This essay is published in partnership with CEA (Cultural Experiences Abroad). If you’re looking to have your own experience, check out their recommended programs.

1. Florence architecture , Photo: Rosino

2. Reading on fountain steps, Photo: Alaskan Dude

3. Italian sliced deli meat platter with olives, Photo: Alaskan Dude

4. Homes with flowers by the Arno River, Photo: Pasujoba

5. Street performer, Photo: McPig

6. View from outside the city, Photo: McPig

7. Aerial view, Photo: Carlo Alcos

8. Evening cafe snack, Photo: McPig

9. Street side cafe, Photo: McPig

10. Rubbing the stomach of Little Bacchus is said to bring good luck, Photo: Alaskan Dude

11. Funky shoes for sale, Photo: Alaskan Dude

12. Deli offerings, Photo: Alaskan Dude

13. Live music in the square, Photo: Rosino

14. One of many, many statues in Florence. Photo: Carlo Alcos

15. Eating gelato with both hands, Photo: Alaskan Dude

16. Italian cafe snack, Photo: McPig

17. The city by night, Photo: McPig

18. Street art in Florence, Photo: smokeonit

19. Shops at Ponte Vecchio, Photo: Gimli_36

20. Florence at sunset, Photo: Chi King

Community Connection

Planning on studying abroad in Florence? Check out Matador’s Green Guide to Florence and the Italy Focus Page.

This essay is published in partnership with CEA Global Education. If you’re looking to have your own experience, check out their recommended programs.

1. Dancing at the weekly San Telmo Fair (Feria de San Pedro Telmo). Photo: Leigh Shulman.

2. Inside Club Museo in Buenos Aires. Photo: YoTuT.

3. Enjoying the glowing BsAs sunset. Photo: Ju Fumero.

4. Back stage at Buenos Aires Fashion Week. Photo: moatman.

5. The Floralis Generica sculpture, located in the United Nations park, opens up during the day and closes at night. Photo: Sebastián Dario.

6. The Floralis Generica beginning to open after the sun has risen. Photo: Matthew Hutchinson.

7. Artwork on the outside walls of one of Buenos Aires most popular restaurants, Tegui. Photo: Kate Sedgwick.

8. People gazing out into the river on a sunny day. Photo: Mauricio Macri.

9. One of the many public buses in Buenos Aires. Photo: Kate Sedgwick.

10. Downtown Buenos Aires. Photo: Ricardo Carreon.

11. Puerto Madero shines bright even after the sun goes down. Photo: Javi Valdes.

12. Boats light up along Puerto Madero at night. Photo: Tiago “Cata” Luiz.

13. In honor of Flag Day, La Casa Rosada is festively lit a bright magenta. Photo: Kate Sedgwick.

14. Tango dancing is one of the great passions of Buenos Aires. Photo: Kate Sedgwick.

15. Patrons drop by a local pizzeria for dinner. Photo: Kate Sedgwick.

16. A view of the city, shot from Costanera Sur Natural Reserve (RECS) in Buenos Aires. Photo: Luis Argerich.

17. Musicians playing at the San Telmo Fair. Photo: Leigh Shulman.

Community Connection

Share with us your memories or experiences of Buenos Aires!

To learn more about life, study and travel in Buenos Aires and Argentina, check out Matador’s Argentina Focus Page.

Photos: author

“Man, you are so weird.”

This was the rather dispiriting response from Kim, my new Danish flatmate, after telling him that I would be spending the coming year in Denmark trying to master his native tongue. Unfortunately, similar remarks (all in English) were common during the first few weeks of my Erasmus Study Abroad program in Århus.

Danes found it laughable that anyone would want to learn Danish, especially a native English-speaker like me. If a league table existed for the most popular Scandinavian language Danish would come bottom. Certainly it lacks the sexiness and sing-song qualities of Norwegian and Swedish, but is no means the ugly language that many make it out to be.

Looking back on it now I was fighting a losing battle, as most Danes speak English fluently, due to excellent schooling and a strict diet of American and British TV. If anything, they were learning from me, and saw my arrival as an excellent opportunity to keep their English fresh, the swines! This was not how I had imagined things going at all.

After two years of intensive university study my Danish should have been a hell of a lot better, but for some reason my grasp of it was still very basic. The prospect of living and studying in Denmark itself, therefore, was terrifying. Never mind the inevitable homesickness – how was I going to survive for a whole year with a toddler’s Danish?

“Ah, you’ll be fine. They all speak English over there, don’t they?” my friends would say.

“Yes, but that’s not the point!” I responded, shaking them in frustration.

What was the use of going abroad to learn a language and using English as a safety net? I had to master it for my university degree and I wanted to master it too. No matter how scared I was at the prospect of sounding stupid, I was determined to leave Denmark fluent.

You will understand then how frustrated I was during those opening weeks, with my aspirations slowly fading before my eyes. My insistence to speak only Danish with my flatmates had been a miserable failure and to make it worse my German friends (also fellow exchange students, who were all taking courses in English and had not planned to learn any Danish) were already fluent.

My courses at university were hardly inspiring either and left me feeling totally bewildered and dizzy, as I only concentrated on what was being said, rather than the context of the lessons. At that point it was very tempting to give in and merely revel in the careless joy of being an Erasmus student, but suddenly everything changed.

One night some friends and I found ourselves down at the student bar down by Århus harbour. We had heard there were some local bands playing and were keen to go along. The music was awful, the kind that focuses on making ears bleed rather than being entertaining, and I found myself retreating to the bar with a ringing head. While ordering a Tuborg I noticed a girl stood next to me, suffering like myself.

“De spiller alt for højt, hvad?” I shouted across to her.

She smiled and nodded, removing a finger from an ear to shake my hand and introduce herself. She was called Marie and agreed that the band in question would have us all deaf by the end of the night. After introducing myself and letting her hear that I wasn’t Danish, an amazing thing happened: breaking national law she did not immediately switch to English but carried on speaking in Danish, and even better, expressed no great surprise that a foreigner was speaking her language. I resisted the urge to hug her and weep tears of gratitude, and we continued our conversation long into the night.

Making my first Danish friend changed everything. Although I never said anything, Marie understood that I was not in Denmark just for the Erasmus parties and that I wanted to come away with something more lasting. Therefore, right from the beginning English was banned by an unspoken rule between us. Even if I was struggling to find a word or put a sentence together she refused to let me take the easy way out.

Instead she showed great patience and let me work it out for myself. The one time she did correct me caused her much hilarity. We were in a post office together one day and, unsure as to where the queue started, I asked a man

“Er du i koen?”

The man looked at me as with alarm and it turned out I had actually asked him whether he was “in the cow”, rather than the queue.

“‘Køen’, not ‘koen’, dear”, Marie sniggered in my ear.

One night a week Marie would invite me over for dinner in her cozy flat and we would talk about all sorts of things until the early hours. What was so refreshing about this was that it didn’t feel like some sort of pre-arranged language tuition session. It was something real. It was everyday life. Finally I had fit in.

The more time I spent with Marie the better my Danish became and the more my confidence grew. I realized that doing workbook exercises and learning grammar by heart can only teach you so much and that best way to learn is to get out and meet people and just talk, talk, talk.

For a few months I had been going to a language school in town and found myself in the advanced class, which was full of Lithuanian snobs who were already fluent but who only turned up to show off. Rather than listen to them titter at my mistakes I realized that spending time with a local was a far better and cheaper way to learn.

Now that things had finally got moving I slowly began to immerse myself in the language. University classes became easier to follow and I started reading a newspaper everyday, looking up words I did not know and writing them down on note cards.

Pretty soon I could read the whole paper without the help of a dictionary and words I had never noticed before started appearing everywhere. I also listened to the radio on and soon got hooked, so much so that one day I had a visit from a radio licensing officer who demanded payment for a license.

I got in a lot of trouble for that, but at least I got some practice out of the angry words exchanged! I was even dreaming in Danish at this point (always a good sign, I’m told) and on a few occasions responded to an English friend’s questions in Danish without realizing it.

As my confidence grew I found it easier to strike up conversations with people. I made another friend called Kristian at a party who shared a love of football and we would spend literally days watching every game on TV, chatting away happily and occasionally yelling at the referee with an array of eye-wateringly strong Danish expletives.

Not every day was a good day for me in language terms. For some unknown reason I suffered from temporary Danish amnesia. One day I would be discussing the news with Marie and Kristian, and the next I couldn’t even understand the simplest questions put to me.

It was as if something in my brain had been temporarily unplugged and it used to get me really down. Infuriatingly on days like these my flatmate Kim would suddenly choose to speak to me in Danish, and when he perceived I hadn’t a clue what he’d said he would laugh in my face.

“Oh yeah? Well you’ve got a girl’s name!” I always wanted to shout at him.

Fortunately days like these were rare.

