Starting a study abroad travel journal while overseas will develop a more meaningful connection with the countries and cities you visit. Reflecting and answering study abroad journal prompts will allow you to record your adventures, thoughts, and feelings. Taking the time out of your day and being more mindful will allow you to grow as a person and become more understanding of other people and cultures.
Need travel journal ideas? You’ll love these mindful prompts.
Unlike photos and quick videos, you will get a better understanding of the challenges, hurdles, failures, and triumphs you experienced while living abroad. Also, actively writing in a study abroad journal can help you reflect on what you want for your future when you return home.
Keeping a study abroad travel journal should be a fun way to express your creativity, so do not hesitate to treat your journal like a scrapbook. Paste pictures, boarding passes, and concert tickets in order to keep a memory that is tangible and meaningful to you.
Why keep a study abroad journal?
Make your travel more meaningful and memorable with a travel journal!
Using a study abroad journal can open your mind and expand your worldview. Reflecting on cultural differences and observing the way other people around the world live their lives can be very interesting. A study abroad journal is the perfect outlet to examine how you respond to living in a foreign country without the safety nets you have at home.
Taking the time to write down your feelings and emotions in a study abroad travel journal is especially useful for improving your mental health while abroad. Being removed from your comfort zone can be terrifying, exciting, amazing, scary, and strange all at the same time. Writing your thoughts down may help you process the new experiences you face while abroad.
It will also be an invaluable resource when you’re planning your travels after graduation or later in life. Spending a large amount of time at home before traveling again is both normal and inevitable, so having an account of how you felt on your last trip will provide insight on the things you feel and think the next time you’re abroad.
38 mindful study abroad journal prompts
So we agree that keeping a journal while studying abroad can only improve your overall experience, both while abroad and after returning home. But where do you even start? If you’ve never kept a journal before and are feeling a little overwhelmed, awkward, or lost starting one, these prompts for your study abroad journal are a great launching point!
Prompts for pre-departure
1. What am I most excited to see?
2. What will I miss most when I’m abroad?
3. Do I expect to experience culture shock and what’s my plan if I do?
4. What am I most excited to do?
5. What am I most nervous about?
6. What are my goals?
7. Who do I want to be at the end of this experience?
Prompts for your first week abroad
8. What are the first feelings I experienced when I got here?
9. Describe a difficult situation you experienced this past week.
10. Did I learn anything about myself this week?
11. How did I adjust to setting up a new routine?
12. Who made an impact on me the most this week?
13. What caused the most stress this week?
14. What was the best meal you had this week?
15. Name 2-3 cultural differences you have already observed abroad.
Daily and weekly study abroad journal prompts
Think about the everyday details that impact you.
16. Name the smells, tastes, colors, sounds, and/or feelings you most often experience, or that 17. remind you of your host city or town.
18. What was something new I tried today?
19. Reflect on a conversation you had with a local. Did you learn anything about the culture?
20. If you haven’t met locals yet, why do you think that is?
21. How did I experience life abroad today?
22. What is something new I discovered today?
23. Who did I have a meaningful conversation with today?
24. Describe how your values or beliefs affect how you experience life abroad.
25. What is something I want to remember about today or this week?
Prompts for the final week of study abroad
26. What is something I will not miss? Why?
27. What will I miss most? Why?
28. Do you think you have changed on your study abroad trip?
29. What do you want to make sure you do more often when you go back home?
30. Has your worldview changed at all? Why?
31. What do you want to do in the future? Has it changed since before you studied abroad?
Prompts for when you’re back home
32. What do I miss most about living abroad?
33. What have you continued to do back at home that you started while abroad?
34. How have your family and friends reacted to your homecoming?
35. What are you most eager to do now that you are home?
36. Did I meet the goals I set before studying abroad?
37. Explain your overall review or reaction to studying abroad.
38. Who am I post-study abroad?
9 tips for your study abroad journal
With these tips, you'll always have beautiful memories to look back on.
If you want a study abroad travel journal that really shines a light on your experience, and that you’ll cherish forever, you’ll need to be intentional. Use these tips to flesh out your journal and make the memories more tangible!
- Paste photos to the pages of your study abroad travel journal. You can do this after you get back home, or use a printer at your host school to print some of the best. Or, there are cool portable printers that print photos directly from your phone.
- Keep boarding passes, train tickets, bus passes, subway tickets, etc. Paste or tape them to the pages of your study abroad travel journal to give it a little flair, and to provide a tangible memory.
- Make it colorful! Color code your journal by using markers, colored pens, highlighters, and so on.
- Add fun stickers you have collected while exploring and traveling. A little pizzazz never hurt anyone, including your study abroad journal.
- Keep concert tickets, museum tickets, and excursion passes to remember your adventures. Adding them to your travel journal is better than keeping them in a shoebox under your bed, right?
- Save some foreign currency. Hold on to small bills and coins as a keepsake, or as motivation to return to the country where you studied abroad.
- Decorate the cover. Don’t let your study abroad journal get lost after you worked so hard on it. Make it stand out and add some personality!
- Get creative. There are no rules, so don’t be afraid to draw or even paint in your study abroad travel journal. Make it yours.
- Set a time each day to write in your journal. This is the most important part. And if you miss a day, don’t stress about it. Just pick it back up when you have time again to jot down memories and reflections.
13 cool study abroad travel journals
Don’t want to start your study abroad journal from scratch? We hear you! Sometimes these things are best left to the pros. Check out some cool study abroad journal options below. You might just find one you fall in love with!
- Custom Travel Journal
- Map Journal
- Travel Challenges
- Travel Journal and Photo Album
- Study Abroad Gift Journal
- Personalized Camper Van Travel Adventure Notebook
- Travel Journal – Memory Book
- Personalized Travel Journal
- Refillable Leather Adventure Journal with Buckle Closure
- Promptly Journals
- The Study Abroad Journal: Your Roadmap to an Epic Experience Abroad
- Everywhere You Go: A Guided Travel Journal
- Paperage Lined Journal Notebook
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Reflection on your study abroad experience can make it even more fulfilling
Travel abroad gives you the adventure of a lifetime. Why not remember it forever?
Give yourself some alone time and work on your written communication skills while recording your adventures abroad. Actively writing in your study abroad travel journal will establish a positive habit that is beneficial for your mental health.
Keeping a study abroad journal will allow you to reflect on your thoughts, feelings, adventures, and challenges you face abroad. It’s the best way to look back and see how much you have grown!
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