STUDY ABROAD
Students tell us about their experiences abroad.

Peter Huang '11
If I said "up" was last month, and "down" was next month, would that mess with your spatial representation of time a little? I've been enrolled in intensive-language classes in China for close to two semesters now, and that whole up/last down/next time-concept still throws me for loops. That one situation conveniently packages my entire Chinese learning experience; 一方面, I've learn how to laugh at myself. On the other hand, while learning the language provides me access to a people, a culture, and a lot of great food, the most fascinating gift is a peek into the the mind of the typical Chinese guy next to me. 而且，that "peek" has, literally, changed how I perceive the world around me (vertical calendars suddenly make sense).

So if you get the chance, take a trip to Cecelia Chang's office (the Goddess/Mom of the Chinese department), and watch yourself go from a language snubbing, die-hard Eph with JA ambitions to a study-abroad Chinese addict.  With luck, we'll meet at a 胡同 tea house and chat about how dazzling living in one of the most wildly exciting, dynamic, and beautiful countries in the world is.

Carolyn A. Clark '10
As I prepared to come to St. Petersburg, I knew I wanted to learn Russian but had practically no idea of the country itself. The Russia I could imagine was some combination of travel photos and fairy tales, a place where every cathedral is decked in onion-shaped domes and old women walk to market, cabbages in their arms, past forests where black bears are known to sleep. Naturally-and thankfully-here I've found reality rather than a fairy tale. As I know it from one month's acquaintance, St. Petersburg is a city marked by its imperial and Soviet past but overfilled with ordinary people who for the most part, except on the metro, try not to get in each other's way. Russia is starting to feel a little less foreign. That's the thought, at least, that keeps me going.
View Carolyn's blog

Melinda Misener '09 / Buenos Aires, Argentina (CIEE)
Sometimes, when I wake up, my first thought is in Spanish. Sometimes I want the Spanish to leave me alone, to let me structure my thoughts the way I always used to. But sometimes someone in a grocery store or in line at the movies asks me where I'm from, and I tell them. I am interesting to them, they want to talk to me, and I am glad for the connection. And sometimes I stay up late at night with my host, a 26 year old actress/tour guide/graduate student/NGO employee, talking about politics or relationships or the best frutería on the block. And I am glad for the Spanish.

 It is one thing to be able to order a sandwich or ask for directions in another language, but it is another to be able to communicate or express the more complicated things, the shades of doubt and the mixed emotions. It is another when one's inner dialogue becomes bilingual.




Clare Malone ’09, Paris, France (Sweet Briar)
My semester in Paris is difficult to sum up in just a few words or experiences.  It seemed like every moment of every day was a chance to learn more about the culture, the city, the language, or the people.  Whether it having art history class at the Louvre in front of the very paintings you are learning about, or going to plays at La Comédie Française for class, or just going to a Tecktonik dance class on the weekend to learn the new style of French dancing, Paris is a city that is overflowing with culture. The best part about my study abroad experience has been living with my host family and learning from them the traditions and peculiarities of la vie parisienne. 

It was after my first introduction to Sunday “dîner des cousins” that I realized despite the difficulty of taking a semester abroad, despite missing my friends and family from home, I had absolutely made the right decision.  I learned more about French culture in that one dinner, and spoke more French doing it, than I had in all my French classes up to that point.