Make traveling abroad a priority

WHETHER YOUR GRADUATION date is swiftly approaching or you still have seven years left before you attain your bachelor’s degree, I implore you to consider this one suggestion: travel.

Leave the country. ASAP, while you still can.

The real world is just around the corner, and it’s waiting anxiously to trap you into an inescapable 9 to 5.

I realize that globe-trotting is something easier said than done.

A lot of would-be travelers gloomily browse flight prices and map out fake travel itineraries, all the while assuming that a European tour is completely unrealistic.

Believe me, it’s quite realistic.

Flights actually do depart from California to Europe on a daily basis, and, scattered amongst the Burberry business suits, there are college-aged students on-board sitting in discounted seats and taking advantage of the free pretzels.

A trip through Europe isn’t something limited only to the haute bourgeoisie.

If you’re passionate about embarking upon an international experience and you’re willing to put forth a bit of an effort, the money issue always manages to work itself out.

Unless you are a part of the aforementioned bourgeoisie, an impromptu trip is obviously unfathomable.

For the rest of us average, penny-pinching students, months of planning are going to be required in order to assemble a financial plan, but with some persistence, you’ll discover that an international trip is certainly plausible.

I’m giving you this heads up now, in December, because summer is a mere six months away.

Cut back on your spending and save what you can. Avoid Starbucks and prepare your coffee at home.

Make a crying phone call to your rich uncle. Take out a loan. Apply for a new credit card. Sell your blood.

Sell your car. Sell your soul. Just make it happen. The experiences you’ll have overseas will prove to be priceless.

There is no doubt that you’ll completely forget about the small amount of debt you may have put yourself in when you’re reading Hemingway in London’s Hyde Park, dodging bulls in Pamplona and discussing music with a stoned Dutch local in an Amsterdam coffee shop.

When you do make it across the pond, avoid clinging to other American travelers — seek out locals.

Play the role of ambassador and attempt to change the stereotypes that the world may have of Americans.

Make it your mission to convince at least one European that our government doesn’t define who we are individually.

At many universities across America, particularly those who harbor the intellectual elite, a travel abroad experience is something that is not only encouraged, but essential.

There is only so much you can learn by sitting in a classroom and burying your nose in a textbook — a complete, rounded education requires hands-on, worldly experience.

Fresno State seems to be lagging miserably behind in the number of students who have such experience.

Let’s change that. Believe it or not, there is a vast world out there beyond River Park and the Tower District, and it doesn’t take much to explore it.

Pop the Fresno bubble and poke your head out. You might be amazed by what you see.

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