Packing Pride in Your Study Abroad Suitcase
Exploring Study Abroad Through an LGBTQIA+ Lens
Choose
Your
Program
Pack Your Suitcase
Prepare to Go Abroad
Start
Your
Experience
Abroad
Return Home
@StudyAbroadUSAC Students Beyond Borders Podcast
usac.edu
PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE: Resources & Support
Throughout each stage of your journey, ask yourself this: Who can I call on for guidance and support? We’ve started a list for you.
SUPPORT RESOUCES
The USAC Team: Your USAC Advisor, Resident Director, and Health and Safety Team. Your home university study abroad office. Other students who have studied abroad and can offer their experience and advice (ask USAC and your study abroad office for a list, and check out the USAC blog).
USAC DIGITAL RESOUCES
Equity & Inclusion: usac.edu/usac/equity-and-inclusion USAC Getting Started: usac.edu/getting-started USAC Blog: blog.usac.edu USAC Social Media Instagram, Facebook, Twitter: @StudyAbroadUSAC YouTube: StudyAbroadUSAC Spotify, Apple Podcasts: Students Beyond Borders
Add your own and keep this list handy!
Packing Pride in Your Study Abroad Suitcase
Reflective Exercises PICK YOUR SUITCASE: Choose Your Program
Where Do I Want To Go?
What Specific Programs Interest Me?
Reflective Exercises - Continued
Key Deadlines To Consider
Choose program by
Apply by
Start my adventure in
Return from my adventure in
Three Goals For My Study Abroad Experience
1.
2.
3.
Which Advisors Will Help Me With My Plans?
PACK YOUR SUITCASE: Prepare to Go Abroad
As you prepare to go abroad, what personal and identity-specific items do you want to bring with you?
Think about the practical items but also about how you want to express your identities abroad. Why are these items important to you? How do they help you remain authentic to yourself? Use some of the prompts below, and your own thoughts and feelings, to help you identify what you want to pack in your LGBTQ+ suitcase.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
What are some important items you’ll want to take with you? How will personal reflection and transformation be a part of your journey? What types of photos will you take with you? What communities do the people in those photos represent? What does it say about what’s important to you? How might your LGBTQ+ identity intersect with the other items in your suitcase?
What other pieces that make up your identity will you take with you?
Journal
PACK YOUR SUITCASE: Prepare to Go Abroad
Journal
UNPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Arrive
Congratulations, you've arrived!
As you begin to unpack and settle into your new home, think back to the pride-related items that you packed in your suitcase. How would you like to introduce yourself to your new culture, friends, and school?
Use the following prompts and journal to help you identify what's important to you during this time.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
As youget to know theother students, how are you going to introduce yourself? What will be important for you to share? What identities will you showcase?
What characteristics will be important for you as you seek out new friends and close connections?
When youreflect onyour LGBTQ+ identity,and your other identities, what information will be important for you to gather during your USAC orientation and in your first days?
When you consider your goals for your study abroad experience, what do you want to see, do, and explore? (Pro-tip! Consider pinning or saving locations in Google Maps. This way,when you have free time, you canopen upthe app and pick something that’s on your study abroad bucket list.)
And speaking of this study abroad bucket list, what will you add to your list, especially as it relates to your LGBTQ+ identity?
UNPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Arrive
Journal
UNPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Experience
Now that you've mostly adjusted and settled into your new home, let's take inventory again of how your experiences have impacted your identity and how you view the world.
Use the following prompts and journal to help you express your experiences, transformations, impressions, and emotions.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
In addition to the photos of family members, friends, partners, and pets that you may have brought with you, what photos have you added to this collection during your study abroad? Who’s in these photos? Where were they taken? What scenes are captured? In what ways do these photos illuminate what’s important to you? If you've been keeping a journal or blog, what are the topics of your entries or posts? What are you celebrating? How have you grown? What challenges have you faced? What do you still want to accomplish? You should even revisit the clothes that you brought with you. Are there certain things that you thought that you would wear, but don’t? Do you find yourself wearing something over and over again? What have you purchased, and what does this say about your identities? How have your perspectives changed since you've arrived? How has your identity changed? How has this impacted you?
UNPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Experience
Journal
REPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Return Home
Take inventoryof what you need to repack. Imagine everything spread out on your bed and an empty suitcase on the floor and ask yourself:
What are some of thenew items that you collected during your time abroad? What are some of the things that you had originally packed, but you’re not bringing home with you? Which item is so valuable that you’re going to pack it in your carry-on bag?
Of course, as you take this inventory of what you need to repack, contemplate the most important question of all:
How have you changed during your time abroad, especially if you think about your LGBTQ+ identity?
Note your observations before your trip and after.
Journal
REPACK YOUR SUITCASE: Return Home
Journal
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