Ivanka Skovardanova traveled to Turkey this summer. It was a trip that opened her eyes.
“It challenged the way I looked at the world,” said Skovardanova, a journalism major. “I had the chance to see how people in other countries did business and how media impacts their society and culture.”
Skovardanova was one of the many students who traveled abroad this summer in a study abroad program.
According to the Georgia State Study Abroad Office, 756 students studied abroad during the 2010/2011 academic year in 70 various programs.
Although a few students had trouble with their credits transferring quickly, most received their credits quickly with an easy-made A.
In Istanbul, Turkey, students studied “Media, Journalism, and Business in a Global World.” In Costa Rica, students studied linguistics. In Liberia students explored how womanism shaped the country. During the 2010/2011 academic school year, there were 45 short-term programs and 25 exchange programs offered, according to the Study Abroad Office.
Some welcomed the sensory overload of a new country.
“Istanbul is the only city in the world that lies in two continents,” references Misty Hope, a 33-year-old Senior Journalism major. “It was wonderful to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of another culture.”
And some had to adjust to the new cultures.
“Driving – or even being a passenger in a vehicle – caused culture shock,” said Cruz. “There are no traffic laws in Liberia, and people are constantly walking through the roads so that you are always dodging someone.”
But not all students were dodging things this summer. Some dove right in to their new environments.
19 year-old Karon Franklin, a journalism major, traveled to Costa Rica and found that his favorite place was Puerto Viejo, a small city on the Caribbean coast. The city’s Latin-Rasta lifestyle made him reevaluate all his values and desires in life.
“I aspire to live the lifestyle that I witnessed in Puerto Viejo,” said Franklin. “I had this ambition previous to my trip, but it was wonderful to see my dream in reality. Capitalist society does not fit my nature at all, and I cannot wait to escape it.”
Whether students planned to go study abroad to get away from home, receive credits while learning about a foreign culture, or have a delicious experience tasting new food, they received more than expected.
Melissa Cruz, a junior English double major who traveled to Liberia this summer discovered the vast differences between cultures.
“I had to abandon a lot of social norms, and instead try to evaluate what I had learned through an entirely different lens,” she said.
