Joseph Mamet

I came to Umass undecided on a major. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be but I was very excited to know that I had so many options to choose from. I went through many different classes and potential majors not really finding one that interested me. It took me a year full of taking random classes and terrible grades until I took Spanish 120. Spanish 120 was awesome. It was basically a recap of a small portion of what I had in high school and because of that I succeeded and it made me feel good. I decided after that to add Spanish as my second major. From there Umass and my education started to grow. If I had met the students and professor in the first part of my IE, I would never have gone abroad. Many of the students were getting ready to go to another continent or had already. There must have been something crazy in the air in that room because after two weeks of that class I was signed up to go abroad to Argentina. A concept that I hadn’t even thought about before became my future plans for the incoming semester. I learned through that class and through those people that it was so easy. I didn’t know if I could do it for all sorts of reasons, but with the support of my fellow classmates and professor they had me sign up in under three weeks. 

I am not only very happy to have gone and because of all the wonderful experiences and friends I made, but also because of this new opportunity that I have to share my story with people who want to go and to help inspire people to go on their own journeys. Of course there are many limitations including time, money and specific required classes, but there are so many helpful resources on the campus that help us prepare for once and a lifetime moments in our life.  I want to be the classmate that I had in my class that inspired me to go abroad, to experience things, things I would have never done in my entire life. You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take. I try to mention the importance of going abroad to every new person that I meet. What it can do for you, what you can do for it. There’s millions of things I could mention, but going and seeing for yourself is the best way to do it. You can do anything your major requires anywhere in the world and sometimes for a similar price in the mountains around Amherst Mass.