Leaving Denmark was incredibly difficult. By the end of the academic year it had started to feel like my home and I was on the very cusp of being fluent in the language. On the plane home I got talking to the two girls next to me. They had noticed my Roskilde Festival wrist band and we laughed about how muddy and fun it had been. Eventually one of them asked me why I was going to England and I replied:

“Jeg skal hjem” (I’m going home)

“What?!” one of them shrieked “We thought you were from Århus!”

If ever there was a time for a high five, that was it.

Feature Photo: gopal1035 Bengali books, Photo: romana klee

The list of which languages are considered critical changes over time as economic and political situations change and develop, but often these languages are radically different from English in grammatical structures, sound systems and writing systems.

While learning these languages can take considerable more time and effort than learning languages more closely related to English like French, Spanish or German, studying them can make you eligible for funding options like the Critical Language Scholarship or the National Security Education Program (NSEP) and open up travel and career opportunities you may have never considered.

Having studied three of the following languages myself (Arabic, Hindi and Urdu) in addition to advanced French and elementary Spanish, I can tell you that it does take determination and discipline to get started with a critical language. Not only do you need to learn a new way of moving your pen, a new way of reading and how to produce foreign sounds from places in your mouth you never knew existed, but you often need to learn to wrap your mind around a different way of thinking, a different worldview.

I was both boggled and fascinated by recognizing how the English system of family terms (mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin) is so sparse compared to the Urdu’s dozens of terms differentiating each family member and giving them each a different status: mother’s sister, father’s sister, mother’s sister’s husband, older sister, younger sister, father’s older brother’s wife. I still can’t get them all straight.

As of 2010, the following 13 languages are listed as critical languages. If you’re thinking about studying a new language but haven’t decided which one, factors to consider include where the language is spoken, how many native speakers and second language speakers it has, and what types of jobs are available for professionals with knowledge of the language.

Arabic, Photo: Radar Communication

1. Arabic

While the term “Arabic” refers more to a language group with 30-odd distinct varieties within it, students who want to learn any dialect of Arabic start by mastering Modern Standard Arabic and then move on to specialize in a particular spoken dialect like Egyptian, Lebanese or Gulf Arabic. More than 221 million people speak some form of Arabic, and there is a demand for Arabic linguists in intelligence services, consular services, international NGOs, the airline industry, the military and business.

2. Azerbaijani

Spoken in Azerbaijan and in pockets of other Central Asian countries, Azerbaijani has 6 to 7 million mother-tongue speakers and about 8 million second-language speakers. It’s an Altaic language related to Turkish, so studying it would pair well with studying Turkish language and culture. It is written in both Cyrillic and Latin script, meaning that if you’re already literate in Russian it won’t be hard to get started with Azerbaijani. On the job front, opportunities are more limited than with more widely spoken languages like Arabic, but if you plan to live, work with an NGO or do business in Central Asia it would be a good language to study.

3. Bengali

Also known as Bangla, Bengali has more than 110 million native speakers and a further 140 million second-language speakers. It’s spoken not just in Bangladesh, India and Nepal but wherever Bengalis have migrated, so you can use Bengali language skills in the US, UK, Canada, Singapore and the UAE among other countries. As an Indo-European language, its structure is closer to English than many of the other critical languages, although to be literate you need to learn Bengali script. Bengali language skills would be particularly useful if you plan to work with NGOs or business in South Asia.

Japanese & Chinese, Photo: chinnian

4. Chinese (Mandarin)

As the official language of Chinese schools, in the year 2000 there were an estimated 840 million first-language speakers plus 178 million second-language speakers. While some varieties of the language are not mutually intelligible (meaning speakers can’t necessarily understand each other), more and more Chinese young people are now only being taught the standard variety rather than regional dialects. Considering roughly 1 out 6 people in the world speak Chinese and China is a huge market for economic growth, career opportunities for Chinese linguists can be found in almost any field.

5. Hindi

Hindi is spoken as a native language throughout northern India and is used as a trade language in much of the rest of the country. It is mutually intelligible with Urdu, Pakistan’s national language, although while Urdu uses the Arabic-style script Hindi uses Devanagari script. There are over 180 million mother-tongue speakers in South Asia and many more in countries with large Indian immigrant populations like Canada, Uganda, Fiji, the US and the UK.

6. Indonesian

Known as Bahasa, this Indonesian language has about 23 million speakers in the country and among Indonesian immigrant communities in the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the US. It’s written in both Arabic and Latin script and its vocabulary is highly similar (an 80% cognate rate) with standard Malay. If you can already read and write in Arabic script or speak Malay, you’ll have an advantage picking up Bahasa Indonesian.

7. Japanese

Spoken by 122 million people, Japanese is written with a syllabary, a system of symbols that represent syllables rather than individual sounds. Although it’s not related to Chinese, it is heavily influenced by it, and in order to be proficient in Japanese you will also need to learn a large number of Chinese characters that are used as loan words in Japanese. If you want to use your Japanese outside of Japan, consider academic jobs, translation, international business, language tutoring for students of Japanese or serving as a guide for Japanese tourists.

8. Korean

Classed as a language isolate, the Korean language does not share a lineage with any other known language. It is spoken by 66 million people and written in Hangul script, a system of syllabic blocks. Within the US government, there is a high demand for Arabic, Chinese and Korean speakers.

Russian, Photo: A Journey Round My Skull

9. Persian / Farsi

An Indo-European language, Farsi is spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Qatar and some areas of Uzbekistan. Written in Arabic script, it has about 23 million speakers throughout the region. Due to the tense political relationship between the US and Iran, Americans who study Farsi can look for jobs in the government sector, intelligence services, journalism, political analysis (“think tanks”), and the military.

10. Punjabi

Punjabi is a good choice if you enjoy learning different alphabets, as Western Punjabi is written in Arabic script (like Urdu) while Eastern Punjabi is written in both Devanagari (like Hindi) script and Gurumkhi script. In India, many of the 28 million Eastern Punjabi speakers are Sikhs, while in Pakistan the majority of the 62 million Western Punjabi speakers are Muslim. Punjabi learners will need to master different greetings and terms of respect for interacting with different religious communities.

11. Russian

Although the Cold War days are long behind us, Russian is still deemed a critical language. There are over 143 million Russian speakers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Russian is a useful trade language in these regions. It is a Slavic language and written in Cyrillic script.

12. Turkish

Good news for Turkish language learners is that since the late 1920s the language has been written in Latin script. Turkish is spoken by more than 50 million people in Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Iran. The majority of Turkish speakers Muslim and there are some Arabic loan words used in Turkish.

13. Urdu

While only about 10% of Pakistan’s population speaks Urdu as a native-language, it is used as one of the official languages in education is spoken as a trade language throughout the country. Urdu has over 104 million speakers in Pakistan, India and in Pakistani immigrant communities throughout the world. Studying Urdu pairs well with studying Hindi, as on a conversational level there are only minor differences. Urdu is written in Arabic Nastaliq script.

Community Connection

Which of these critical languages would you be most interested in studying? Let us know which one(s) and why in the comment section.

All photos by dominkgolenia

“The thought of it may make you squeamish now, but after two months you will be comfortable discussing the color, consistency and frequency of your stools. You will get traveler’s diarrhea. You will most likely get food poisoning. Welcome to Morocco.”

It was the first day of exchange student orientation, and this is what our program coordinator found most relevant to share with the group of 30 international students.

Language & Culture Studies

As an undergrad I double-majored in Linguistics and Middle Eastern Studies, and since my school didn’t have an extensive Middle Eastern Studies department, it was easier for me to get the credits I needed by studying abroad. I looked into programs all over the region, but I eventually decided on Morocco as I thought I’d be able to work on both my French and Arabic language skills.

My French improved drastically during the year. I lost my telltale American accent and was able to speak fluently after one semester, but I found that being able to speak French kept me from relying on Arabic. The only Arabic I learned in the college classroom was Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and the local dialect, Darija, is so different from MSA that I almost always gave up on it and slipped back into French. According to linguists, Moroccan colloquial Arabic is so different from MSA that it’s technically considered another language.

If you want to study standard Arabic in Morocco, be prepared to spend a lot of your time practicing with other students. Otherwise, take some Moroccan Arabic classes and French classes instead so you can put your language skills to use outside of the classroom.

Al Akhawayn University

While most of Morocco’s institutions of higher education follow the French tradition, Al Akhawayn University (AUI) is an American-style English curriculum university. The faculty is a mix of Moroccan and foreign professors. If you’re not a Middle Eastern Studies major, you will probably be able to find classes that count as general education credits or for your major. AUI has three schools: Business and Administration, Science and Engineering, and Humanities and Social Sciences.

In addition to studying Arabic language, I took classes in subjects like Islamic Art & Architecture, Middle Eastern History, Berber Language & Culture, and Islamic Theology. The university has several Master’s level programs, so I was also able to sign up for a graduate course in Moroccan Foreign Policy as well.

