America is only one country in a world becoming more international. Like it or not, ideas and businesses are going global, and people are going global as a result. Every little bit helps in the competitive job market in which we find ourselves. Being able to say you’ve studied across the sea in another country and bested the challenge could be what sets you apart.
But there are more reasons to pack your bags and hop on a jet for another continent than job-seeking practicality, as those who attend the Study Abroad Fair, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Tuesday, Oct. 27, in Room 310 of the Student Center, will find.
Many students who have studied abroad claimed the trip was a life-changing experience for them, vastly more valuable than a simple four-year college degree and incomparable to anything found in a classroom setting.
Abbey Ventrone, a senior studying English and social studies for secondary education who has been on two trips studying abroad, attested to this.
“Nothing compares to the experience of being there and seeing it for yourself,” she said. “You see a picture that’s significant in some way, and then you see it in real life, and it’s so much better.”
During an interview with Benita Goldman of EMU Academic Programs Abroad and Ventrone, now also employed at the program, Goldman added: “A good example is the Duomo [in Florence.] It’s one of the most important architectural monuments of the Renaissance. This guy built a dome that nobody else could figure out how to do.
“So Brunelleschi’s a genius. Everybody knows it. When you climb the dome and you look at Florence beneath you with the whole world opening up, and you realize how truly massive this thing is, you know, the hairs on the back of your arms stand up and you go, ‘This guy really was a genius. Now I get it. Okay, it’s not just a word anymore. I understand the nature of genius.’”
Ventrone and Goldman both agreed there are many myths associated with studying abroad, some of which prevent students from ever going on a trip.
One common myth, they said, is you need to know another language to study abroad.
“I don’t know another language,” Ventrone said, “but in most places it wasn’t a problem. You find knowing a few key phrases—I can ask people in German and Italian, you know, ‘Do you speak English?’ or like ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”
EMU professional writing student Adrienne Mahan agreed.
“I didn’t know French when I went to Paris,” she said. “So it was a kind of difficult, but there was only one time it was really a problem. In a sandwich shop, the guy at the counter didn’t know any English, but he was able to find someone else who worked there to translate for me.”
“People do tend to be willing to work with you,” Ventrone said. “And if they don’t know English, hand motions are a fantastic thing to use.”
And according to Goldman, English is widely spoken.
“The world really does speak English,” Goldman said. “It’s really hard to get away from English when you’re traveling, believe it or not.”
One of the other great things, Ventrone and Goldman said, which also helps dissolve what little language barrier may remain, is the fact you will be participating in a tour guided by people who speak English to you but are fluent in both the language and culture of the country in which you’re traveling.
Many of the events while on a trip are optional, and students have to decide if they want to go.
“You learn really quickly that the adults on the trip, the true adults, really know what they’re talking about,” Ventrone said. “If your professor says, or if your guide says, ‘Hey, we’re going here,’ you tag along. That’s just how it works.”
Conversely, Goldman said that teachers learn from the trips as much as students.
“One of the things faculty find when they are leading a program or teaching in a program is that they find out something they didn’t know,” she said. “They find that their own scholarship continues and that they are more inspired to teach.”
Another common myth, they said, is it’s not affordable to study abroad.
“If you plan it right, it’s possible,” she said. “Just plan ahead, and don’t do it on a whim. That’s pretty bad. I found that out the hard way on my first trip. It wasn’t awful, but when I got back and my parents got the bill, then they were like, ‘Abbey…,’”
Goldman said financial aid does apply to study abroad expenses and many scholarships and grants are available to students specifically for the purpose of studying abroad. She agreed planning for finances is the better option.
Still, Ventrone said her first trip, during which she traveled to Prague and Munich over winter break of 2007, was a good introduction to the program.
“I’d never been overseas,” she said. “I’d never traveled far from my parents, so it was a good way for me to see how I’d like it. Winter break, you know, you get there and then you’re gone. It’s a really short time, especially for all that you do. It’s just enough to get a taste.”
Ventrone said she was more prepared for her second trip, a 35-day Mediterranean cultural history tour embarking from Zurich, Switzerland, traveling through Italy and the Grecian Peninsula and ending on the island of Crete.
“I got back from Prague and Munich and I decided I wanted to go again, and I wanted to be gone longer,” she said. “So I sat down with my parents and we decided that I would be on a budget for that school year when I was trying to save for it. It was like $25 a week and that included gas. And then I got a scholarship, and I was able to lighten up a little.”
