Category Archives: Study Abroad and Beyond

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Calling All Expats: Opportunity to Lead Students Abroad

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I love that through this blog I have met so many great people around the world. It has only enhanced my ability to be global from home by extending my international network. For all my lovely expat readers and friends that I have met through the blogosphere, I have an opportunity that wanted to share.

I am looking to hire expats as On-site Program Coordinators for our short-term faculty-led programs through CISabroad. If you are someone who is currently living outside of the U.S. and would be interested in guiding a group of college students and their professor around your host country, this is the perfect gig. The primary role of this position is to facilitate the in-country implementation of the assigned program and provide safety/emergency support as needed. During the program, the On-Site Program Coordinator is responsible for managing the day-to-day logistics of the assigned customized program and providing in-country support to both the leading faculty and CISabroad students. These positions are contracted and last anywhere from 10 days to 4 weeks. We cover all travel expenses, food, housing, and provide a small stipend.

If you or someone you know might be interested in working with me at CISabroad this spring/summer, I would love to answer questions. You can check out the position and find directions to apply on the CISabroad Career page.

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Tell Me About It

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This past week was International Education Week in the US. Colleges and universities around the country celebrated the week by hosting various events of an international nature. I was able to make a trip to Stillwater, OK and visit the campus of Oklahoma State University on Friday and attend a few of their International Ed Week activities, including a gallery display by a group of students who had studied abroad this past summer in Kenya.

As I walked down the hall viewing the poster displays, I saw a few students gathered together. I asked them if they had gone on the program and immediately they perked up. “Tell me about it,” I said. From there I heard all about their itinerary, the local students they were paired with, the orphanage they visited, and the baskets they bought from the local women who were trying to develop a self-sustaining community. These young women were so enthusiastic about their experience. Just by standing with them for ten minutes, it was obvious how much studying abroad in Kenya had impacted them and opened their eyes to the world around them. I identified with their emotions and it reminded of how studying abroad changed me.

For those of us who have traveled, I think we all yearn for someone to say to us, “Tell me about it.” So often I hear from students that they return from abroad only to realize that their friends and family are not all that interested in hearing about their experience. But for those of us on a mission to be global from home, living vicariously through others who have traveled recently is so important. Not only do we provide an outlet and a listening ear for the traveler, but the traveler also helps us stay engaged with the international community through their stories.

So dear readers, the next time a friend or family member returns from abroad be sure to ask them about their experience, and if you ever need someone else be on the listening side of your travels, let me know. I happy to hear all about it.

Disasters Make the Best Stories

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One thing I always tell students is they have to have disasters when they study abroad. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have any good stories to tell when they come home. People are always so scared they’ll get lost, get sick, get hit-on, or get pick pocketed that they don’t fully enjoy themselves. And while none of those things are fun when they happen nor am I advocating being lackadaisical, they really are the stories we tell when we get back.

I recently met with a student at my university who studied in India last semester. She had presented on her study abroad experience just a few weeks ago and had shown some of her photographs from her semester abroad during her presentation. One of the pictures that caught my attention was of her walking down a catwalk in a long gown. When I asked her about the photo she explained that it was actually an awkward experience. Some of the Indian students she had met were fashion majors and asked her and several other American students to be in their fashion show. She talked about meeting up for practice and learning about “Indian time”. Sometimes practice would start an hour later. Other times she would come late and they would already be done. She said the gown itself was also an issue. As a rather tall girl, especially by Indian standards, she was slightly stunned that her gown was far too long for her. At 5’9″ she towered over her Indian friends. So who was this dress made for?

We laughed over her stories, the reactions from both her and her Indian peers, and the absurdity of some of the situations. Then I shared my theory. No disasters = no good stories. She thought for a moment and realized that it was true. Almost all the stories she shared from India were disasters at the time.

What disasters from your travels do you share? I’d love some good stories!

A Working American

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Well, dear readers, I’m happy to say that I am once again employed in the field I love. In fact, I’m over-employed and working part-time for both a study abroad company and as a study abroad advisor at a small Christian college here in OKC. While the freedom of unemployment was somewhat enjoyable, I am thrilled to give it up in return for working with students again and helping them experience the world beyond. I’m also looking forward to blogging again about all the cultural events of a college campus. Hopefully the lunch series will be back up and running soon!

This week is Global Vision Week at the college I am working at and with that came the study abroad fair and international cuisine in the cafeteria. I spent the day meeting students and talking about their dream destinations. Unfortunately the international cuisine was nowhere near as good as the conversation. I would not recommend the college cafeteria as the appropriate place to try ceviche. I’m just hoping it didn’t scare anybody off the idea of studying in Peru!

Let’s just say that this ceviche needed a lot more chips to be enjoyable.

 

Time Capsule

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When I was last home I spent some time in my parents’ basement. Its large and unfinished and my brother, cousins and I have consistently used it as a storage unit. The fun part is that it’s like going through a time capsule every time I go down there. As a kid, whenever my closet got full, I would just gather up all my pictures, mementos, yearbooks, etc., put them in a bin and take them down to the basement. I’ll admit that I was kind of a pack rat back then. But years later, as I begin to go through all the things I kept, I have to say I’m glad that I had some hoarder tendencies. In those boxes, I found some great memorabilia from my childhood through my years of studying abroad. Here are just a few things that stuck out from my time capsule.