The school is located in Ifrane, a small town in the Middle Atlas Mountains and about an hour’s drive from Fez. In winter it snows, and in summer Ifrane becomes a resort town for vacationing Moroccans. The architecture in Ifrane is like nowhere else in the country; it’s as if someone airlifted an entire Swiss Alpine village and dropped it in the middle of North Africa.

Life Outside the Classroom

On campus there are so many events to attend and clubs to join that it can be difficult to choose what to get involved with. I took twice-weekly belly dance classes, learned Tai Chi, went to several live music events, and joined the campus Salsa Club. By the end of the first semester, I was teaching swing dance and hip-hop to fellow students and directing a full-length dance show.

Morocco is an excellent place for last-minute travel. Trains and buses are efficient, and as long as you’re willing for a “grand taxi” to fill up with passengers, you can get pretty much anywhere. Islamic and national holidays create a lot of long weekends, so even if you’re only in Morocco for a semester you should have ample opportunity to discover destinations other than your host city.

Learning Experiences

Independent travel in Morocco taught me just as much, if not more, than my time in the classroom. I mastered the squat toilet, learned how to ball couscous and eat it with my hands, got custom djellabas made at the tailor and navigated city labyrinths by referencing minarets.

I rode the bus all the way to the disputed Western Sahara territory, accidentally walked through a land-mine zone in the desert, and met and an old Spanish priest who lamented that fact that the church bar (yes, as in alcohol-selling bar) was shut down now that there aren’t any other Spaniards to drink with.

Studying abroad in Morocco was not only an excellent introduction to Muslim culture, but it was also my first taste of being in one place long enough to realize that I could make anywhere home.

And yes, I did get my introduction to food poisoning. Our program coordinator was right, discussing bowel movements and eating Digestive cookies became a normal part of living abroad, just like elbowing my way onto trains, hearing the call to prayer, or drinking mint tea.

Want to Study Abroad in Morocco?

To study at Al Akhawayn, you can apply via the University of Montana, SUNY Binghamton, or CCIS.

International Studies Abroad offers semester, summer and year programs in conjunction with Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, and the University of Minnesota has semester-long language and culture programs in Fez. If you’d like to study in Morocco’s coastal capital, Rabat, you can check out CIEE ’s Arabic language program or IES semester and summer programs. IES offers Business and Engineering classes in English, and other subjects are taught in English or French.

Feature Photo: adpowers
Photo: web4camguy

You’ve been abroad and now you’re home. You’re more worldly, more cultured, and excited to share your experiences with your friends and family. You feel like a changed person, but the problem is, everyone else is exactly the same. And not only that, they expect you to be the same, too.

So how do you relate to them without coming across as braggy or snobby? Here are some suggestions from a kid who hasn’t been abroad yet, but who knows what it’s like to hear never-ending tales about Brazilian carnivals, Italian wine, and Australian rugby matches.This brings us to our first piece of advice:

1. Don’t go on and on and on and on.

Your friends and family are interested in your abroad experience, but that doesn’t mean you have to start every sentence with, “When I was abroad… ” followed by an hour-long narrative. People only want to spend so much time hearing stories and looking at pictures. Remember, no matter how fascinating an experience was for you at the time, not all experiences make for interesting stories.

Think twice before you: Turn a discussion about what kind of pizza your friends should order into a half-hour ramble about Thai stir fry.

Instead: Keep your stories specific, rather than just vaguely commenting on how nice this museum was or how awesome that monument was. Consider inviting your friends to a slideshow, during which you can share all the highlights of your experience during an allotted amount of time. Or, let your friends learn about your experience in their own time by sharing pictures and stories online.

2. Don’t pretend to be from your host country.

Yes, spending a semester in another country does help you get to know that country. Yes, you adopted new practices and tried new things. Still, let’s not lose perspective: You’re not actually from your host country. So while we encourage you to find ways to integrate your new knowledge into your life at home, remember that you can’t bring it all back with you.

Think twice before you: Greet your friends with two kisses on each cheek or send them off with a “ciao!”

Instead: Connect with people from your host country on campus or in your community if you’re feeling nostalgic. That way, you can continue learning about their culture and keep practicing some of those cultural customs that you miss.

3. Don’t act “holier-than-thou.”

One of the most exciting things about living abroad is being exposed to different tastes, perspectives, and practices. Sometimes this means reevaluating your own, whether that results in a newfound appreciation for quality coffee or newfound horror over the quantity of plastic bags that your compatriots use at the grocery store. Still, nobody wants to be lectured to, or hear you bash their tastes.

Think twice before you: Say something like, “I can’t believe you take 10-minute showers,” or, “I can’t believe I have to drink boxed wine again. We never drank that in Florence.”

Instead: Find positive ways to channel your newfound interests. Rather than lecture to your friends about water waste, take action by starting or joining a student group. If you want your friends to appreciate quality wine, take them to a nearby vineyard or a wine tasting. Trust us, they will have a lot more fun actively partaking in your interests than hearing you rant.

4. Don’t flaunt it.

It’s important to remember that it’s not possible for everyone to go abroad. There are factors that hold many people back, like financial restraints, academic requirements, or family matters. You’ve been afforded a great opportunity that isn’t necessarily available to everyone, even though it should be.

Think twice before you: Say something like, “Going to Denmark was the greatest experience of my life. You really need to get out of the country, Colin.”

Instead: Remember how lucky you are to have had this experience, and be sensitive when sharing stories with someone who hasn’t been abroad yet. You can also get involved in campus-level or national initiatives to expand study abroad so that more people can have the opportunity that you did.

5. Don’t hate on the United States.

Yes, it can be hard to settle back into your old American life. Maybe it seems boring and unexotic, or maybe new things suddenly bother you—the pace of life, the individualistic mentality, the mass consumption. But the fact is, there are many things that are wonderful about the United States, and they should not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Think twice before you: Spend your weekend sulking in your dorm room or in your parents’ basement, complaining about the inferiority of your native country.

Instead: Walk through a new neighborhood, find a new restaurant, meet a new person. Go on a road trip with your friends, or take a cheap flight to somewhere you’ve never been. Sometimes we forget about how many cultural enclaves exist right here in our own country: Take time to explore them. Bring that eagerness to learn and explore home with you. And if you don’t always like what you find, use your newly expanded perspective to figure out how to make things better.

Community Connection

This piece was written by Colin May, an intern at Glimpse.org. Matador has recently acquired Glimpse.org and we strongly encourage you to head over there and check out Glimpse’s feature stories, articles, blogs, and tips.

Photo: author

Traveling can be one of the most intense learning experiences on the planet. Far more exhausting than the physical strain of ceaseless slogging through unfamiliar terrain is the overwhelming stream of mental stimuli, unfamiliar language and alien cultures.

Some travelers, myself included, opt to balance the heightened experience of a nomadic lifestyle with formal further education. Many universities now offer the option to move your studies off-campus, and there are even institutions dedicated to distance education. Open Universities Australia is a good example, but there are some less reputable operations as well so research is essential.

Why do I do it to myself? It’s a combination of factors. While I certainly don’t see travel in itself as wasting time, I do like the idea of being able to indulge my hankering for long-term trips while working toward my future academic goals. This lifestyle gives me a deeper understanding technology in today’s world, forces me to manage my time, to self-motivate, and to push on without the comfort of the usual campus safety net. It’s yet another way for me to satisfy a constant yearning to be learning, growing, and challenging myself.

Whether you choose to take one semester by distance or an entire degree, this both frees you to embrace your inner travel addict and ties you down to a stressful balancing act. If you decide to take up the challenge yourself, here are a few tips and tricks to manage it.

Author studying: Gabriel Hernandez Nanetti

1. Plan, Plan, Plan

This is the most difficult part for me. I loathe over-planning my trips, but if you’re balancing the commitments of a university semester with travel, planning is inescapable.

You need to know when you’ll be passing through areas with minimal or non-existent internet in order to download any relevant material ahead of time. It’s essential to know when exams or assignments may be scheduled and to avoid any break-neck travel immediately beforehand.

A dash around Guatemala and south to Panama with limited laptop-charging opportunities left me spending my first two days in Panama City sitting on the hostel patio drinking gallons of coffee and chain-smoking cigarettes while frantically typing up an essay on Marx.

I passed, but it’s not an experience I wish to repeat.

Most importantly, you’ll need to know when your exams are. I never cease to be amazed that I can sit my exams anywhere in the world, but it does require a certain amount of jumping through hoops. Exam centres need to be approved, suitable supervisors found and boy oh boy do you need to actually be where you said you’d be on that date. Always allow for unforeseen travel disasters.

Most institutions will assist you with finding an appropriate supervisor or exam centre. It may take a little work and generally requires passing through a big city, but exams are not an insurmountable obstacle.

