The pandemic hit the world pretty hard, changing the way people used to travel, work, and study. Some countries reported a record-breaking decrease in their air traffic, which kicked the civil aviation industry to what it was in the 1950s.
Obviously, in such conditions, students were forced to forget about travels and stay home, hoping to finish the 2019/2020 academic year. It was not easy to adjust to a new reality where they were forbidden from leaving their homes, let alone traveling.
No matter how much 2020 challenged us all, mass vaccination brings hope that everything will be back to normal pretty soon. However, at the moment, we should catch our breath and do our best to keep our lives on track in 2021 and live them to the fullest.
Is it even possible? It is. Whatever situation you are in, try to learn more about the opportunities it brings. Even though we are all grounded for at least one more year, it’s not that bad for students after all. Here is why you can still study abroad.
The Return to School
Having their eye on vaccines, governments realize that remote higher education fails to provide the expected quality to students. For example, doctors, chemists, and biologists need to study in teams and in real time to gain hands-on knowledge and become professionals.
Therefore, lots of countries announce that they expect students to return to schools in spring 2021. With this promise, we can finally hope that studying will resume together with all other activities and opportunities it used to provide, with traveling being one of them.
Studying and/or Traveling
Tourism has become pretty affordable recently, and many students enjoyed this freedom of movement. They found it pretty hard to combine studies with a constant urge for discovering new places. Thus, they often ordered their homework from essay service websites to have time to head off on another getaway. Things are different now when it comes to travels, but students are not completely banned from traveling.
In fact, nowadays, students are in the most privileged position since they are allowed to travel for study abroad. It’s true that now they do not get to choose where to travel and when to study. Yet, their education is their ticket to new places and new discoveries. You must agree that this state of affairs is far better than staying at home.
Scientific Collaboration Is Critical
Unrestricted traveling is also available to researchers and members of international study groups. If, as a student, you are a member of a research team working on a scientific breakthrough, you have literally no boundaries binding you except for flight availability.
Countries are determined to ensure student exchange and scientific collaboration remain untouched by the quarantine restrictions. Knowledge-shared development is the only way for humanity to deal with the current challenges and those that are about to come.
Therefore, to be able to travel, all you need to do is commit to an international research group. Unfortunately, international conferences have all gone online, leaving this form of knowledge exchange ineffective when it comes to traveling.
Study Abroad Programs
The truth is that receiving countries benefit too much from study abroad programs to abandon them. That is why the study abroad experience will never cease to exist. In 2021, we can expect a rise in students’ interest in exchange programs. This is a perfect opportunity to combine travels with studies, and lots of young people will try taking advantage of it.
After all, traveling to a new country and living there for a semester or a year is a great opportunity to learn its culture and people. Some programs let students travel to several destinations over the course of studying. Obviously, given the current quarantine restrictions, traveling for education seems to be the only possible way to discover new places.
Conscious Travel
Travel and study programs or short-term travels will face some transformations in 2021. With many countries having their restrictions and bans on intercity travels, the very idea of such offers loses its attraction. However, thanks to remote education, students are likely to take a new approach to travel called ‘conscious.’
It means they will be more selective when it comes to locations, transportation, and costs, giving preference to those places that are not far from home. Also, the frequency of such travels will decrease, but the duration is likely to expand. Conscious travel in 2021 will definitely be well-planned, obligating people to keep all the precautions in mind.
A Rise in Domestic Traveling
Another factor that enables traveling and studying abroad in 2021 is a sudden realization that there are lots of places in your home country where you can have fun. We focused so much on long-haul travels that forgot to discover some places around us. 2020 has changed this.
Students are among those who gladly headed off on a vacation as soon as they were officially allowed to do that. In 2021, with restrictions on local traveling being lifted faster than on the international one, young people are expected to be the major driving force of local tourism. After all, nearby cities with their historical sites can be as interesting as some famous places abroad.
However, domestic tourism requires as much time and resources from students as the international one does. Students still need the help of essay writing service Canada to handle their writing assignments as well as to win some extra time for their trip.
Virtual Traveling
Looking at beautiful pictures or videos from other countries will never replace the feelings from visiting them and seeing those places on your own. However, the technologies are determined to help students make up for the time they lost in 2020.
2021 will be a year of new discoveries in virtual traveling. Even though 1 in 2 travelers is optimistic about taking a trip this year, long-time planning is not possible given the situation. Thus, lots of students will gladly accept the opportunity to travel to the country of their dream destination without even leaving their home.
Of course, it is hard to predict what awaits us in 2021. Last year, we all realized that planning our lives does not work when a crisis hits. However, hope is all we have left. Let’s monitor the situation and expect that 2021 will be a happier and healthier year for all of us.
