My emotions teetered between excitement and regret as I read my acceptance letter. I wasn’t entirely certain how I would pay my dues, but I had been accepted to study abroad in Nottingham, England for one month. I bounded in my seat as I suppressed my excitement. I knew I couldn’t confess my achievement until I had decided if I was able to afford it or not.

College is a popular time to travel. Though it’s common for students to complain about lack of funds for their day-to-day life, 283,332 students decided the benefits greatly outweighed the risks as they studied abroad during the 2012-2013 school-year.

Many colleges and universities offer students a variety of programs and opportunities to travel and earn credits toward their degrees. ASU, NAU, U of A and the Maricopa County Community Colleges all have study abroad programs. In most cases, non-students are also welcome to participate.

It wasn’t necessarily easy to participate in a study abroad program, though. In addition to daily classes, I also spent several hours a day exploring the city, chatting with the locals, finding new places to eat and also make time for my roommates.

College students interested in traveling abroad who also have no intention of studying will be relieved to know there are other travel options during college:

Internships: Internships are available to college students of nearly every profession in nearly every country. As an intern abroad, college students can reap all the same benefits of interning – like gain work experience, make contacts to get your foot in the door and learn more about a specific field of study. What sets these internships apart from local internships are the cross-cultural skills, the independence and the intercontinental networking.

Internships aren’t all glory, though. Foreign currency often doesn’t match up with U.S. currency and students can spend much more than they planned because of inflation alone. Additionally, it is not uncommon for students to be required to find their own housing and to pay their own air airfair, and most internships abroad are unpaid.

Teach English: Unlike internships, teaching English abroad is often a paid venture that can even include benefits (depending on the agency). To teach English abroad, an individual is often required to take a short, four week TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course. This month-long course immerses future teachers in the art of crafting lesson plans, classroom actives and exams. After completing the course, you’ll be ready to teach English in the country of your choice! There are a variety of programs in a variety of countries.

Just as with internships, though, there are some important points to note about teaching English abroad.

Tour guide: Cities across the world are constantly hiring tour guides. Wildlife parks, historical sites, museums and even cruise ships look for energetic people to show tourists the sights. Some organizations will require tour guides to be certified while others will not. The best advice to get such a job is to be familiar with the area. To give a tour in London, it will be important for the tour guide to be familiar with the lay of the land. The pay will depend on the city, position and the organization; some tour guides are paid while others rely solely on tips.

Work on a farm: Travelers are given the opportunity to work on a farm in the country of their choice. In exchange for volunteer, manual labor on a farm, volunteers are given food, living quarters and often time to explore on their days off. Most farms will happily welcome any farming skill-level, though it should be noted that in most cases the majority of the workday will be spent outside in the sun. This is seen as a great option for someone who needs a break from the college routine but who doesn’t want the responsibility of a paying job or an internship.

Simply explore: There are several different organizations that take a group of students to a country to explore and see the sights. EF College Break is one of the most popular. The cost is similar to that of a study abroad, but involves no actual studying. There are guides that lead the group throughout a country to visit different sites, museums, restaurants, etc.

Even this option is still a great selling point for future employers. International travel can set any college student apart from their peers.

Kaitlyn Payne of Glendale Community College participated in both an MCC study abroad to Nottingham, England and an EF College Break trip to Costa Rica. Payne lived with 21 roommates in England for one month, but spent only two weeks traveling through Costa Rica. While she said she enjoyed both programs, studying abroad gave her more opportunities than her EF College Break experience did.

“It was such a short trip I feel like I didn’t get to understand the culture as much as I did living in Nottingham,” Payne said.

She also said she wished she had been able to connect with the locals and have time to experience one city as she had in Nottingham.

Both programs, she said, gave her experiences she would not have been able to experience at home in Glendale and she’s glad she had the experiences during her first years of college.