From feasting on focaccia in Florence to lapping up lager in London, the Santa Rosa Junior College study abroad program offers students a chance to explore the world through education with the American Institute of Foreign Study (AIFS.) You can spend the spring semester in Florence, Italy, or visit either Barcelona, Catalonia, or London, England, on a rotating basis in the fall. The summer semester sees students off to a variety of destinations depending on the SRJC program offered, with the next group headed to Cusco, Peru.
With various housing options and travel packages included in each program, it may sound like all you have to do is pack a bag before you’re ready to set sail. However, after spending fall 2024 in London (and spring 2025 reminiscing), we’ve realized there are four things we wish we’d known before we swiped our cards for a semester abroad.
Where will you live?
You might have heard of the city you’re traveling to, but what do you really know about the place you’re going to call home for a semester? Before you settle into your new digs, research what area of the city you’ll be living in and the names of places around it. Be sure to know exactly what is included in your housing plan — AIFS offered students heading to London a stay with a local family in their home included in the $9,495 program tuition, or a dorm-style “apartment” option for an additional $1,755. This so-called apartment was provided by iQ, a student housing company owned and operated by the real-estate investment firm Blackstone. What we got was not what we paid for — instead of an apartment or a traditional British flat, students were housed in dorms with five others where they shared everything by default except their bathrooms and beds.
Our dorm didn’t have hot water most of the time, but don’t worry: we had enough black mold, broken lights and pantry mice to go around. These surprise amenities weren’t listed in our housing brochure, but the essentials we ended up having to buy certainly were. Be prepared to purchase linens, cleaning supplies and other household necessities. Housing options vary between programs, so it’s key to research where you’re going to be staying and what amenities the building offers. Students heading to Florence can expect apartment-style living without a homestay family monitoring them, according to the SRJC Florence brochure and multiple student testimonials.
Who you live with is equally important, as the best roommate can save you from the drudgery of dorm squalor, and a bad one can lead to a semester that feels more like Dante’s Inferno. In our lived worst-case scenario, a 40-something man named “Ted” was allowed to embark on the journey with us (all ages are allowed to attend.) He registered after the deadlines, paid in full and skipped the mandatory AIFS pre- departure meeting. During the two weeks he spent in London before AIFS officials removed him quite literally kicking and screaming; he managed to leer at younger women classmates, chainsmoke in his room and dorm’s common area, make racist comments in the few classes he attended, drink profusely and publicly at all hours of the day, corral two of his roommates into the kitchen to show them the “Death Hand,” watch a live pornographic webcamming site on the shared TV, get kicked out of iQ Tufnell and overall provide a perfect example for why SRJC needs to follow in the footsteps of some NCSAC colleges and require interviews for potential study abroad candidates.
This experience is obviously an anomaly, and students traveling with schools that did require interviews caused just as many problems. While only two were expelled for failing to meet academic requirements and attend classes, many troublemakers were able to stay until the end of the program. As with any group of college-aged people living in close quarters, there will be drama: tears and screaming included. Be prepared for drunk, loud, obnoxious, messy, rude and delinquent attendees journeying with you — but remember; everyone is going through culture shock and the frantic adjustment to living in a new city, so give them (an appropriate amount of) lenience.
Putting the study in abroad
What you learn is just as important as which nightclub you’re going to and where you’re flying next weekend. You have the rare opportunity to party in a place you’ve never been, so you might not want to pick a demanding course load that has you socializing with a screen instead of living it up with locals. Learning while abroad is a noble goal, but it is far harder to focus on formulas and facts when the siren of a new city is singing your name. Still, your most frequented club will be your classroom, so be sure to figure out how to get to it as soon as possible. Though AIFS initially promised housing in the same Central London neighborhood as our classes, both homestay and dorm students became intimately acquainted with the London Underground as trips to and from Islington took nearly an hour each way. If your program is anything like ours, however, then time spent on the tube will be a welcome respite from classroom chaos.
The (medical) essentials
Keep note of the closest doctor’s office and hospital in your city, even if you don’t think you’ll need to go. Be sure to memorize the emergency numbers for every country you’re living or traveling in, and a few crucial words in the main languages while you’re at it. AIFS works with the international insurance company CISI, which offers 100% coverage for a variety of health-related incidents. Though this is a better deal than you’ll ever find in the home of the brave, the process of getting that coverage is enough to land you right back in the doctor’s office. If you end up needing to take advantage of the free health insurance, keep every receipt and a copy of the claim form you turn in, in the (unfortunately likely) case that you’ll have to nag CISI to receive your refund.
Making the most of it
Your first impression of everyone is wrong. This was a lesson we continually learned
through our time in London, whether it was the impression we had of our classmates, our instructors or even our neighbors in our dorm community. As we mentioned earlier, the stress of being in an unfamiliar environment caused us all to revert back to mindsets reminiscent of adolescence, with cliques and herd mentality taking center stage. Students shouting out unrelated and unwanted anecdotes during lectures made our college classrooms feel more like high school auditoriums. Our classmates continuously disrespected professors by flipping them off, loudly planning weekend trips mid-class and outright insulting them. Teaching a group of uninterested 20-somethings is hard enough without the added pressure of doing it in an unfamiliar environment. Give everyone two chances — they’re adjusting to living in a new country the same as you are.
The line between studying and traveling is thin but well worth walking. Take advantage of the three-day weekends that AIFS programs offer and plan trips from Thursday evening to Sunday. Do assignments ahead of time so you aren’t forced to write an essay about the Mona Lisa when you could be staring into her vacant eyes. For the biggest bang for your buck, use apps like Skyscanner that track flights and show you the cheapest options for your destination of choice. Ryanair and EasyJet will get you pretty much anywhere in Europe quickly and without breaking the bank, but pack lightly — only a backpack is included in the cost of a ticket, and the addition of a carry-on is equivalent to the cost of your ticket. Be mindful of who you choose to travel with, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to bond with people who could become your lifelong friends.
Why would I do this to myself?
While this might read like a horror story of a misspent semester, we can confidently say that if given the chance, we would do it again a thousand times over. The experience of integrating into a new culture, travelling the world, pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zones, making new friends (and enemies) and drinking legally is one we won’t soon forget. Without London — both the good and the moldy — we wouldn’t have discovered parts of ourselves we could only find across the world, and we wouldn’t have this story to share. And really, when you sign up for a three-month international vacation filled with chaos, debauchery and a little bit of learning, isn’t the point to have a good story to tell back home?
