By: Bryce Mougey
Contributor
With the new semester and the inevitable new year approaching, many students are gearing up to study for a semester abroad with a partner college or internship opportunity.
On Nov. 4, the Adanti Student Center Ballroom became an epicenter for students wanting to learn more about the opportunities that they can engage in to further their learning and career internationally, at the “SCSU Study Abroad Fair.”
“It’s completely transformative. It just gives you an insight to how people live. It’s just incredibly eye opening.” “I think it’s a privilege for us to have the experience offered for undergraduate and graduate students especially if students study on exchange,” Director of the Office of International Education Erin Heidkamp said.
Heidkamp also stated that the university collaborates with close to 30 partner schools in over 15 countries, allowing students to be able to continue their study almost anywhere in the world.
There were also many students representing schools that they had done previous semesters at, as well as students who were currently doing a semester abroad at the university.
Many of them said that travelling opened up so many more doors, even being able to explore other countries, not just the ones they were exchanged to.
“It gives us a lot of freedom to do what we want, take the classes we want. And I got to travel a lot. I got to go to different places in Australia, New Zealand. It was so unlike anything I’d ever experienced before,” speech, language and hearing sciences major Gioia Miller, a senior, said.
Data from the Office of International Education showed that almost 200 students study abroad each year, many of them were very enthusiastic to share their personal experiences and recommend the many programs to others.
While some students had experienced some struggles with transferring their credits when they returned, students who did a partner school exchange experienced no such struggles.
“I was in Germany, and next thing you know, I was in Italy, I was in Switzerland, I was in Austria,” Jesslyn Jimenez, a university alumni, said. “I was able to visit so many more places and I think that just gives you a sense of dependence that you need in life. And it definitely helped me, you know, open up more as well.”
Students were also enthusiastic about the many different environments and approaches to learning abroad.
“I was actually going to take my final Spanish course in Germany as funny as it was. So again I was at the University of Mannheim, which is quite literally a castle that you’re studying in, which is amazing,” Jimenez said.
Not only is the study abroad program praised for its academic and career benefits such as access to unique programs and internships, but it also is widely praised for helping develop personal and social skills.
“I honestly think it’s something that you need to do. Like, I was able to get a lot of independence and really get to know myself more than I would have had I just studied here,” Jimenez said.
Apart of academic work, Miller said said that her study abroad experience taught her skills that could be applied beyond the classroom.
“I feel like I kind of got, like, my ability to, like, make friends down to a science,” Miller said. “I feel like there are things that I notice that will make good friends. And I don’t waste my time on people who I don’t think will be good friends.”
Many students fully encourage those who are interested to get involved and experience something new.
“I feel like it’s when my life started,” Heidkamp said. “It was the best thing by far that I’ve ever done.”
