Red Bull offers college students the chance to travel Europe

Casey McAnarney | News Editor

Most students dream about the opportunity to travel around Europe for little to no cost, however with the average price for studying abroad for one semester being $17,785, according to the Institute of International Education, this vision can be a hard one to fathom.

That is where the company Red Bull comes in with their third year of the “Can You Make It?” competition, open to entry by college students, including those at UNC Wilmington.

“Teams of 3 are dropped somewhere completely random in Europe without any money, without their cell phones (they are provided one smartphone), and only have 24 cans of Red Bull to use as currency to barter their way across Europe,” said UNCW sophomore and Red Bull Student Brand Manager Josh McCoy about the logistics of the competition.

“Along the way they can complete challenges that can be any number of things from jumping off bridges to going skydiving. Their goal is to make it to the final destination on their trip across Europe to meet with all the other teams from across the world.”

McCoy’s main goal is to drive traffic to the website and ultimately get teams from UNCW to apply and potentially join the competition.

There are 165 teams that get to start in one of five places, and they must reach an end point, but McCoy emphasized this is not necessarily a race.

“It is more about the experience and the journey than trying to get somewhere as quickly as possible,” said McCoy.

And that is the way studying or venturing abroad should be, according to FOX Business writer Taryn Stansbury.

“Studying abroad can provide a unique opportunity for college students to not only expand their education but also be exposed to different cultures and people,” wrote Stansbury about the benefits of traveling when in college.

Stansbury noted that going abroad can be expensive, however the benefits such as personal growth, becoming bilingual, and gaining a sense of independence, all listed in her article, are worth the cost, especially when you can find ways to lessen the financial blow.

In the article, Stansbury even quoted Jennifer Grasz, vice president of corporate communications for CareerBuilder, saying that traveling to other countries or studying abroad “can show a sense of independence and initiative to a future employer.”

Overall, this competition can be a great opportunity for UNCW students, according to McCoy.

“All interested students should apply,” said McCoy. “The application deadline is Feb. 14, so everyone should go to the website and check it out. Teams are made up of three people, and all that they need to do is create a minute long video showing what awesome people they are and explain why they should go to Europe for free.”

For the video, McCoy said that the suggested means of video is Snapchat: “put you and your two friends doing cool stuff on your Snapchat story and then upload the video to redbullcanyoumakeit.com.”

If interested, more information on the competition, applying and how you would be using Red Bull cans as currency to get around Europe can be found on the website.