2. Tie Courses in With Your Travel Plans

Travelling exposes you to a planet of unfamiliar sensory information: new sights, smells, foods, very often a new language, new people with new ways of interacting with their world. Add to this the demanding flow of information typical of university degrees and you can find yourself cut in two, drowned in a sea of new experiences, facts and ways of looking at the world.

If you can select your units so they complement the countries you’re travelling through, this cuts down on the sensory overload and opens up a whole new perspective on your trip. Studying American foreign policy on a trip through Central and South America, where past US actions have been, well, ‘questionable’ may be the kindest way to put it, has been an enriching experience.

A unit on Democracy and Citizenship opened my eyes to the theoretical basis behind practical experiments in self-governance – and failures of democracy – in a region struggling to define itself after a history of military dictatorships and coups.

3. Prepare and Secure your Technology

Photo: m00by

Studying while on the road essentially settles the laptop vs old school debate. Lectures, assignments, and discussion forums are all online. You’ll need to spend hours trawling through JSTOR or other online databases to compensate for the likely lack of English language libraries with their ready selection of hard-copy sources.

Unless you’re prepared to spend hours and hours in internet cafes, you’ll have to drag along your machine. Get yourself a good padlock, and don’t forget regular and possibly duplicate backups. Think seriously about what machine you’re bringing along, and how you’re going to secure it.

Other handy technological devices you may want to bring include an iPod for listening to lectures on long bus trips, a USB stick and/or portable hard drive, and an extra battery pack. Consider getting a Kindle. I have yet to take the plunge, and there’s not a huge wealth of textbook material available as yet, but a considerable amount of other useful sources are yours via instant download.

You may also want scan your textbooks before you leave. This decision is a matter of weighing up the time investment of scanning against just how much those books weigh, and how often and for how long that pack is going to be on your back.

4. Be Kind to Yourself

Travelling and university study, each taken on their own, can be stressful and exhausting experiences. Put them together and you’re asking a lot of yourself. Travel slowly, don’t be afraid to spend twice as long as you usually would in each place. Consider a private room instead of a dorm for the most intense portions of the semester, and search out a nice, peaceful hammock from time to time.

5. Study Something You’re Passionate About

Travel is a hugely absorbing and fascinating process. You can and will lose yourself in the tiny alleyways, ancient forests, sights, smells and colors of local markets, and the intense and exciting friendships with the people you meet.

Study things you enjoy. If the intellectual journey you’re on during your travels isn’t an equally compelling adventure, the actual journey of boats, buses, trains and border crossings will win every time.

I wish, for the sake of my academic career, that sounded like a worse thing.

Community Connection

On top of traveling and working on her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Camden is also a student at Matador U.

All photos: Dale Frost, Port of San Diego

I looked up to see the M.V. Explorer about 300 yards away. Ignoring the dirt roads, I was running through wet fields to where she was docked. Having ditched my friends in Yangon for the comforts of my bed, I was alone and in a hurry to get through the dark shipyard and onto the dimly lit ship. Just then I heard bicycle pedals and men shouting in Burmese.

“Stop!” one of the three men screamed.

I stopped when I recognized the panic in his tone.

“Snakes! Snakes!”

I heard a rattling sound rise in a chorus around me; I was running through a field full of sleeping rattlesnakes. Before I could scream, my adrenaline kicked in and I sprinted toward the nearest road.

As I awkwardly stumbled to safety and waved in thanks, the Burmese men looked relieved and slightly amused.

Just one more thing I never expected from Semester at Sea.

Studying at Sea

Usually when you think of studying abroad, you think of living in one place for a semester or a whole academic year. If you sign up for Semester at Sea you will instead circumnavigate the globe aboard a ship for about 100 days. Once on board you will take classes, explore different countries, and likely to find yourself in some unexpected situations both on and offshore.

Voyages take place during the spring, fall and summer semesters, although while full-semester trips dock at 10-12 international ports, summer trips only stop at 8. During the spring or fall you can earn up to 15 transfer credits, and during the summer you can earn up to 12.

Students live on a 25,000-ton ship called the M.V. Explorer. The ship can cruise at up to 28 knots, has six decks, a pool, gym, and a salon. There are nine classrooms on the ship where students take classes, study, or simply lounge. There are two separate dining halls, along with outside decks that are popular with students for catching sunset views. On board you’ll also find a computer lab, library, and campus store.

You can choose cabin accommodations with inside or outside views, although different views are different prices. A porthole serves as your view to the outside world and can offer quite the show during rough waters. Furnishings in a double room consist of two beds, one shared wardrobe, two nightstands and a desk.

A steward does your laundry, makes your bed daily, and folds your clothes. These services and amenities can be a strange juxtaposition to the countries visited when off the ship.

The Classes

Classes run when the ship is at sea, and students are free to explore on the days the ship is docked. All students are required to take Global Studies, a class where you learn about the countries you will visit.

Students are also expected to take three or four additional classes. It’s best to research the class offerings beforehand and get the approval from your home university to make sure what you are taking is transferable. Many students save general education requirements such as art or science to complete while at sea.

Professors on the ship are selected for each voyage, so for them it may also be their first time living at sea and visiting international ports. As a student, you will come to see your professors as part of your community much more than you would in a traditional university setting.

Trips and Field activities

Field activities are organized by the ship staff and offer students cool and educational opportunities in each port. The type of trips that may be offered on a voyage include things like touring an orphanage in India, exploring a museum in Brazil, or visiting the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. Semester at Sea sets up flights, buses and accommodations for you. All you have to do is show up on time.

The ship docks at each country for three to seven days, and in that time you are free to explore at your own leisure. In some countries you may want to skip out on your own, other times you may want to sit back and have someone else do the planning.

Preparation

The University of Virginia is the academic sponsor of Semester at Sea, so the credits you receive will be transferred from that university. To be eligible to apply, you must be enrolled full time at an accredited university, have completed at least one full term at post-secondary level, and have a cumulative G.P.A of 2.75 or higher.

In order to get credit for your semester abroad, your university may require additional applications. Each university has its own study abroad policies, so it’s best to find out these details early in the process.

Once accepted, you’ll need to get your vaccinations in line and research which classes offered by Semester at Sea will count for credit at your home university. When it comes time to pack for the trip, make sure you account for all the souvenirs, clothes and trinkets you’ll pick up along the way.

Many of my family members have participated in Semester at Sea, including my mother. I can remember looking back at pictures of my mom in Africa and counting down the years until I was in college and could experience for myself the places in the pictures she showed me.

And finally, I did – rattlesnakes and all.

Feature Photo: heydee Photo: Joel Bedford

I learned to speak Spanish with middle-aged women and food instead of teachers and books.

My first lesson was in Mexico with Carmen, my first host mother. Carmen watched and supported me through culture shock, food poisoning, and the end of my first relationship.

I went to Guadalajara with almost no knowledge of Spanish. Carmen spoke no English.

By the end of the month I spent with her, I understood almost everything she said.

Carmen seemed to understand that I was young and green and error-prone. She walked me through this initial, naive phase with patience and tolerance that would have a lasting impact.

She made me sandwiches that I never ate, opting instead for cheese quesadillas and chicken enchiladas in posh but affordable restaurants.

Her daughter, Sandy, spoke to me in very correct English and placed cutouts of Spanish verb conjugations in my room. They decorated my walls and I, suffering from information overload, ignored them and read my American books instead.

Photo: oliveralex

Mexico was frightening to me. I spoke little Spanish and my culture, background, and the news told me that I was in a dangerous country. The air quality was decidedly bad and traffic was terrifying. Once I took the bus too far, missed my stop, and ran until I found a hospital, where a doctor spoke to me in English and called Carmen so she could pick me up.

When we got home, instead of chiding me for being upset, Carmen poured me a glass of Manzana Lift and told me that she, too, often felt overwhelmed in cities she didn’t know.

Little by little, with her help, I gained confidence and began to find my way.

I went to the beach on a weekend trip. On my second day there, my then boyfriend called me and said that he was done being in a relationship, that I was the problem, and that it all needed to end. Two years with my first love, albeit a chaotic and painful two years, were over.

I felt so lonely that instead of taking in the beach, I found a French-Mexican fusion café and wrote. I filled notebooks with loss. When I came home, I explained what had happened. Carmen told me “No te mortifiques, Anne” or don’t torment yourself. She said that I was very young and everything passes.

I don’t understand how I was able to communicate with Carmen. I had no formal Spanish training but from early on I understood what she was saying. We had a bond that transcended linguistic logic.

On my last day in Guadalajara, I rode the bus downtown and watched the rain. I felt the first pangs of regret and nostalgia. Regret that I had to leave Mexico, and nostalgia for a place I was just beginning to understand.