My friends and I have decided that there are two things that women who travel wear: scarves and hats. As you can see at the age of 5, I was already embracing my future as a traveler. Or I was trying to be Anne of Green Gables. One or the other. I’m the shorty on the right.

When I was a junior in high school, my family made a trip across the Atlantic for the first time to visit my big brother who was stationed in Germany. Upon getting off the airplane, this was my first picture. The airport bathrooms in Germany had the self-cleaning toilets and I was beyond amazed with German ingenuity. Now having traveled with lots of students on their first experience abroad, I’ve discovered that foreign bathrooms are a common interest. And I’m not going to lie, I know for a fact this isn’t the only toilet I’ve taken a picture of in my past 14 years.

Also buried in the basement were all my old study abroad journals. This one was from my second summer in Italy. It was written in (poor) Italian and was full of my vocabulary, sketches, and the daily challenges and triumphs. As I read through the words that I decided to look up, the questions I wrote down, and the experiences that I struggled with as a 21-year-old college student, I see how much I grew up through my time abroad.

But of all the pictures and notes, this one is beyond far my favorite. After I graduated from high school, I spent four weeks in the mountains of KwaZulu-Natal attempting to teach economics in the local high school. As I look at this photo, it is a reminder that we all need to leave our comfort zones for a while, take risks, and that often what we are most afraid of is actually quite harmless.

Have you kept journals and pictures from travels gone by? Read and look through them and share your old memories that have come back!

 

 

 

 

Study Abroad Advice to Myself

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This week I’m back in San Diego and enjoying the sunshine and seeing my students. Before a few left for their study abroad adventures, I was able to see them off. Hanging out with them and hearing their concerns and excitement, I contemplated lessons I learned abroad and my personal advice resulting from my own challenges and triumphs. As I read my own words of advice, I recognize that I need to heed these personal words of wisdom in my life right now:

  • Remember that trials are normal and they will pass

I’ve talked about the hostility stage before but it is one of those things that I have to remind myself about often. Moving is hard. Language barriers are hard. Making new friends is hard. But it’s all worth it and it does get easier.

  • Say “yes” more than you say “no”

The only real regrets I have from my study abroad experience are when I was too afraid to do something and turned down an opportunity. I personally wish I had said “yes” a lot more and not let fear keep me from riding public transportation alone or

  • Revisit your goals often

I wanted to perfect my Italian while I was studying abroad in Italy but I would regularly get side tracked and have days that I would solely speak in English. I found I had to keep coming back to my goals, remembering what I wanted to get out of my time abroad.

  • Take time for yourself and reflect on your experience

One of the best things I did while studying abroad was do things alone. I went to the market alone, visited museums alone, and would find beautiful spots throughout Rome where I could sit and read or journal. The time alone made me appreciate being abroad so much more. In those moments it wasn’t about the people I was with, but rather the place where I was living.

  • Write it all down because you’ll do so much more than you’ll ever remember

My first time abroad in 2002 I journaled the entire time. Ten years later, I am so grateful for those journals. Without them I probably wouldn’t remember the day that I missed the bus to Cinque Terre or the time my roommate washed her underwear in our bidet.

The Hostility Stage

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In study abroad, the stages of cultural adjustment are normal. We try to prepare our students that there will be times when they will not like their host country. They will think Italian transportation strikes are ridiculous or will get frustrated that Japanese restaurants never have forks. Sometimes the hostility stage is more severe and they will want to go home. We try to give them the tools for coping with the stage but realize that we can’t eliminate it from happening.

When we moved to Oklahoma, I knew I had to be proactive to feel grounded here. I contacted the PhD program director to talk about applying. I got in touch with an organization that works with the refugee community to volunteer. We have consistently gone to a new church every Sunday trying to find the right one. But despite all of the effort, currently I find myself in the hostility stage. While many things are in the works (home, church, friends, and activities), in this moment I am lonely and lacking things to do. I miss my friends and my job and if we were offered the chance to move back to San Diego, I would probably take it.

My big brother called me last night and asked me, “So how is the transition going?” He knew the right question to ask as he has been in my shoes before. I told him about a post by Clearing Customs I read about a week ago about the grieving process. It quoted Ruth Van Reken who said, “Every time there’s transition, there is loss,” and “where there’s loss, there’s grief.” I said that I’m grieving what I left behind in San Diego. He told me that when he was living in Germany, every time someone left to go back home, he grieved as well. He made me feel normal, while reminding me that this is a stage and soon I will feel at home here too.

Although I am not very fond of the hostility stage and just wish I could fit in, feel useful, and find purpose in this new city, I know it’s part of the process. I also have to remember that you can’t grieve what you never had. I am thankful that I had so much in San Diego to grieve for and wonderful people like my big brother who understand.

This is me visiting my big brother in Germany in 1999.

 

To Whom Do You Owe The Credit?

