Boarding the plane to Sweden was 410 days in the making. Riley Stern had her first appointment with the Learning Abroad Center on November 29, 2022. Now she’s studying with the DIS program in Stockholm.
“Going into college, I always said I wanted to study abroad,” Riley said. “When I was looking into colleges I looked at their study abroad programs.”
Riley, a second year Honors student majoring in economics and math with a minor in creative writing, ultimately chose to pursue the DIS program for her semester abroad. She liked that it had a strong comparative economics program and the opportunity to be a research assistant.
“I was always interested in research,” she said. She’s a research assistant for a study on illicit organ trading and human trafficking.
In addition to her research assistant work, Riley is taking four courses: three in economics and one focused on sustainability.
“The classes are really interesting,” she said. “The workflow is definitely different; I feel like they really care about me learning, not just turning in assignments. They care about what I’m getting out of it.”
Though the culture between her home program and her study abroad program are different, the transition hasn’t been as difficult as she expected.
“I was afraid I’d come here and what I had learned wouldn’t apply, but we talk in classes and I know the concepts and theories,” she said. “It’s been an easier transition than I’ve expected.”
Of course, the experience of study abroad exists beyond the classroom. Riley lives in a Studentboende located in the Sodermalm neighborhood. She was paired with two roommates who are one of the 300 students participating in the program.
“I love Stockholm,” she said. “It’s such a cool city, there’s so much to do.”
The experience has opened her up to doing more travel in the future, whether it’s moving abroad after college or doing another international program.
“When else are you going to have the chance to live somewhere else for four months?” she said. “It’s really cool.”
Riley - an avid journaler - has created a blog to document her four months with the DIS program. She regularly posts about her experiences in and out of the classroom. You can read it at https://rileysabroaddiaries.wordpress.com/.