When I first came to Cornell, I was pretty sure I wanted to spend a year abroad. I was set on Scotland, Ireland, England, maybe Portugal or Spain, because I also speak Portuguese and a little Spanish. Filling out a few forms and talking to a few advisors would set me up for a year in hip, cloudy Edinburgh. Or jet around Europe every weekend from Barcelona. Or I could live and breathe the two oceans of the South African Cape. I really did have the world at my feet. Cornell gives you so much.

At first, I was majoring in English and Art History. I heard London had a good program in a good art school, so that was cool. But, as a sophomore, I dropped Art History because I had fallen in love with Near Eastern Studies. My abroad options changed and became slightly more complicated, because I did not know any Arabic or Hebrew. My parents weren’t too crazy about me going to the world’s powder keg either. I never considered going abroad as an English major because Cornell’s department kept me plenty happy as one of the best in the world. As I was constantly falling in and out of love with departments, classes, books and ideas, I soon realized that I was very, very engaged at Cornell and that I had made more plans for my return to campus than to go overseas. I decided to stay.

I knew I was not ready to go. There were signs. I had long decided to shorten a year abroad to a more sizable semester. I had neglected my applications and skipped informational meetings. I chose “The Art of the Essay” and “Observational Astronomy” over language or other preparatory classes. I was hoping to be a Sun columnist. I liked living in Collegetown. After a typically shaky freshman experience, I had just gotten into my groove during sophomore year. I just could not see myself settling into another country in August.

To the freshmen, especially those just getting out of high school, four years may seem like a long time, but at Cornell it’s really not. The semesters are few and really fly by. Also, you only get undergraduate Cornell once. Your classes are guaranteed to be varied and challenging. I’m glad I’ve been switching between my majors and had the opportunities to stumble on new amazing classes. It is unlikely that you will find instruction with better academic caliber than at Cornell — otherwise you’d already be at that institution. Your friends will always be within reach and will always have time for a party or two. Ithaca is a wonderful town for it always has something weird and funny going on. You know you won’t be bored. And what is the hurry? You have your whole life to travel. Travel gets cheaper and easier every year. Stay put and enjoy The Hill for all it has to offer. It’ll be over before you know it.

Going abroad for a semester is an exciting adventure, but not necessarily easy for everyone. Like freshman year, it will take some time to adapt and feel truly comfortable in your new country before you really have the kicking good time you imagined. It will be a little lonelier than freshman year too. Granted, it’s a wonderful way to toughen up and mature, but, then again, rarely does a semester at Cornell go by without a little kick in the character.

It might be good to add (I beg yout pardon for a slight digression) that I grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil and many may argue that by being at Cornell I am already abroad. However, I attended an American school, I come from an American family, I visited America very frequently while growing up and my first language is English. I consider myself half-Brazilian, but I never felt that America was foreign. My difficulties in my first year at Cornell were little different from the other freshmen. To be sure, there were some cultural hurdles for me to leap, but they were no bigger than some of my West Coast friends who felt the East to be really uptight — just coming to Cornell is already a huge experience for most.

Many study abroad programs are good structured means to get to know another country. They make it easy for students to travel and live overseas temporarily. However, over the years it seems that it has become too structured. For example, Spain has been a very popular destination for a long time. Most Americans have been taking Spanish since high school and it is easy to prepare for the many, many programs that operate there. Arriving there, the classes are nearly half as demanding as Cornell’s (they rarely count towards your Cornell GPA) and much free time is spent with clusters of other American students. Adventurous? Sorta. Immersion? Not really.

To have a truly comprehensive abroad experience these days requires imagination, gung-ho, preparation and tremendous impatience. Why not wait for the summer? We have three whole months — almost a full semester! If you really want to get to know a country intimately, backpack for a month or so with a friend, unencumbered by the Cornell Abroad set-up. Rent a cheap apartment or a room in a hostel if you want to absorb a city. Got a great aunt in Czechoslovakia? Second cousins twice removed in Australia? Those people will point you where the guidebooks won’t and you will have real freedom. Even a touch of danger!

It’s OK take a summer away from interning, yardwork and lounging with high school friends. It’s hard to tell what kind of vacations you will get once you graduate. It might cost a little extra money than staying put and working, but there are many flexible fellowship opportunities that can give you a traveling leg up. Hell, you don’t even need to go abroad— driving across America for a month has perhaps one been my most exciting travel experiences.

The main reason, number one reason, I decided not to go abroad was because I love Cornell and Ithaca. In my four short years here— bouncing through my classes, brewing coffee at the Green Dragon Café, breaking down, picking myself up, going to Demolition Derbies or sitting out a Thursday night at the Chapter House—I want to genuinely say that I got to know this place well and even made it my home. It gives me so much.

Erin Geld is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at esg24@cornell.edu. The Sampling appears alternate Wednesdays.