Wednesday, June 17, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Students learn abroad
Travel enhances college experience for participants
KU students enjoy a boat ride on the River Cam in Cambridge, England. The students were on a study abroad trip for legal studies. Photo courtesy of the Office of Study Abroad.
By Both Janos Kansan staff writer
Suppose your volleyball class heads to the beach for a game, and when you get there everyone, men and women alike, begins changing clothes right there on the beach.
This scenario seems like it might only exist in a strange dream, but for Sarah Hansen, Sioux Falls, S.D., junior, it was reality, Hansen, like many other students, studied abroad for the cultural experience.
"You have to do what they do," she said. "I couldn't just throw a fit because I didn't want to change on the beach, so I just stripped down on the beach, too."
Hansen spent 11 months in Denmark after her senior year in high school and said that situations such as the one on the beach were common. The society and the school system were more liberal than what she was used to.
"I was more mature and had more of an open mind and broader outlook after I came home," she said. "I saw the way society functions in different places and realized that not everybody does things your way."
Each year, more students travel abroad. According to the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit international exchange and training organization, 89,242 students studied abroad during the 1995-96 school year. The number of students was 84,403 the previous year. Margareta B. O'Connell, director of the Office of Study Abroad, said she had seen the increase.
"It has to do with several things," she said. "The economy is very good right now and more people feel they can afford the extra cost of study abroad. Times are also right when there aren't any wars and things are more or less calm in the world."
O'Connell said the office has hired an outreach coordinator to reach as many students as possible. Students who might want to travel abroad are encouraged to visit the office early to find out
"It was hard at first. You can't really prepare yourself for the shock that this is where you will live, and it isn't just a trip."
Sarah Hansen
Sioux Falls, S.D., junior
what opportunities are available. If students plan ahead, going abroad should not extend their stay at the University of Kansas, she said.
"We have so many programs that one will fit just about anybody," O'Connell said. "What you take away is not just an increased knowledge in certain subjects but an increased understanding of the world and humanity. An increased awareness and sensitivity for other cultures is very important because whether you work abroad or at home, you will come in contact with people from a lot of cultures."
John Stewart, Lee Summit, Mo., senior, spent last summer in Brazil and currently is studying in Argentina. Stewart wrote by email that he had gained more than an appreciation for different cultures while abroad.
"After being out of the states twice, I've found that I'm getting a deeper appreciation for my own country. I felt compelled to travel
in order to find out what I'm missing and what I'm not missing," he wrote. "I do miss milk shakes and big well-maintained American highways and my friends."
Loneliness and homesickness are common feelings that many students experience. Hansen said she was depressed during the beginning of her stay but eventually learned to forget little mistakes and enjoy new things.
"It was hard at first. You can't really prepare yourself for the shock that this is where you will live, and it isn't just a trip," Hansen said. "You just have to take what comes at you day by day."
O'Connell said extensive orientations and meetings prepare students thoroughly for what to expect. Advisers also are on location and people from the office are available to help with problems. An answering machine during non-business hours even supplies advisers' home phone numbers.
Stewart said he knew what to expect and did not feel homesick. He mentioned a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: "If you are lonely when you're alone, you're in poor company."
"The key to not being homesick is to not take so many memories with you as extra baggage," he wrote. "They'll be there whenever you want them, but you are traveling to experience something other than what your memories provide."
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