AMANDA DEDIE
Staff Writer
International Education Week brought a variety of different cultures to campus in order to help expand the worlds and enlighten the lives of students and faculty alike. But for many, the whole point of experiencing the world of another culture is not having it be brought to you, but for you to go to it. That’s where studying abroad comes in.
Thousands of students take a semester to travel to another country to experience education, culture and life through a world other than the one they’re accustomed to. Studying abroad is available in almost any country, through any school, provided that one can come up with the fiscal means to afford it, usually with financial aid, sponsors and donations. Students travel all over the world to places like Italy, France, England and Australia — and of course, kids from other countries come and visit the United States as well.
Anna Prince, a junior majoring in history at Fredonia, is currently studying abroad in Leeds, England at the University of Leeds.
“Honestly … I picked Leeds because I had to go somewhere that spoke English,” Prince admitted. “But honestly, I’ve always just wanted to experience the full British lifestyle and their culture. We have all these stereotypes of places we don’t know, so I want to see what’s really out there.”
Prince was surprised, however, to learn that part of British culture is the inability to skip classes whenever one may desire.
“It’s interesting, because classes here are mandatory,” said Prince. “I mean, classes at Fredonia, you can miss two or three before there’s really any repercussions, but here in Leeds, you can actually get in trouble with the school for even missing just one.
“Also, there are a lot of sheep here! Sheep are like our deer in the U.S.,” Prince laughed. “At any given time, in certain areas, sheep will just be casually crossing the road right in front of your car.”
But despite all the sheep and mandatory classes, Prince didn’t hesitate to recommend studying abroad.
“I would definitely recommend it. I’ve only been here two weeks, but you find out a lot about yourself. I had to become independent, because for the first few days I was by myself and I didn’t know anyone. Two weeks later, I’ve made a ton of friends!
“It’s a unique experience. You learn a lot about the culture of the place you go to and take classes you otherwise would not have been able to take.”
Prince, whose concentration is in medieval history, is currently taking classes at the University of Leeds that focus a lot on that period in time — something Fredonia does not currently offer.
“You make so many bonds and meet so many people … it’s different, and scary, but I’d totally recommend it.”
Leanna Harp, a sophomore majoring in visual arts and new media, hasn’t studied abroad yet, but desperately desires to. She believes that studying abroad is crucial in terms of furthering education as well as personal growth.
“I’d love to travel to Italy, because art,” Harp put it simply. “Art flourishes in Italy a lot, and I think it’d help project me further into my art career by viewing the masters of the renaissance. But also, I think it’d be cool to go somewhere that not a lot of people go to, with small towns that don’t have a lot of tourists.
“Art is going to be there,” continued Harp. “Art is everywhere, but it’ll be a different kind of art to broaden my horizons,” explains Harp. “I’d also like to learn basket weaving. There’s this art college in South America. They teach basket weaving, and I want to learn so bad. There’s also a college called Perugia. It’s a study abroad school with foreign students from all over the world and they have classes about wine, and food, and Italian culture, and I’d love to take things like that, because we don’t have things like that here.”
So why does Harp want to study abroad so badly, despite the flourishing arts program at Fredonia?
“It shows people that they don’t live in a bubble. People who cross the street without looking need to study abroad, because there’s a whole other world out there that they don’t know about, and it’s not just about them,” explains Harp. “Let’s have an analogy. We’re in the dark ages before the renaissance, right? Where we think we are the middle of the universe. If we went and studied abroad, we’d realize that we weren’t the center of the universe, we’re around something else. We’re not alone. The world doesn’t revolve around us.”