Many students enter college with plans to study abroad as soon as they can fit it into their schedules. They picture themselves visiting exotic locations and immersing themselves in the native culture. Most do not expect that doing physical labor for five hours a day is part of the plan.
""For the internship, I could put down what type of farm I wanted to work on, and I got the vineyard,"" UW-Madison junior Shoshana Bernard-Donals said. ""I had images of learning about the different types of grapes and wine in France [and] I had no idea that what I would actually be doing was mowing the vineyard rows with a tractor for five hours a day.""
Bernard-Donals, a student in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, studied abroad last summer in Angers, France through a program that incorporated both classroom instruction and an internship. To her surprise, this experience did not end up providing her with many academic or practical lessons to apply to her major, but instead left her with valuable life lessons and advice for those who want to study abroad.
Planning Ahead
According to the Institute of International Education's ""Open Doors"" 2008-09 institutional data report, about 2,000 students study abroad annually through any of the various administrative units on campus, such as International Academic Programs (IAP), School of Business, College of Engineering and College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Despite these figures, certain factors, such as a lack of applicable credits and the additional expense, still deter some students from taking advantage of the international programs offered on campus.
However, IAP Director Rob Howell explained that with foresight and organization students can avoid these issues.
""With proper planning and sensible choice of courses abroad, students will always receive usable credit for work completed abroad,"" Howell said.
Bernard-Donals advises students to thoroughly research the programs in which they are interested because websites often only provide a basic overview. Also, ""a red flag for a program is an advisor who really has never been [to visit the site] or who can't get you in touch with people who are in your major and who enjoyed the experience,"" Bernard-Donals said.
The Costs of Studying Abroad
There are many students at UW-Madison, like Bernard-Donals, who are certain they want to study abroad and will make it happen regardless of the possible pitfalls. However, there are others who are still weighing the pros and cons. UW-Madison sophomore Catherine Bresnahan wants to experience a new culture and to improve her language skills by studying abroad. However, as a chemical engineer, the rigid requirements of Bresnahan's major make it difficult to study abroad for a full semester and still graduate in four years.
""The extra expense of being in school for an additional semester is frustrating [but], I figure when else in my life am I going to have a chance to do something like this?"" Bresnahan said.
Some students, like Bresnahan, may choose to enroll for an extra semester in exchange for a cultural experience or just to have a reason to stay in school longer and evade the precarious job market. For those students who want to avoid committing to an additional semester, there is the option to travel on a potentially less expensive and less lengthy summer program.
The ""Open Doors"" 2008-09 report shows summer study abroad programs of two weeks or more have the second-highest number of participants. According to the report, 54 percent of participants chose to study abroad for a semester and 24 percent chose a summer program.
Bernard-Donals is among the students who opted to study abroad for the summer. She said one of the reasons she chose a summer program was so that she could still graduate on time, even though the program credits did not directly apply to her major.
A downside students might encounter when choosing to study abroad in the summer is the possibility of having to forfeit a summer job. Bernard-Donals said there were few options for her after the program.
""It was really frustrating because there were not really any employment options for me after the program because no one wanted to hire me for four weeks,"" Bernard-Donals said.
However, Howell said that the IAP office tries to mitigate this timeframe issue.
""We tend to place the summer programs in the earliest part of the summer so that students still have 10-12 weeks to work,"" he said.
Also, the IAP office offers four winter module programs as an alternative option to summer offerings.
Breaking the Language Barrier
While timeframe may be an obstacle for some, the language barrier participants must confront in a foreign country can also discourage students from enrolling in an international program. Some students might want to study abroad, but feel their language skills are too weak to take part in university-level classes.
UW-Madison sophomore Ann Coplan, who is hoping to study abroad this summer, said that attending university-level classes taught entirely in a foreign language is intimidating.
""I personally would rather study in an environment where I spoke the same language,"" Coplan said. ""I want to have the possibility of complete communication with my professors and with those around me.""
While students like Coplan understand there are benefits to studying in a foreign language, some still choose to study in a primarily English-speaking country.
Howell said students should not be too concerned about language barriers. ""Only 40 percent of our programs require preparation in a language other than English, so this is really not an issue at all,"" he said.
Despite the language barrier and other possible obstacles, Bernard-Donals said the advantages to studying abroad outweigh the disadvantages. Although her story shows the potential for plans to go awry, it also provides students with guidance and an ultimately encouraging perspective.
""Even though my study abroad experience was not at all what I expected, because of the people I met, I made the best of it and do not regret it at all,"" Bernard-Donals said.