It was almost a year after Mexico that I shared a table with another Carmen, in Valparaíso, Chile. This Carmen was letting me stay with her before I left South America to go back home. She told me stories, mostly.

Photo: Alain76

Carmen said that sacks of potatoes and dried meat had filled her childhood home in Concepción. Her father believed that the family should have food in abundance so that they would always be prepared for guests and whatever life should happen to offer.

Among other acts of charity, she rescued street dogs and kept them for periods in her spare room. Since Carmen’s landlord mandated that she only have three dogs, she rotated them on walks and put smaller pups in a plastic bag until she had crossed the street without attracting suspicion.

She was a woman of profound dignity. Carmen lived in the heart of Valparaíso, and told me that she liked to be with “the people”. Her husband had left years before, and she shared her apartment with her young professional daughter. She was endlessly giving but would not tolerate injustice in any form, be it poverty or small acts of tactlessness.

I spent one week with Carmen on a stopover between Argentina and the United States. Most of my friends had already left Chile and so I had very little to do. In between visits to the ocean and cafés, I drank tea and ate meals with Carmen.

Daily rituals extended hours beyond their normal durations as we talked about everything from her divorce to my nebulous future. She encouraged me to be open and to travel everywhere I could so that when I was a teacher I could make an excellent curriculum for my students.

Those afternoons with Carmen perfected my language skills in a way no classroom could. I never formally studied Spanish. My school was living rooms, protests, boat rides, and the street.

I remember the word for ice cream by recalling the vendors who board buses in Chile and shout, “¡¡Helado helado!!”

I know Catholic prayers because I watched as an old man burned coca leaves and repeated blessings on the Day of the Dead in a northern village. To this day, when I feel shame, sadness, or grief I comfort myself with my first real phrase in Spanish – No te mortifiques, Anne – the refrain of Mexican Carmen.

In my suburban high school I was tested so often that to this day I can complete almost any assessment in under half an hour. In college I wrote papers about Marxism and Medieval Literature. And while I rarely recite Chaucer or speak of the dialectic, Spanish is something I use every day and will never forget.

I learned it my way, in the way that was the most meaningful for me. The language holds texture, smells, rhythm, and history, and so it is in my mind and my body. Above all, I owe my fluency to mothers, meals, and living rooms. And especially to two women named Carmen.

Photo above by Sefa. All other photos by Stig Nygaard.

“Run! Run!” Lara shouted, bolting off ahead of me.

I picked up the pace. Dusk was settling over the University of Ghana, and of everything we’d heard during orientation week, it was the mosquitoes that scared us the most.

I busted out the DEET mid-stride and coated myself with a toxic cloud of repellent. Convinced that a single bite from a mossie would land me strapped to a rusty IV in a dingy open-air hospital, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Obuni, hey Obruni!

We hurried past groups of meandering students. I tried to keep focused on getting back to Volta Hall and the security of our enclosed dorm room as we swerved our way through the vendors at the night market.

“Obruni, hey! Obruni!!” I waved my hand in brief acknowledgment, but didn’t slow down. We ran past the internet cafe and the cafeteria, through Legon Hall, back to the main road and up the final steps to Volta Hall, out of breath and sticky with humidity and DEET.

We plopped down against the cool, white-washed cement walls of the all-girls residence, and erupted into belly-aching, tear inducing laughter.

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Why Ghana?

As a student at the University of California, I had a choice of over 30 countries I could jet off to for my junior year.

France, the UK, and Australia were among the top choices for my fellow students, but I had always been fascinated with Africa, and knew that tropical, sub-Saharan Africa was the place for me.

The UC system offered placements in South Africa and Ghana, and between the two, Ghana was a hands-down, no-brainer choice.

Ghana was a place where I would be a visible minority, a place where I would be completely outside of my comfort zone, and most importantly, a country where I’d be immersed in a society with a vastly different history, worldview, and circumstances than my own.

A Profound Education

Ghana has one of sub-Saharan Africa’s best developed education systems and the University of Ghana offers international students opportunities that will expose you to the complexities, challenges, and opportunities of a developing nation.

Courses are varied, with subjects from zoology to Women’s development to linguistics. The West African dance and drumming classes consistently get rave reviews from international students.

The University of Ghana has far fewer resources than most universities in North America and Europe.

With no text books available at the bookstore, or even the library, there is a fundamental difference in the way information can be conveyed. The didactic teaching style can leave many international students feeling frustrated.

Professors often rely on the archaic system of reading chapters of text aloud during lectures so that students can dictate verbatim and study their notes later.

For the first few months of classes, between the thick accent and pidgin English, I wasn’t able to decipher much of anything that was happening in my classes.

I sat, stupefied, trying to ignore the claustrophobic heat and curious eyes, and concentrate on the unfamiliar sounds filling my ears. Studying at the University of Ghana was more about personal growth than academics.

Extracurricular Activities

Fortunately, international students are cut quite a bit of slack, so there is plenty of time to travel, volunteer at a local orphanage, get chased by mosquitoes, or just hang around and drink massive bottles of Star Beer.

With decent public transit systems, weekend trips are great for exploring the fishing villages around Accra or relaxing at beaches like Dixcove and Basua – where you can swim, nap in a hammock and surf.

Exploring the forts at Cape Coast and Elmina involves an easy day trip from campus. These sites provide a stark reminder of Ghana’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Monkey sanctuaries, trekking, rainforest canopy walks, fetish markets, and trips to Togo are all awesome activities. Togo has some of the best chocolate croissants outside of France.

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A Broader Perspective

Ghana still struggles with issues of social and economic development, and as an international student it was a hard adjustment.

You learn how to fight your way onto a local tro-tro, and how to deal with the constant attention given to foreigners.

You become an expert at haggling at the market and enjoying the company of wildlife in your room.

Without even realizing it, a new normal will wiggle its way into your life, changing you in ways you won’t fully realize until you come home.

I never ran away from mosquitoes again, and pretty soon the DEET was forgotten too. Mosquitoes and all of their itchy bites became part of the reality of our lives in Ghana, just as bucket showers, squat toilets, and daily electricity cuts did, too.

Want to study abroad in Africa?

Most study abroad programs in Africa are limited to South Africa, Ghana and Egypt.

The University of Oregon has one of the most robust study abroad programs in the US, offering placements in 13 African countries!

If your university doesn’t offer a study abroad program in Africa, check out the comprehensive list of study abroad opportunities offered by private companies over at Go Abroad.

G-Lish is a quality blog where you can find The Insider’s Guide to Ghana.

Feature Photo : machimon Photo: kyle simourd

In September of 2007, I arrived in Valparaíso, Chile to study abroad for four months. A friend who had suggested the trip told me that I would be “summer hopping”. I had imagined myself arriving in Chile in the middle of the warmest season. In my mind’s eye I would be wearing a strapless dress and displaying my cool new tattoo – an inscription on my back that would read mariposas amarillas , or yellow butterflies. My new friends and I would speak rapid fire Spanish over endless cigarettes on the beach. We would be decadent.

Unfortunately, I was greeted by a cold, Pacific winter and had lost the courage to get the tattoo before arriving in the puerto principal. Instead of cool Chilean friends, I walked among Pablo Neruda look-a-likes who wore berets and ancient sweaters. They dressed appropriately; it was the kind of cold that demanded wool and thick socks.

Houses in Chile are rarely equipped with proper heating, so at night I shivered beneath my blankets, and during the day my classmates and I packed in as many mango sours as possible to keep from feeling the damp.

Photo: gustavominas

One day, in mid September, the weather broke. The sun was shining and my friends and I felt like it might be a nice day for a stroll. So after a field trip to the historic ascensores, or old-fashioned elevators that make the city’s many hills bearable, we decided to walk to our class.

Upon reaching the Universidad de Santa María, we were greeted by attractive twenty-something boys handing out fliers. Yes yes yes, I thought, my luck is changing. Except that I soon realized that there were swarms of boys and girls. They were blocking traffic on the Avenida España, the main thoroughfare between Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar.

Drivers were honking their horns angrily, but the excitement among the crowd was contagious. The students had occupied the university. They were clapping and singing; protesting the forthcoming privatization of universities in Valparaíso. My friends and I were good izquierdistas (lefties) so we wholeheartedly joined in the riot.

For the first time since I had arrived in Chile, I felt connection. This was the contact with young Chileans that I had wanted all along. My friends and I were delirious. I have several pictures of us, three obvious gringas, smiling with raised fists.

The police began spraying water in order to disperse the crowd, but the protest resumed with more gusto than before. Despite the renewed energy, I started to worry. “Should we leave?” I asked my friend. Just as she was telling me that it was fine, the area was covered in tear gas.

I already knew first hand what tear gas is like because of a mishap in France on a festival night. I remembered that the gas gets into your throat, your eyes – some people react worse than others and often collapse. I have to get out of here, I thought, I can’t get caught up.

