Study in Central Europe: History, Memory, and Identity

Why did you pick this program?

Katelyn: I chose this program because it was unique. While many traditional study abroad programs are set up so that you are essentially attending a foreign school (living either with a host family or in a dorm) with weekends free to yourself, this program worked a little differently.

First of all, our semester began with a two week traveling seminar. This seminar took us from Vilnius, Lithuania, down the Eastern border of Poland, and then to Warsaw before finally reaching our home city of Wroclaw, Poland. In addition to this initial traveling, we also took 3 weekend trips as a class to Prague/Dresden, Krakow, and Berlin.

The large amount of traveling included in this program in addition to its fascinating topic, led me to believe that this would be the best program for me. And, not for nothing, this study abroad program was significantly cheaper than every other study abroad program I have seen out there.

What is the most important thing you learned abroad?

Katelyn: I believe the most important thing I learned when I went abroad was how capable we all are at both adapting and rising to the challenge. From a personal standpoint, I learned how to confidently walk through foreign cities by myself, despite language barriers or cultural differences, and embrace every challenge I faced.

In a broader sense, I learned of all of the challenges faced in Central Europe in the 20th century, between two World Wars and the rise and fall of communism, the people of Central Europe found a way to survive and thrive through difficult times. I learned of spiritual resistance in ghettos during World War II and the Orange Alternative movement during communist times in Wroclaw, Poland.

People are incredibly strong and capable, and continuously prove to the world that they can take on more than thought possible. More than anything else, I learned that each individual is truly capable of anything they put their mind to.

What do you tell your friends who are thinking about going abroad?

Katelyn: DO IT. Seriously. Every time one of my friends mentions their interest in going abroad, I have a bad tendency of just (playfully) yelling "DO IT" at them in the hopes that they go. I think everyone should go abroad if they get the opportunity because it is an experience you definitely will not regret.

Even if you have doubts about living in a new culture or trying to survive a new language, the challenges presented by these experiences will help you to grow and mature as a person in ways you could never predict. I also like to remind my friends that there are few times in life when you can drop everything and go travel for months at a time, so if the opportunity arises, you should take it and see where it takes you.

What was the hardest part about going abroad?

Katelyn: Ironically, I would say the hardest part of going abroad for me was coming home. I loved every aspect of being abroad and each challenge it presented me with. Therefore, coming home was actually very difficult for me. I had a hard time at first readjusting to being home and not traveling to foreign countries every other weekend.

It sounds silly to say that my biggest struggle when going abroad was coming home, but reverse culture shock can be a real thing. However, I would not let the idea of reverse culture shock keep me from going abroad again. If anything, it makes me want to go back abroad even more.

What made this trip meaningful to you, or how did this trip change your perceptions, future path?

Katelyn: Going on this program really opened my eyes to the world of action research and the difference a single person can make. Before attending this program, I was set on receiving my degree in biology, going to grad school to receive my PhD in biology and leading a quiet life of lab-based research.

After attending this program, I added a degree in political science and have started to research different job and grad school opportunities related to the field of political science. While conducting research in a lab is a great future path, after seeing all of the work that can be done outside of the lab and with other people, I knew that a life in the lab was no longer for me. I never would have considered a future path in political science if it had not been for this program.

What about the future of the industry? How do you think study abroad and international education will change over the next 10 years?

Margaret: I think that international education will become more comprehensive. It will be part of what you do on campus as well as your abroad experience. International education will become just one piece that will get you ready to work in a more global world.

The idea will be “step onto the campus, step into the world.” From day one, we will be thinking about students as people who will work overseas or work with people overseas, at least virtually.

Global curiosity about other histories, cultures, and languages is a must. The abroad experience will be more than something that you do as a junior; it will be a part of how people prepare themselves personally and professionally for their lives.

In the future, abroad experiences will be more thematic than destination driven. Furthermore, we will offer more and more opportunities to explore global problems through field research. Students will learn how to think about and to deal with the problems that matter to them in a more immersive setting than a classroom.

There will be more non-traditional destinations; especially China, and we will offer study abroad for non-traditional students like adults, those with children and family, and those who can only go abroad for a short time.

Adult experience. People will have to think differently about who the typical student going abroad is and accommodate a wider range of students, and offer a fuller range of courses STEM opportunities.

Which destination is most underrated? Conversely, which is most overrated?

Margaret: Europe remains the key destination for U.S. students who study abroad because there are so many popular cities with a lot of study abroad programs. There are 126 programs in London alone. For cities like Istanbul, Santiago, and Beijing, we have to work to show the benefits of these lesser-known destinations.

Students who study there love them, they feel that these non-traditional settings are really interesting. They aren’t as “foreign” as they might have thought, not as far away, not as different as they might have thought. More and more students want that. Students are better-traveled when they arrive at college, so they are looking for something different.

Nevertheless, the places in Europe are more than just what you thought it would be. There are unanticipated differences. If you immerse in culture and language opportunities, there will be things that feel different and things you feel quite connected to that might have been unanticipated.

Why is language learning and cultural immersion important to you?

Margaret: It’s possible now to travel, to eat in very familiar restaurants and stay in familiar hotels, and never have to speak another language because people speak English all over the world. It’s tempting to not learn a second language. There are more non-native speakers of English in the world than there are native speakers.

However, if you don’t struggle to learn a language, you are missing out on the nuances and the way that language reflects and produces a reality that without the language you will miss. What they say in the elevator to strangers, intimate relations between family members, family dynamics all can be misinterpreted when translated. Learning a language expands who you are and how you think about things.

Describe a time when you felt especially proud to be part of the SU Abroad team.

Margaret: I feel proud of it every day. I think the dedication of staff and faculty who want to develop outstanding, rigorous, and creative programs is extraordinary.

I feel that we are all working toward a common goal and common purpose. There is a real commitment to providing students a chance to study. I am proud of the programs we’re developing; for example, the new program in Poland. We are looking into programs in New Zealand and Australia as well as journalism in South Africa.

More and more we are doing important work, imaginative work, collegial work to bring students new and exciting experiences. I’ve enjoyed the people that I’ve met since I’ve been in this job.

What unique qualities does your company possess?

Margaret: SU Abroad is academically rigorous and we have incredible traveling Signature Seminars that are led by dedicated, smart program directors and faculty. There is a commitment to developing and creating increasingly relative, substantive, and contemporary programming.

We have center directors with Ph.D.s who take their roles as intellectual guides seriously and have excellent student support staff. We have beautiful facilities. Students in our programs take classes that are small enough to foster a shared intellectual enterprise with the faculty.

We also have experience, we have been in the business a long time and that experience is necessary when problems or crises happen. We are always working with faculty on campus and other schools to develop new exciting courses and pedagogies. We are very good at teaching that takes advantage of the context in which our programs reside and students have an academic relationship with the site they are in.

We also offer internships at a lot of our sites at NGOs and community organizations as well as exciting opportunities on-site like our edible garden in Florence where we teach immigrant families Tuscan cooking, and to speak English and Italian.