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>> JEAN ABSHIRE: I really recommend studying abroad to students because it really gives
you time to immerse yourself in the culture and become a part of the culture in a way
that a traveller never can.
>> KATIE KAVANAUGH: I hope to get out of traveling abroad a wider view of different cultures
that I wouldn't be able to experience here.
>> ALICIA ALLAN: To see how other people in different parts of the world live, just experience
what they experience on a daily basis.
>> NIKKI WILSON: I hoped to get a sense of where I came from.
Even though I was born here in the U.S., I hoped to find just a spiritual connection
there to Africa once we visited.
>> JEAN: People should consider, first of all, what country or part of the world they
want to go to.
Maybe even before that, think about whether or not you want a program in a foreign language
or whether you want your coursework to be in English.
>> JAMES POLIVKA: For me, it was kind of a natural question to ask myself because I was
a Spanish major, so if you really want to get exposure to the language you have to go
to a place where you're totally immersed.
>> ALICIA: The factors that were important to me for selecting the program were the timing,
the time of year that we were going to go, and the length of the study abroad, and also
how it was going to benefit me in my actual field of study.
>> DALE BROWN: As a secondary education student, if I can go to those places of the topics
that I'm going to teach, that's important.
And the China study abroad trip was a history class, so I think that's going to reinforce
my history education to my students and be able to give more relevant information to
them.
>> JEAN: It's really valuable to begin to consider your plans for study abroad very
early on.
Meeting with the Director of International Programs on campus is one of the first steps
because that is the resource person for study abroad information.
>> ALICIA: You have to go through an application process to study abroad.
You have to fill out applications and then you fill out scholarship awards.
>> DALE: For me to fund the trip to China was a dual process.
I funded some of it and a scholarship paid for about twelve hundred dollars of the trip.
>> JAMES: Faculty was tremendously supportive.
I had no problem finding professors to write letters of recommendation for scholarships
to go, or for the program itself.
>> JEAN: We really do try to prepare students before they go abroad.
There are required orientation sessions to give students information about the program,
the countries, things to be aware of, and we're happy to talk with students about concerns
that they or their family members may have.
>> KATIE: Our faculty members gave us a lot of tips on what to bring, so for Africa I
was definitely very prepared and in Europe, if you don't have it you can get it.
>> JAMES: I was going over there primarily for academic reasons.
In going to Madrid, I had an opportunity to be in this massive university with this huge
reputation, and I was able to study linguistics, something that I couldn't do here.
And I knew I wanted to go to grad school so for me, Madrid was kind of my testing ground
for grad school.
>> DALE: I think some of the greatest highlights of the trip of traveling to China was of course
the walking on the Great Wall.
That is a very significant thing for me and what I was looking very much forward to.
>> KATIE: The thing that sticks out the most to me was going up the Eiffel Tower, which
was just amazing.
>> NIKKI: When I visited Africa we visited Ghana and we were studying post-traumatic
stress.
>> ALICIA: Just talking to these people who live in a third-world country and to see their
hopefulness was the most amazing thing in the whole world to me.
>> JAMES: I haven't really closed the book on my year in Spain.
I've been revisiting it in my mind a whole lot since I came back.
If I could just hit replay on the year that I had as-is, I would do it all over again,
sure.
>> DALE: I would recommend study abroad to students if they can use the information or
the experience that they gain for a betterment of themselves or other people.
>> NIKKI: The program actually has helped me because I just applied for a job working
with ESL students.
>> JEAN: Just about every career can be internationalized in some respect.
There are increasing demands for people with global competencies, and so any student who
wants to make themselves really competitive should definitely consider study abroad.
>> ALICIA: It's an invaluable experience.
You get to see how other people live, to realize that we are so blessed and so lucky to have
the things that we have, but to study abroad as a student, there's no other time in your
life that you're going to be as free and as able to go to other countries and travel and
see parts of the world than you are when you're in college.
So, I recommend it to every student.