to help you go farther in your career here So if you choose to come back to your native land You have this bonus of having this thing that few other people in your country have So you're automatically like kind of on top of the pool when job applications come in And that's a big plus for you in the long term. It's something that I think carries a lot of weight that people should keep in mind You know, even I feel like even the same is true in the states If I went to apply for a job in the states with my peruvian degree I think they would look at that as a like a curiosity and interesting thing They're like, oh you went study at peru tell us more and that automatically makes your profile more interesting to potential employers You live in a globalized world. Like this is the the generation of globalization Remote work from anywhere You're going to have that employability Just because you've already had that international experience So when employers look at you, they're going to be like, man, this guy can do it. I trust this person I think they can be an international worker because they've already been an international student So that's a big pro that's worth thinking about if you're looking at your long term career success Can't go wrong by studying abroad um Yeah, I feel like it another big pro that's worth pointing out is just the freedom that you have If you study in other places to choose more courses universities abroad typically are more well funded especially if we're comparing to peru and They also have more opportunities for you right to explore different subject matters Something for example again going back to university of pittsburgh one of the people I interviewed mentioned that they teach like 21 languages Including lesser taught languages. So one of those was kechua like Imagine thinking about that like you could be a Peruvian student in the university of pittsburgh and learn kechua abroad That's pretty cool that they even offer that that there's even one person who can teach that and they Put that out there. I imagine they don't get a lot of students in that class, but They have it, you know, that's the cool thing and You're going to have those opportunities to study things that you're interested in that you probably wouldn't get that chance to do here you know Some of the universities here only have a handful of majors right whereas you go to the states Some universities have over 50 over 100 majors I mean that's insane to think about like you look at their list and it's just incredible There's so many different things you could study and you can sample a little bit of different things You can you know take a few courses from this one a few courses from that one and and you get a more enjoyable experience because you have those things another big factor is extracurricular activities and clubs like I will say one of the things that I thought was kind of a negative about my experience here was that I didn't have a lot of opportunities to do Activities within the university, but abroad you will There's so many different sports clubs And even different levels you don't necessarily have to play for like the school's official collegiate team There are club level sports, which are competitive But more friendly and then there's even intramural, which is just like hanging out and playing games with your friends You know what you would do on the weekend playing soccer with your buddies You just do it as part of this group and that's a formally organized thing So there are all sorts of opportunities for you to get into these student organizations and clubs And I think that that's something that is kind of lacking here If you're thinking about studying in Peru like you just kind of go to the classes and you go home a lot of times There are student organizations. There are activities, but they're fewer in number And they might not represent your interests and There's not always a good mechanism for creating new organizations and distributing information about them And then in contrast like I was helping somebody recently with an essay to Syracuse and We looked up their list of organizations and right on that page not only are there 170 organizations in Syracuse or something like that But they also had a button that was like register your own Don't see one on this list that you like make one and we'll publish it right here I mean, that's that's awesome. They're putting they're basically saying yeah, create your own organization We'll publish it here and advertise it for people and help you make more connections more friends And form more social groups for the things that you're interested in so I feel that If you study abroad you have more opportunities to engage in the activities that you really enjoy And and that's something that you won't necessarily have if you stay home because Unfortunately, the reality of the developing world is that we're just trying to get the basics done right We're still working on doing education properly here in Peru Okay, we're we're struggling with that So your university is just like okay. Can we teach a good class and have good professors and like good classrooms and good environment? Like can we just get the basics? And then abroad they're they're way past that right they figured that stuff out years ago Now they're they're looking at other things they can do to make your life more enjoyable and so You got the advantage of studying in a place that has Advanced further that has had more time to sort of figure out the basics And so they can spend more time thinking about those extra things that here where They're not priorities, you know, you got to solve your basic issues before you can worry about those other things here So I think that's another big pro is just that ability to do the things you want to do Whatever those things are You know start an esports club start a club for a sport You like or just for a group of people like you and you can do that over there And something you can't really Could do here, but it's just not as easy, you know So I think I think there's a lot more pros than there are cons and if we talk about that list it's Even some of the cons can be minimized and can be seen as pros in some cases so I feel like there's a lot of good reasons for you to study abroad and the Biggest obstacles of course are just you know academic and financial And if you can get over those barriers by hard work, then you can get through that and even I should say the cost thing is something that can be overcome by working while you study You know international students can work on campus in the united states If you study in europe, they give you permission to work Canada too So between financial aid and just part-time job You can probably pay for a lot of your schooling and not have to worry as much about the cost factor there's A lot of ways that you can pay for university without going broke And so don't rule it out just because it costs I feel like a lot of people look at that con and say now it's too expensive. I can't do it. It's impossible And the reality is with a combination of efforts You can make it possible you can do it and I I had to wait until I was able to have Work and a program that let me study at the same time took me some time to find that And be in the right place at the right time for for me to study But I was able to do it And so if I can do it anybody can do it. That's why I see it. I'm not special So, uh, so yeah, that's what I want to talk about today. It's been uh, it's been fun You know, I think uh, these are the kinds of experiences people need to hear about because it's and it's going to be different for everybody This is just my singular experience in peru as an international student But I think a lot of the same things will apply To anybody going anywhere like you're always going to have to deal with being a little homesick or feeling a little lonely sometimes or You know not Being as in touch with your old friends and family as you used to those things are always going to be there You're always going to have to spend a little more money to be abroad There's a few things that just apply to everybody regardless of where you go But the pros definitely outweigh the cons. There are more pros than cons And I think that's why it's worth doing. That's why I believe in what we do here at scores you know, we try to help people Make this a reality because we know that it's possible. We know that has a lot of benefits for people So, you know do it So what else is going on around here? Oh, yeah, I'll tell you guys real quick that uh, we got fresh content coming up for this week We got our last video from the united states kind of our last one not exactly our last one But kind of uh, I've been doing all these university videos and I got one coming out thursday That's our last one from my final visit in florida And uh, we'll probably be taking a break from some university for a while We're working on queuing up some more in europe I'm hoping to maybe do a euro trip and uh hit up some universities there So that would be really cool if there's any universities that you guys are interested in you should tell me because I'll try to make that happen We got people reaching out and making making connections Um, we're also going to be getting back to some of our regular programming then Like I got some how-to study in blank country videos coming up that are going to be cool. We got The uh, some other just general application advice stuff coming up because we are in the middle of application season now people It is it is on like some of the first applications went out at the end of september We're getting through some more we got October 15th is a big day for applications november 1st is a huge day for applications Then we're gonna have more coming down the pipe So we're gonna be hitting people with some advice on how to handle those applications and things How to study in russia says gustavo. Um, yeah, it's not a terrible idea other people have requested that we got to do that someday Um as a as my great-grandfather is russian Uh, or was russian. I I guess I have a little bit of an influence on that one I suppose a little something there. Yeah fun fact about me great-grandfather was russian Uh came over on the boat and all that so he barely spoke any english I barely knew much about that guy, but uh, yeah until it was about 10 You know, he would buy me a toy give me five dollars every time I saw him. So he was a cool guy to me um, yeah, so Uh, yeah, I got a little bit of russian in me. Uh, it's a very complex issue as an american, you know to to have some russian in you I feel like a a trader all the time. It's tough but Yeah, so that's what it would be. Um, I don't know if y'all got anything else But uh, I think we're gonna call it a day here. So it's been fun. Finally. We got things working Feels good good internets good sound good everything. So I'll see you. I'll see you next week my people. Take it easy