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Do you ever really think about what or who inspired your desire to travel?  For part of my job, I read and critique scholarship applications for study abroad students.  Frequently the essay question is “Why do you want to study abroad?”  It is generally answered with one or all of the following cliches: “I want to immerse myself in culture,” or “I want to travel the world,” or the worst, “I want to broaden my horizons.”  If I’ve heard these responses once, I’ve heard them a thousand times.  I always want to grab the student’s shoulders, shake them and say “Why do you REALLY want to do this?”

Of course advising others has made me REALLY think about my own honest answer to what inspired my desire to travel. When I think back to what sparked my own interest, I believe I have these people to thank:

  • My next door neighbors – I grew up on a street in Minneapolis that was inhabited by mostly retirees.  Walt and Phyllis lived next door and frequently babysat me when my mom went back to school.  They were avid travelers and would regularly take me with them to the travel agency where I was allowed to take out all the catalogs and look through the pictures.  They also always brought be back a trinket and coins from every place they went. It took me a long time to realize what an influence they had on me from such an early age.
  • Hun Win, my childhood best friend – She lived across the street and her family immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan.  I will never forget the smell of Asian cooking that constantly permeated their home, how Hun Win would alterate between Mandarin and English so swiftly, and just how disciplined her and her brother were with finishing home and practicing the piano. It was my first experience with another culture and I was drawn to how different her home was to mine.
  • Sra. Strauss, my high school Spanish teacher – I remember speaking jibberish as a kid pretending it was another language; I loved the idea of knowing a language other than my own.  Sra. Strauss helped turn my jibberish into something useable. She exposed me to language and culture with patience, humor, and love.  While I was never very good at Spanish, I have to say that what she taught me in high school has actually gotten me by quite a few times.

 I’m curious, what or who inspired you to travel?

To the Berglunds, Hun Win, and Sra. Strauss, I am indebted to each of you for sharing the world with me. Many thanks!

20×20: Tell Your Abroad Experience in 400 seconds

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From what I can tell, 20x20s were first done in Japan at an event called Pecha Kucha where young designers could show their work. To keep the event at a reasonable pace, each designer could show 20 images and had 20 seconds to describe each image. Now this same format is being used in a variety of venues and it’s one of my favorite ways to talk about an experience abroad.

In my time working with study abroad students, I noticed two things that happen when I  ask a student about their experience.

  1. They have the short one sentence response, “It was great”, or
  2. They ramble on in a story that can be hard to follow.

The 20×20 is a great solution to help anyone put into words what being abroad was like, what it meant to them, and what the highlights were. We all know that slide shows can be boring, disconnected, and drag on far longer than most people’s attention spans. The 20×20 nips that in bud and instead helps make the presentation dynamic and fun. Here’s how I think it works best:

1. Think about your experience abroad and jot down 20 to 30 highlights such as your housing, host family/roommates, courses/projects, favorite restaurants or food, sights that amazed you, people you connected with, funny stories, lessons learned, etc.

2. Put your highlights in an order that you would want to tell them. Make sure to have a beginning and conclusion.

3. Go through your pictures and see if you can find a match for these highlights. Also feel free to use quotes or maps if you want. They don’t have to be perfect matches. They just need to go along with the idea.

4. Select the top 20 of the highlights/pictures to put them into a PowerPoint presentation, one picture per slide.

5. Set the PowerPoint to automatically change slides every 20 seconds.

6. After a little practice, press play and tell your audience in 20 seconds about each highlight. When the slide changes, you have to stop your story and go to the next one. This often provides for a few good laughs.

7. Open up for questions in the end (2 minutes max)

The 20×20 format can be great for a variety of events like:

  • Study abroad presentations (recruitment or pre-departure orientation)
  • Mission trip report at a place of worship
  • Fundraising events for international aid projects
  • School presentations
  • Get a group of friends together and all do a 20×20 over dinner

Natural Talent

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Hubby and I had an interesting conversation last night about professions and why some get paid more than others. For example a professional basketball player probably works less hours than many factory workers, but his salary is exponentially larger. In the end we decided that he can do something that the majority of the population cannot do. Because of his unique talents, we as a society compensate him financially. While hard work is certainly part of his success, part of it is also natural talent. The same goes for pop singers, actors, brilliant business people, etc.

I am a study abroad advisor. Perhaps anyone could do my job. Anyone could learn the programs and visa requirements. Anyone could encourage others to travel. I think the difference between anyone and me is that I really love college students. I light up when they come in the office and bribe them with food to come visit me. I can’t wait to hear about their planning, their challenges, and their adventures. When one called me yesterday to tell me she got a job, I felt so proud. Each of those students make me want to go to work every day. Though my profession may not be financially rewarded, I feel paid in full by the relationships I have with them. That is my natural talent.

Friday was my last day at my university. Originally I was going to write that it was my last day as a study abroad advisor, but that is not true. I think I will always be a study abroad advisor. It’s something I am truly passionate about. So whether I’m paid or not, I think in order to be truly happy, I have to be doing something in this capacity. So as Hubby and I move to Oklahoma and I continue to be global from home, I will also be seeking as many opportunities to help college students experience the world around us. In this way, I hope to use my natural talent.

What are you really good at? Are you pursuing it?