Experiencing education in another country is “a life changing experience, I highly recommend it,” Jared Dineen, president of the Study Abroad Association, said.

The Study Abroad Association was founded in October 2014, with the goal of connecting students who have studied abroad with students who want to study abroad and helping them through the process.

“I think getting a student’s perspective is helpful and comforting,” Shelby Shanstrom, vice president of the SAA, said about studying abroad.

According to Eastern’s Study Abroad Center, Study Abroad is a program through EWU, as well as other colleges, that gives students a chance to study or intern in other countries and have the credits transfer over directly. All of which can be paid through financial aid.

“You need to take general education requirements anyways,”  said Dineen. “When you study abroad, it enhances your well roundedness as a student because it has a different cultures perspective.”

Each country has different major studies and internships. There are choices as to which classes you can take for some university’s abroad, and some that require history and language classes for the country you are in.

Shanstrom hopes the  SAA  will provide returning students who have studied abroad connect with others who have experienced studying abroad,  “because your friends get tired of hearing it,” said she.

Also, SAA would like to help returning students with the most effective way to add that experience to their résumés, according to Shanstrom.

Meeting dates and times are still uncertain due to the newness of SAA, but they do have social media accounts which may be used to contact them. Their Facebook is EWU Study Abroad Association and their Twitter account is @SAAEWU.

“It’s great if we can connect someone who wants to go to a certain city with someone who’s been to that city,” said Shanstrom.

SAA’s goals will continue to grow with what their club members find helpful in their journeys to study abroad.