Katelynn McGinley
Features Editor
The decision to study abroad is, in many ways, a rite of passage for college students.
“Choosing a location to study abroad in is a decision that requires a lot of thought,” says Rose Falkner, director of the International Programs Office and the go-between for study abroad students.
For many McDaniel students the decision is sometimes an easy one – the school has a sister campus in Budapest, Hungary. Essentially, says Falkner, convenience is what makes the Budapest program the school’s most popular. “It’s easy – very much like studying at our own campus. You can take McDaniel courses, and all of a student’s financial aid transfers, whereas for other programs only state and federal aid transfers.”
However, there are many students for whom the ease of Budapest is actually a deterrent.
“I saw it as a chance for me to strike out completely on my own,” explains Caitlin Bradford, a 2008 McDaniel graduate, of her semester spent in Australia in 2007.
Kathryn Harlow, a junior at McDaniel who spent last semester studying at the Lorenzo D’Medici School in Florence, Italy, says that while “it was a big decision, definitely” to study in a place so removed from McDaniel, but “as an art student […] I felt that Italy had so much more to offer me than any of the other places I could have studied abroad […] that was worth scrounging for the extra tuition money.”
Money is only one way that Budapest differs from other study-abroad options.
“The immersion process is different,” Falkner admits of students studying in countries other than Budapest. “All the professors and most of the students on the Budapest campus are going to speak English, and they also socialize and travel together, so the language barrier is much less daunting than, for example, our students on the Brussels Exchange Program attending the Faculties Universitaire Saint Louis,” where all classes are taught solely in French, and all assignments must also be completed in French.
According to Falkner, the issue of learning and constantly speaking a foreign language is oftentimes one of the hardest things for students to adjust to, labeling it “exhausting and difficult, especially at the beginning, and especially for students who have never travelled outside of the country before.”
Jaki Sipes, also a junior, was a roommate of Harlow’s in Italy. Though she took an Italian class while in Florence, Sipes readily admits that “I could order food and ask how much something cost, but other than that I resorted to pointing and miming a lot.” She got by, she says, by relying on the kindness of locals who spoke English and took pity on her.
Other study-abroad hardships, according to Falkner, may include adjusting to a new and sometimes more rigorous academic schedule.
This isn’t always that case, however. Colin Miller, a sophomore currently studying in Budapest suggests that his academic schedule oftentimes takes a backseat to his traveling. “My point in studying in Budapest was not to kill myself academically – I wanted to see the world, and Budapest’s centralized location has really made that possible.” Miller, who had just returned from Venice and Vienna, and was leaving the next day to go to Croatia, explains that he has “photographed the riots that were going on [in Budapest] a few weeks ago. That was why I came here – to experience things.”
Miller doesn’t deny that going to clubs and drinking with friends is a part of his life in Budapest, but that “the only difference” between Budapest and Westminster is that he’s legally allowed to buy alcohol. “I don’t think I’m spending any more or less time partying here – it’s just a different environment.” Says Miller.
Sipes agrees. “It was nice to be able to go out to clubs and bars [while in Italy], and it was fun, but I wouldn’t say it interfered with my studies or life anymore than it would if I’d been on campus,” she believes.
After Budapest, Falkner says that some of the most popular study-abroad destinations are Spain, the United Kingdom, France, and Costa Rica.
“Ultimately, the location in which a student chooses to study abroad depends on their goals and intentions, their personalities, their interests. This varies from person to person,” says Falkner, who will recommend one university or location over the other, based on what she believes to be best for the student in question.
Whether it’s Budapest or Florence, at the end of the semester it’s a sure bet that the student’s life will have been changed.
“The way I view the world is very different now,” says Harlow. “I learned a lot about myself, I became a much stronger, independent person, and making the decision to study abroad played a huge part in that.”