My friends and I had to fight our way inside the university, but the crowd was panicked. In typical Valparaíso fashion, the campus is located on a hill. We were trapped, easy targets for the police.

Blinded, I ran into one of the canisters spewing the toxic stuff. I screamed and ran as fast as I could uphill, packed in between hundreds of students. I finally reached the summit of the hill and charged the first campus building I saw. Women and men shared bathrooms, exchanging wet paper towels and crying together with red eyes. I looked in the mirror although I still couldn’t fully open my eyes. My face was puffy and didn’t show signs of returning to normal anytime soon.

Photo: annais

Finally I left the bathroom and headed for the lecture hall, hoping to find my coordinators. They hadn’t arrived yet, but I saw a man working quietly at his desk. Incensed, I started a round of questioning. Bothering people who have nothing to do with your problem while abroad is a distinctly American skill. For as much as I liked to imagine I had surpassed my own origins, I hadn’t.

“How could this happen?” I asked. “We don’t even go to this university! Who can I complain to?” I lisped in my freshly honed Madrileño Castilian – which really wasn’t helping matters. He looked up at me, his face full of indifference. He was probably about fifty; old enough to have witnessed the highly politicized early 70s, with its militant communists and wealthy young fascists, the election of a socialist president, and the military coup that brought it all to a halt.

Maybe he remembered friends or family who had been detained by the new government and never came back. Perhaps he himself had been tortured by the regime. Or maybe he had supported the dictatorship all along, fed up with the illusion of choice in a manipulated democracy.

The man responded, “If you complain, nothing is going to happen.” And there it was.

I could, with my idealistic American notions about what’s right and fair, raise hell and high water, demanding recognition that the police had done something wrong and unjust. But it wouldn’t matter. People had gone through too much to get upset about something as trifling as tear gas.

I felt that day that the Chilean people are remarkably strong – Isabel Allende has expanded on this theme – because they have experienced governments who regard their citizens as dispensable. They face teargas and possible brutality one day, and the next they continue the struggle, or perhaps they just go on with their lives. It’s a process of moving on that I deeply admire.

Photo: cobalito

After the protest, I went to my teacher’s house to take a shower. My friends and I cleaned up and then drank tea and ate cookies in her kitchen. I looked at her cabinet, which was full of that South American milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until it’s been opened. “My son and I love it,” my teacher said. Later she told us about protesting in the 70s, and how she became an expert at avoiding and mitigating the harsh effects of tear gas.

Later that night some friends and I went out for pizza and beer. We lingered outside for a while and explored one of Valparaiso’s bohemian neighborhoods, Cerro Alegre. I fell in love with its graffiti, brightly colored buildings, and steep main avenue. We sat together in a funky bar, sharing stories about first loves, listening more intently as our blood alcohol content rose. I laughed that whole night; a way of saying “thanks” to the powers that be that the situation ended well.

The next day was perfect, a winter fog mixed with three cups of tea.

Feature Photo: MabelVargas Photo: aubeinsanité

I studied abroad in Paris during my junior year of college and fell in love. Although I went with my university’s own study-abroad program that transferred grades and planned excursions, I was well aware of how much more it was costing me, especially compared to the measly tuition of most French universities.

So by the end of the year, when all I could think about was how to come back after graduating, I decided that I wanted to enroll directly in the university where I had studied instead of paying thousands of additional dollars to return with an American graduate program. I was already familiar with the city, I had contacts at the university, and I knew what program I wanted to study. I also spoke fluent French, so I knew that I could enroll directly with the same status as a French student in the discipline I wanted to study.

Since things take a bit more time in France than they do in the U.S., it was a challenge to arrange everything, but when I walked in to register and paid less than $700 for a year’s tuition, it felt totally worth it. Here are some steps to help you plan your own post-graduation study abroad trip.

Photo: scrapygraphics

1. Pick a city and a degree program.

If you want to study abroad, the first thing you’ll need to do is find a university in the city where you want to study. The website should give you information about how to apply and enroll as a foreign student, what the tuition costs will be, and how to get a student visa.

For most European universities, tuition is very low, although tuition for language classes for foreigners can run in the thousands of Euros. Remember that in Europe, students specialize earlier in one particular area and have to start over with a new License if they change subject areas. If you weren’t a history major, you might have a hard time competing with students who took three or more years of only history classes.

2. Find out how to enroll.

In French universities, if you want to enroll in a master’s program, the only requirement is that you only have to have the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree. For some master’s programs, you also have to have a professor who agrees to direct your master’s thesis in order for you to be accepted. You’ll have to research faculty in your chosen discipline and write to them with your thesis proposal to see if they’ll accept you.

3. Have your documents translated.

To apply, you’ll have to send translations along with your original transcripts and diplomas, and this can get pretty expensive. When I had to send my documents, I translated them myself, and found a translator in New York approved by the French consulate that agreed to correct my translations for $10/page instead of the $60/page he usually charged. Check the consulate’s website and call the translators to see if they offer similar deals for students.

4. Figure out where to live.

Photo: Arepa182

Not all countries have student housing like the U.S., and in France, it’s pretty uncommon. Since I didn’t get my acceptance letter from my university until mid-July, it was already too late to reserve a room in a dorm. Sites like Craigslist are usually sketchy, and many sites that advertise furnished apartments are catering to vacationing families, not students with budgets.

If you already know the city or have some contacts, try to arrange something in advance. If not, book a few nights in a hostel and set up appointments to see Craigslist properties before you go. Finally, check to see if there are any American organizations in the city that might help expats find housing. In Paris, the American Church on the Quai d’Orsay always has apartment listings posted.

5. Check your health insurance and student loan status.

In France, I was required to pay about $275 up front for a year’s worth of very basic student health insurance, but my student status means that I am still covered under my parents’ plan. Check with your insurer to see if they’ll continue to cover you while you’re abroad if you submit a copy of your enrollment along with an English translation. You can also submit the same documentation to student loan agencies to defer your loan payments.

6. Determine whether you can work.

Photo: Laura Padgett

Student visa laws vary in different countries, so you’ll have to check your country’s requirements on their consulate’s website to determine whether or not you can take a part-time job. Even if you’re not legally allowed to work, you may still be able to take an internship that will give you international experience in your field or babysit and teach English lessons under the table. I could have lived all year on the few thousand dollars I had saved, but chose to teach English so I could travel and indulge in European fashion.

7. Obtain a visa.

This can be complicated, as consulates require many different documents, can change their rules, and often require you to come weeks before your departure. In general, you should expect to bring your university acceptance letter, two passport photos, your birth certificate, and a bank statement to prove that you have enough money to live for a year. Rules vary, and you may have to leave your passport there for them to mail back, so be sure to leave plenty of time!

8. Buy your ticket!

Remember to check airline regulations about extra bags before you book, as you’ll probably want to bring two suitcases to live abroad for the year. When you leave, bring copies of all the documents you needed to get your visa with you, as you might need them to get a temporary residency card once abroad.

Photo by Please Don’t Smile. Feature photo by Ahron.

Last week, Matador editor Sarah Menkedick wrote a controversial essay about why young travelers shouldn’t study abroad in Western Europe.

Sarah’s piece generated some controversy, and got me thinking about unconventional study abroad opportunities. Clearly, students who make the brave choice to travel far out of their comfort zones will experience more personal growth than students who spend a semester drinking wine in Florence.

Photo by place_light

Perhaps the greatest travel opportunity for this generation of students is to study abroad in the Islamic world. Here are ten good reasons why:

1. Contribute to World Peace

Between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the horror of terrorism, there is a great deal of mistrust and animosity festering between America and much of the Islamic world.

Authentic connections between American students and local communities in places like Syria or Indonesia will go a long way towards building a more peaceful and understanding world.

(For more on this point, please check out my article Youth Travel Programs are Vital to Our Security.)

2. Shatter Stereotypes

Too often, the Islamic world is caricatured in the West as a monolithic threat, with Muslims portrayed as angry and reactionary.

The truth is infinitely more subtle and multifaceted. First-hand experience and genuine interactions are the best ways to counter malignant stereotypes.

3. Build Your Resume

My cousin chose to study abroad in Jordan, and landed a great job right out of college in Washington DC.

If you’re hoping for a career that involves intercultural relations, politics, international business and travel, experience in the Islamic world will really make your resume stand out.

4. Discover Complexity

The Islamic world spans the globe and includes thousands of unique cultures, many of which are characterized by a fascinating blend of tradition and modernity.

Traveling in the Islamic world is a great way to discover the rich depths of complexity that make our world so enthralling. Just ask President Obama, whose time in Indonesia was a formative experience.

Photo by Alena Bartoli

5. Learn Arabic (or Bahasa, or Uighur, or Pashtun)

If travel experience in Jordan looks good on a resume, imagine how fantastic Arabic language skills would be!

