Learning a foreign language in an American classroom is outdated. Why learn Spanish from a graduate student when you can learn the language and its culture while walking through La Mesquita de Cordoba, a mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba, Spain?
During the past decade, the number of University students studying abroad has more than doubled. Last year 941 students studied abroad, an increase of nine people from 2004-05, Director of Overseas Study Programs Kathy Poole said. Out of 71 countries offered by the University, the top three destinations were Italy, Mexico and Spain. The top three majors were Business, Journalism and International Studies, Poole said.
The biggest draw to study abroad programs is the experience and the most common obstacle is the cost, said Melanie Harmon, spokeswoman for the University’s study-abroad program AHA International. When students factor in airfare and program costs, which can be thousands of dollars, the trip can start to look unrealistic. The same financial aid that is available for college, however, does apply to studying abroad. Also, many programs include housing, food, books and excursions. Factoring in those savings, the cost is about even with life at the University, Harmon said.
The study abroad trend stems partly from an opportunity to have a unique life experience. University Spanish major Scott Hoback is studying in Oviedo, Spain for the entirety of this year and is learning more than just the native language.
“Every day here presents some new challenge or puzzle,” he said in an e-mail. “They range from things as easy as attempting to converse with my host-mom to explaining to the woman at the Madrid airport that I had missed my flight and that she is the only woman who can help me get to Oviedo.”
After just one month in Spain, it is apparent that studying abroad offers real value, Hoback said. Visiting the Salvador Dali Museum near Barcelona took his love of Dali’s work to a “whole new level,” a level it may not have reached studying in the U.S., he said.
More than seeing strange and exciting things, meeting native people and learning about the culture is a huge gift, University student Jessica Andrews said after studying in Grenada, Spain last year.
“Whether you are talking to people in stores or on the bus, you learn about the culture through their stories,” she said. “Being there you formulate your own ideas about the county instead of reading about it in a textbook.”
Another major benefit to study abroad programs is the people you meet – not just locals but other international students, Andrews said.
“Traveling and staying in hostels, you end up meeting people from all over the world,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t even like the people you meet, but the cultures they come from are fascinating. Just you wait, you’ll see.”