Don’t hate me, but I believe myself to be extremely lucky that I had parents who didn’t consider enculturation as a family trip to sunny Florida to visit Disney Land, or World, or whatever the heck it is.
My first bout of traveling occurred when I was about eight years old—Spain, I think it was. Then France the next year (or maybe I got that backwards) where I spent my New Year’s Eve with food poisoning in the hotel room. My mother was not pleased, cooped up and watching the festivities from the television. Seriously not pleased.
Food sickness aside, traveling and experiencing new walks of life continues to be really important to me. One friend recently asked if I was going to go somewhere wild for spring break, and I told him I’m saving my money for Africa. Yeah, I know I’m not missing much. On another note, my goal to travel to every continent is almost complete: I’ve gotten Europe (Spain and France), Asia (Japan, China, the Philippines) and Australia thus far. Hopefully I’ll check Africa (Tanzania) off my list soon, and then head down toward South America. Antarctica will never happen, so I’ll have to settle for a measly six.
Now, I’m the last person to give you any information about CNU’s study abroad program, mainly because my parents aren’t forking over any more money and I do not have the motivation to travel and study simultaneously. So I decided to talk to one of my dearest friends, senior Brittany Freelin, about her experiences studying abroad.
In 2012, Brittany traveled to Spain as part of a two-week seminar with Dr. Danielle Velardi and Ingrid Kalfus Edery of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures. Although she did not primarily take classes in Spain because of the nature of the seminar program, Brittany said, “we met twice for class while in Spain, and had two classes on campus before we left.” The application process might seem pretty daunting to many students, but Brittany assured me that the process was fairly easy, thanks to the resources available. When I asked her about any advice she’d have to students thinking about going abroad, she exclaimed, “Do it! Studying abroad is so worthwhile and a great experience to explore the world, meet people from different cultures, and learn about yourself.” Now, with all this traveling experience, she’s thinking about going to Italy next!
