Meet Shania

Hello world! I’m Shania and I work at the University of Maine as a Study Abroad Assistant with the Office of International Programs. I graduated from the UMaine in December 2021 with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in English and a minor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies. I spent a majority of my Sophomore year in Tokyo, Japan at Waseda University.

I knew I wanted to study abroad before I even entered university. It was something I wanted to do way back in high school. Unfortunately, the cost for high school students is enormous and it wasn’t a feasible option for myself or my family. Thus, I decided to wait until I entered university and boy am I glad I did that.

I wholly believe that waiting to study abroad until college was one of the best choices I made. I not only managed to save money by waiting, but I also want to say my experience was much better since I’d had more time to cultivate my independence as an adult at university during my freshman year. I went into the program as a much more developed person and appreciated the experience and opportunity all the more.

I spent 2019-2020 in Tokyo, Japan with a host family in the Chiba district. I was centrally located and attended the well known and renowned school, Waseda University. Technically, I was supposed to spend a year in Japan but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to cut my program short and wrap it up in February. I still appreciate the time I spent in the country, though. The months flew by and I made a number of lifelong connections and friends-two of which I’ll be getting an apartment with in the UK while getting my Master’s degree during the 2022-23 academic year.

I enjoyed my experience abroad so much that, once I came back to my home university, I wanted to continue working in an environment that allowed me to stay close to the topic of traveling; this led to me starting work as a peer advisor at UMaine’s Office of International Programs. I now work as a full-time Study Abroad Assistant focusing on marketing, advising, and English teaching.

–Shania Soler (Tokyo, Japan), Study Abroad Assistant