I’m not sure if there’s any program to learn Pashtun while studying abroad, but I guarantee that an American student with Pashtun skills would find dozens of intriguing doors open upon graduating.

6. Save Money

A friend of mine from Williams College spent his junior year at the American University of Cairo. He saved several thousand dollars because of the lower tuition costs, enjoyed a fantastic time and landed a high-powered job after college.

7. Hookah and Shwarma

Chilling in a sidewalk cafe and smoking hookah with your friends is a brilliant way to pass an afternoon, and shwarma might just be the tastiest lunch ever.

Of course, hookah and shwarma aren’t available throughout the Islamic world, but wherever you go, you can count on enticing delicacies and exciting new cultural routines.

8. Confront Gender Roles

Great, you say. It’s all well and good for men to lounge around with water pipes all day, but what’s a woman to do?

Well, for both men and women, travel in the Islamic world presents a fascinating study in gender roles.

There are plenty of modern, feminist women in places like Lebanon and Cairo, but perhaps the most lasting lessons of your experience as a female in the Middle East will come from understanding first-hand the frustrations of discrimination.

9. Tradition and Modernity

The tallest skyscraper is in the Islamic world. So are most of the world’s oldest cities. The contrast and tension between tradition and modernity at this moment of time is utterly fascinating.

10. Reassure Your Parents

You will be safe traveling and living in an Muslim country. Really!

There’s a tradition of hospitality in places like Syria that will make even the most nervous traveler feel welcome and at ease. Apart from a few danger zones, even places like Amman or Bali that have suffered terrorist attacks are just as safe as, say, Buenos Aires, Houston, or Rome.

Reassure your parents by doing some extensive research on your destination, and by getting in touch with people who have already traveled there.

You can find many travelers with travel experience in the Islamic world right here on the Matador Network.

Community Connection

The youth travel company I work for, Where There Be Dragons, is launching new high-school summer programs in the Islamic world in an attempt to build genuine connections and promote mutual understanding.

Our summer program in Morocco was a big success last year, and in 2010 we’re adding an educational travel program in Indonesia and an Arabic program in Jordan and Syria.

Please get in touch with me or leave a comment below if you know of more opportunities for youth travel and study abroad in the Islamic world!

Feature Photo: wili_hybrid

I’ll fess up – I studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France, an emblem of the European study abroad experience with it’s idyllic stone fountains, sidewalk cafe culture, boutiques, bright photogenic markets, and pigeon-filled plazas.

I don’t regret it; it was my first time overseas and I squeezed every inch of experience out of it. I took a week-long bike trip from Aix through the Camargues (Provençal cowboy territory). I hiked across the island of Corsica and labored for half a summer in a French vineyard. I smacked my tooth into a plaza in Naples and drove to the furthest tip of Sicily. Travel was planted in me and hasn’t stopped growing like ravenous ivy ever since.

d’n'c

But if I could recommend a study abroad experience to someone else, it wouldn’t be in Europe.

Now that I’ve traveled and lived so many other places, I understand how easy that experience was. I studied entirely in French at the Institut des Etudes Politiques, but there was always English in the background just in case; the culture, while stunningly different to me when I arrived, was navigable and familiar enough to get a feel for; the food was different enough to glamorize but not so different that it produced late night, sleepless cheese cravings.

More importantly, the school (the University of Wisconsin-Madison) set the whole thing up and walked students through it in baby steps. If I could go back in time, I’d use all that organizational help and power to go someplace which is extremely difficult to navigate bureaucratically and institutionally on one’s own – someplace, say, like Senegal, or China.

I’d like to study in these places now, but the prospect of negotiating my way alone through the Chinese university system (something which another university, this time one I was teaching for, did for me in 2007) is daunting at best.

saad_ahktar

Having professionals guide you through the process of studying and living abroad eliminates a massive bureaucratic and technical headache.

If you’re already paying tuition at a university, then studying abroad in South Africa or East Asia is like a free ticket through all the complicated hoops you’d need to jump on your own in order to set yourself up with a life in one of those places.

Then there’s the personal growth factor. Did I grow in Western Europe? Did France change me? Yes. Did it rock my world, shake the foundations of my cultural assumptions and beliefs? No. It gave me an appreciation for the little things. As Europe has so often done for Americans, it fine-tuned my senses and made me realize how much I was rushing around from stimulation to stimulation in a progress-driven frenzy.

But in comparison to the enormous blow to my ego and worldview that was one day in Beijing, that year in Western Europe was an afternoon drinking wine in the park. Same with South America. My travels there were of a very different nature than anything you’d do on most study abroad programs – I crossed the continent alone, on buses, with a budget of wads of horded coffee shop tips. I camped most of the time and hiked Patagonia on oatmeal, pasta and alfajores. Sure, it’s unfair to compare this with what’s possible within the limits of a university program.

But the experiences and the awareness of different histories, circumstances and worldviews I got out of that trip so superseded those of my year in France that I can only wonder about what I might’ve thought, done, or attempted had my first experience abroad been in Lima or Caracas.

I spent those seven months in South America testing the boundaries of my daring and independence and exploring ways to get immersed in places, to get as far from my comfort zone as possible, to connect with people of vastly different cultural backgrounds. I realized I hadn’t pushed myself that far in France because it wasn’t as necessary. South America challenged me far more than France ever had.

craigCloutier

This isn’t to say that study abroad in Latin America or Africa or Central Asia is an automatic porthole to mind-blowing travel breakthroughs. And it isn’t to say that Western Europe is incapable of stirring up such breakthroughs, or that it isn’t important or worth seeing.

But I think that if your first immersion travel experience is someplace other than Seville or London, it might have an entirely different impact. It might shape the way you see the world in more profound, troubling, and lingering ways.

The number one thing study abroad in France taught me was that there are infinite opportunities to do whatever insane thing you’re thinking about doing. Before leaving for France, I wouldn’t have ever considered living in a vineyard and working 10 hours a day to pay for a hike across Corsica. I would have thought it virtually impossible to drive a van from Cairo to Capetown, or to bike across Patagonia.

After that year, I know that if I really want to go live in Rwanda, if I really want to teach in Japan or to ride a motorcycle through Cambodia, I can do it. I’m not wealthy – I am extremely fortunate to be in good health and to have the personal and political freedom to travel if I want. I’ve paid for every travel adventure I’ve ever had by working or saving.

So my realization of the magnitude of opportunities for travel wasn’t simply a realization that I could spend money roaming continents or dappling in exoticism; it was the realization that I didn’t need to have tons of money or privilege to travel.

ninjawil

I think going someplace that is not Western Europe would reinforce this realization tenfold. It seems unfathomable to many Americans to walk across East Africa, or to live and study in a small Chinese village. Studying abroad makes this seem possible, and the realm of possibilities just keeps expanding. If you start out with an opportunity that seems frightening and difficult to fathom, imagine how vast the possibilities could seem afterwards.

Finally, and most importantly, the U.S needs people with empathy and understanding of regions outside of Western Europe.

Studying abroad is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to create consciousness of the way people think and live in many different areas of the world.

Immersing yourself in cultures that are poorly understood, feared, or dismissed in the U.S can make a world of difference in creating a more compassionate and informed future generation.

Above Photo: Sarah Menkedick Photos: Jorge Santiago

There are cultures, then there are cultures within cultures, and then there are more cultures within those cultures. Cultures within cultures within cultures. Yes, I’m repeating this that many times to make you feel like you’re watching a spinning top, because that’s what culture starts to look like if you peer at it too closely – all the lines blur together and your head starts to spin and whir. Just when you think you’ve got it and you start to say:

“Mexico is…” some cultural entity pops up and smacks you in the face. Scratch that, you think. I don’t know. Don’t know what this culture is, and don’t know how I feel about it.

That’s why it seems to me that culture shock is the real constant in all of the exploration and exchange that happens traveling. It happens on the first day of your first trip overseas in a foreign country. It also happens on a regular basis in your eleventh year of living abroad. It’s ubiquitous and inevitable and it creeps up at the most unexpected moments.

Even after several years in Mexico, there are still little things that jolt me, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively, most of the time in a confusing gray zone between the two.

Why is it that so many men riding in cars feel the need to bark at my dog? At first I thought it was just the street sweepers in a pathetic, bored, macho pick-up attempt. But then it happened again, and again, and I realized, men notice the dog, they pay attention to the dog and…they bark.

I could make attempts to analyze this through the lens of machismo, which wouldn’t be too hard (man sees big dog, man sees girl walking big dog, man feels slightly less manly, man barks) but I actually think it goes further than that. I think it’s about contact.

If you establish some sort of connection to a person, paying attention to their kid or their dog or something about them, you’ve got to follow through with it. I think it harks back to a time when Oaxaca was still a pueblo, and social norms called for a “buenos tardes, señorita,” or its equivalent for everyone you passed. Now those times have (mostly) gone, but still, passing people on the street, I feel a strange obligation to take them into account like I don’t feel anywhere else.

