Kei Ellerbrock
Linguistics and Graphic Design
I chose Italy from an odd list, it was up against Germany, Thailand, and India. (I guess really good food was on my mind…) In the end, the program in Rome had much more for me than that in Thailand (the runner up). I was uniquely lucky in that I was able to transfer every one of my classes back for credit, going towards my degrees. Having two fields of study also made the class load more interesting, to the tune of a class where we just got to sketch in various sites in Rome!
The classes were very similar to American style classes, but nothing can compare to those on site classes. I really learned to put my studies into perspective, and get out of the classroom (and my room) much more often. I found these classes also bridged a disconnect that sometimes exists between real world experiences and education. It was nice to be going more in depth than a tour book at sites with so much history and culture.
I can’t even begin to explain how much I learned personally. I was pretty good at taking care of myself before study abroad, but being thrust full on into self-subsistence is wild. Most notably, I became incredibly good at planning and managing my time, and I greatly miss the lifestyle of markets and public transportation, now that I’m back and on my own. If for nothing other than this learning experience, I would recommend study abroad to anyone, but there is so much more to be gained from it. You get to see so much, and the opportunities are so different (train to Germany for the weekend? no problem), I absolutely encourage eveyone to go abroad!