For me, choosing to take a year abroad was not an excruciatingly difficult decision. Born and raised in New York City, I have grown increasingly antsy since starting college. I live in the dorms, but my family’s apartment is a 15-minute walk from campus; going home is never going away.

In New York City, some argue that all you need is your Metrocard to “go abroad.” Virtually every nationality claims some stake in this city—Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, Curry Hill. But studying abroad is about immersion. Taking a year is the best option a student has for truly feeling like a resident of a chosen foreign city.

Columbia College senior Hannah Wells, for example, took a full year in Hungary and ended up making friends with her local butcher. CC junior Danielle Amerian, currently in London for the year, chose to go abroad because she wanted to feel completely comfortable living in a new country. As she explains, “After my first semester living in NYC, I did not yet feel like a New Yorker. I still felt like a tourist. It was not until the end of my freshman year that I felt really comfortable in New York City and began to really see it as my second home. I approached my study abroad experience with this in mind.”

Many students currently abroad agree that they are only now adjusting to their new countries and cannot imagine having to leave so soon after finally getting into the swing of things. Knowing she will be abroad for a year has allowed Amerian to feel more relaxed about her experience, she reports. It has allowed her to think “in the long term,” and she has thus been able to truly enjoy London, feeling less pressure “to cram everything (touristy sites, local haunts, European travel) into just a few short months,” as her one-semester counterparts may feel.

In general, there are more opportunities for direct enrollment in yearlong programs than semester-long ones. The only option for a semester in Paris, for example, is Reid Hall, while a year offers the chance to enroll directly in Parisian Universities, such as Sciences Po, in addition to Reid Hall’s programs.

Taking a year off is neither typical nor easy. It takes careful planning. Not every major can accommodate a full year abroad—many majors cannot even accommodate a semester abroad—so it is crucial to maintain regular contact with your advisers and department of interest.

You also have to make sure you are emotionally prepared to spend a year away from home and friends. A degree of faith and self-knowledge are also a plus: faith that all will work out for the best, and knowledge that this is what you want to pursue. A year away is a long time. But as Sarah Brovman, a junior in the college currently abroad in Australia, assures, “You’ll find that very little changes while you’re away.”