ISU senior Kevin Varley has been given the opportunity to represent Iowa State as the Alumni Ambassador during the Spring 2013 semester in Berlin by GlobaLinks Learning Award.

“It’s a very standout organization [], especially when it comes to areas like Australia and New Zealand,” Varley said of the GlobaLinks Learning Abroad program. “It was founded when Australia wasn’t as common of a destination for study abroad. There was kind of an untapped resource there which GlobaLinks went in and started shuffling students back and forth, so they’re very well known for Australia and New Zealand.”

Varley said the company has been expanding to Asia and Europe, as well.

With 24/7 support behind its study abroad program, GlobaLinks is able to help set students up with orientation before they leave for their destination. They also have resident coordinators who live in the city in case of a medical emergency or if someone seeks something new to explore.

Overall, Varley said, they do a good job of making sure students are acclimated with their environment.

“It’s open to second-semester freshmen, able to go all over the place, Asia, Europe etc.,” Varley said. “Options for any major out there, whatever major it is, there’s a place out there where you can study.”

As a student, the main things Varley does as an ambassador are typical of what Iowa State’s Study Abroad Office does, Varley said. He is responsible for working informational sessions, hosting a table at the study abroad fair, conducting presentations on various destinations at the study abroad center and giving classroom presentations.

Making the transition into a foreign country isn’t easy and takes a lot of going outside one’s comfort zone, Varley said.

“When you study abroad, you are thrown in to people that have nothing in common, which could be similar in a workplace,” said Danielle Price, junior in marketing and peer adviser in the Study Abroad Office. “You have to find ways to connect with people, and you build those skills when you study abroad.”

Studying abroad is about being confident when approaching strangers using a foreign language, along with adapting to different situations and environments one is not used to Varley stated. 

“I see it as an internship kind of a deal … [with] a lot of advertising, marketing and public speaking,” Varley said. “If you can go up to a random stranger on a street in Germany and speak to them in a different language … there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to use that same kind of confidence in a workplace.”

Last year, Iowa State had 1,300 students study abroad, but overall, 1 percent of U.S. graduates study abroad, Price stated.

“Study abroad puts you in the top 1 percent of people who have traveled the country and gone abroad,” Price said.

Even though Varley was overseas for a total of only four months, he said he found a rhythm by the end of January as he became more familiar with where he lived and the location of the school.

“It’s really strange how quickly you’re able to adapt to it,” Varley said. “It becomes a part of who you are like where you live. No offense to America, if I had the chance I would fly to Berlin tomorrow and never look back.”