You may have noticed (or maybe not) that Mindy and Nellie have ably been handling the blogging duties the last three weeks. First of all, the have done a wonderful job and provided an awesome array of career information. Hopefully, you all enjoyed reading their fine work.

Today is my first day back from a three week jaunt across China, where I took a quick grad class on Communications in China. The class covered the first two weeks of my trip and I traveled for the remaining week. I was able to visit Nanjing (a former capitol under the Nationalists), Shanghai (all I remember are restaurants and bars ... for good or ill), Xi'an (home of the World Wonder Terracotta Soldiers) and Beijing (Tienanmen, Forbidden City, 798 Art District and The Great Wall). I had an excellent experience and have formed a deep appreciation for the history of China and its current role in contemporary world affairs.

I learned a lot, and absorbed an impossible amount of information, but for right now, for the purposes of this blog, I want to stress one important piece of wisdom to any students: STUDY ABROAD.

You will never learn as much about yourself, your home country and a new culture all at once as you do when you study abroad. It's one thing to travel and visit new places, but when you combine the travel experience with an immersion into a specific aspect of that country's history or culture you will develop a much deeper understanding of your surroundings. The value of learning about a world outside our own is valuable enough. But an often overlooked advantage to study abroad is what you learn about the country you left. This feeling was reinforced as I read Atlantic correspondent James Fallows book Postcards From Tomorrow Square and revisited his article from 2007, The View From There

I’ve found it very useful to think about America from afar. I know it’s annoying and superior-sounding to say that you see a country most clearly from the outside. (Those poor homebound hicks! They don’t get the big picture the way we cosmopolites can.) But at least in one way, it’s certainly true. Inside America, we discuss what the country could and should become. Outside, we see what it is—which of its traits and habits really make it unusual, the effects of what it claims to stand for, what it actually does to the rest of the world.

The advantage to a study abroad program is vast, far reaching and lingering. My advice is to take the time to do it now, when you are young and you have the time (and your parents, the money). From a personal standpoint I learned an unmeasurable amount and have the utmost confidence you will too. (Plus, it looks great on a resume!)

I was going to include a detailed slideshow of my travels, but perhaps it would be more appropriate to just get on with The Links ...

George's Employment Blog Continues: A series on Green Jobs. I'll tell you this, the smog and air quality in China was almost indescribably bad. I think I saw the sun a total of 2 times. So, uh, get on these green jobs. We need all the sustainability we can get.

Cheezhead Wants: A sense of urgency from all you students. Apparently CH's InternQuees doesn't think you are taking your transfer to the career field seriously. Are you addicted to beer and reality TV, or is the sense of career-malaise just a manifestation of the safety net that is the college-bubble. The InternQueen doesn't know, but she offers some tips on getting focused. So read this and get focused, ya slackers!

ReadWriteWeb Uncovers: Bozeman, Montana's requirements for job applications: All applicants must provide Social Media Logins and Passwords. Actually, there was public outcry (deservedly!) over this and Bozeman has backed down and lifted the requirement. Still, I think the fact that someone thought of this tactic in the first place is a sad sign of employers' inability to fully comprehend social media. Who would possibly handover a password to ANYTHING?

Mashable Lists: 10 ways journalism schools are teaching new media. I love this. Some schools have adapted very quickly to the rise of social media and the advantages it can provide to journalism. It's good to see it is working its way into the classroom.

Gigaom Destroys: The myth about the "Young Entrepreneur." A study by the Kaufman Foundation found that the 29-34 age range, long believed as the bastion of entrepreneurship, were actually the least likely to start their own company. The highest rate came in the 55-64 age bracket. But, don't get discouraged by this information. You need to be unique to start a successful company anyway, and bucking this trend is just one way to display your uniqueness.