There’s less of a personal space barrier here overall, and when you’ve made eye contact, you’ve made contact. There’s this pressing, suppressed need for acknowledgment. I feel that a lot, and the dog barking incidents are the most recent manifestation.

So when I came across this gorgeous, bone-deep photo essay on culture shock, I immediately related to it. Yep. As a traveler, this is a familiar feeling, sometimes jarring and unpleasant, sometimes thrilling, but indispensable to that experience of being outside one’s comfort zone.

Thus in all of that squirming around you’ve done trying to get comfortable in other cultures, what sorts of shocks and surprises have you had? What have you found traumatic, exhilarating, or both? Please share your culture shock stories below.

Feature Photo: author

NAFSA: Association of International Educators and Abroad View, the global magazine for students, are holding a video contest to select the next student diplomat. If you’ve studied abroad from 2005 onwards through an accredited college or university, you’re eligible. All you need to do is submit a 1-3 minute video about how your study abroad experience has helped to advance global understanding.

What do you mean by “global understanding”, you ask? Well, if you’ve got stories about how your study abroad experience has created cross-cultural understanding, made you a better global citizen, and/or positively impacted a local community where you studied, you’re set. Craft those experiences into a moving narrative, tell it to the camera, and you’ve got a shot at $300 and student diplomat status, which would certainly look sweet on any traveler’s resume.

More guidelines can be found on the contest’s official website. The deadline for all submissions is Dec. 15, 2009.

In the meantime, why not go weigh in on the debate about the $120 million study abroad bill that is currently on it’s way to debate in the Senate? Do you think study abroad is inherently a good thing, and if so, why?

Feature Photo: Mr. Throk Photo: Anosmia

The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act has passed in the House of Representatives and is currently moving on to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. If passed, the act would provide 40 million dollars in 2010 and 80 million in 2011 to colleges, universities, individual students, and nongovernmental organizations that provide study abroad opportunities.

The stated goal of the act is to broaden American students’ understanding of other cultures, to increase the number of minority and low-income students who study abroad, and to encourage students to study in developing countries (more than two thirds of American study abroad students study in Western Europe).

At first, it sounds great. Studying abroad is a jarring, lingering lesson in increased awareness for many American students. It can arguably create a paradigm shift in the way they see and understand the world, and the way they see and think about the United States and its government and media, and I certainly think this is a good thing.

It can, of course, also be a great way to have a hot fling with a French girl and get wasted every night for a year, but we’ll try to be optimistic here and assume that for every ten kids hanging out with the other Americans getting blasted on cheap wine in the plaza there are one or two who are going to come back changed, and perhaps slightly more compassionate and curious about, other people and cultures.

Photo: rachfog

But is that what this plan is really all about? The description of the bill on the website of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) quotes Marlene Johnson, Executive Director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, as saying:

“[Senators Durbin and Wicker] understand that the global education of our college students is absolutely essential to strengthening America’s position as a responsible leader on the world stage and ensuring its competitiveness in the global economy. Now more than ever, we need to invest wisely to meet these national needs.”

It goes on to mention the importance of study abroad programs to our “economic competitiveness, future diplomacy, and security.”

Sounds an awful lot to me like sending kids abroad to…discover new markets? Convince everyone of just how compassionate and warm and big-hearted America is, and how it’d be just fine if the U.S came to dominate their country and say, their economy a bit more?

Call me cynical here, but this sounds a bit less like “perhaps we should understand other countries more instead of invading them” and a bit more like “this is a good and effective way to spread U.S dominance!” After all, what exactly does study abroad have to do with economic competitiveness?

I can understand security, perhaps; there’s the vaguely naive, long-shot hope that well-meaning study abroad students might do something to alleviate resentment against Americans, or that through a combined effort to create mutually respectful study abroad exchanges and not to alienate the rest of the world politically and diplomatically we might change some of the more negative views of the U.S – but the thought of study abroad for the purposes of increasing competitiveness in the global economy I find plainly disturbing.

Plus, if we follow that competitiveness to a logical end, well, wouldn’t we be shopping at Nike in Sub-Saharan Africa, eating McDonald’s, watching the latest Hollywood flick at a mega-plex in an air conditioned mall in Dakar? Meeting friendly people in Laos and Angola and the Ukraine who work for massive American corporations, wearing American clothes, driving American cars, eating American food? Here in Mexico you can already see this global competitiveness taking place – in Sam’s Club, whole avenues of American chain restaurants, mega-malls, and enormous superstores superseding local markets. In ten more years of study abroad, imagine the cultural exchange that awaits American students!

What do you think, Matador readers? I’d be curious to know your take on this bill, and whether you slant towards hope or cynicism, or hover somewhere between the two.

Because I don’t have to worry about directing traffic in La Paz. There are men in zebra suits to do that for me.

Because the Andes are jagged, raw and breathtaking.

Because api and pastel is quite possibly the most indulgent breakfast on Earth.

Because trout from Lake Titicaca really is that good.

Because co-instructors like these make life (and work) a breeze!

Because there are ample opportunities to play with the “color accent” feature of my camera.

Because these are 11 of the best teenagers on Earth.

Because sometimes there are no words…

Because our home stay families in Sorata welcomed us with open arms.

Because this is the backyard of the Program House in Sorata.

Because teaching gringos to dance is always funny.

Because local, fresh fruits and vegetables are the norm, rather than an expensive indulgence.

Because this is one of those places…where there be dragons.

Because Lake Titicaca has an energy that is inexplicable, yet oh so tangible.

Because even men can weave.

Because glaciers such as these won’t be with us for much longer, and I feel honored to be in their presence.

Because of the sheer joy felt upon arriving at our first high altitude camp.

Because of high altitude soccer matches.

Because alpacas are awesome.

Because even altitude-induced vertigo can’t erase the beauty of this place.

Because glacier lakes still exist.

Because the starkness of the land is only part of its beauty.

Because making it to the top feels OH SO GOOD.

Because some feelings can cross any boundary.

Because cow dung fires are actually really warm.

Because accomplishments like these do not get old.

Because jumping pictures are always in order.

Because crossing one range of snow-capped mountains to reveal another equally majestic range in the not-so-distant view instills in you an extraordinary sense of place.

Because condors have up to a 10 foot wingspan and seeing them is said to bring one luck. We saw four.

Because these hands have touched so much.

Because sitting down at the end of the day feels fabulous.

Because sometimes the cheapest meals are the most delicious.

Because a little dust from the road can’t hide a smile.

Because even a LOT of dust from the road can’t hide a smile.

Because there is green in Bolivia as well.

Because keeping day packs dry going over rapids on the first day of a river trip seems like a good idea.

Because even 18 hours of constant rain can’t stop us from having a good time.

Because inner-tubes and baibo trees make a great raft.

Because I will never tire of taking pictures of my Chacos.

Because eating cow hearts is considered a delicacy.

Because learning the meaning and value of a hard days’ work is invaluable.

Because coca is a tradition, not a drug.

Because kids are beautiful.

Because a fresh coat of paint goes a long way.

Because service to others is infinitely fulfilling.

Because exhaustion is real.

Because salteñas are indescribably delicious.

Because the altiplano is truly, expansively inspirational.

Because a battered flag serves as a brilliant reminder of the strength, diversity and beauty of a nation.

Because some of these cactuses are over 2000 years old.

Because we made shirts that say “Where There Be Llamas”.

Because Maro is really strong.

Because fourteen people together for six weeks will not tire of group photos.

Because Liza is an amazing leaper.

Because jumping pictures never get old.

Because they were always willing to help.

Because deserts and active volcanoes blow my mind.

Because lunch came with a view.

Because reflection is found in so many places and forms.

Because vicuñas are probably my favorite animal.

Because flamingos live at 16,000 feet.

Because the colors of these mountains are other-worldly.

Because the altiplano sky really is that big.

Because a new band has just been born, and this will be its album cover.

Because we travel to where there be dragonz.

Because I am on this journey too.

Most photos and captions by the author. Additional photos provided by Marolyn Vidaurre de la Riva and Andy Coval.

Community Connection

Check out a trip-report of a incredible backpacking route in Bolivia, learn about the organization Sustainable Bolivia and read an interview with a photographer who specializes in Big Bolivian Sunsets.

If you’re jealous of Helen’s job, check out employment opportunities with the educational youth travel organization Where There Be Dragons.

To further stoke your wanderlust, read the full description of the Dragons 6-week Bolivia summer program.

All photos courtesy of the author.

1. Geneva is a city with much to offer but at a steep price.

Everything from a night out to groceries is expensive, but there are ways to avoid the Geneva money-trap.

Denner is a cheap and decent place to buy groceries. While it may not carry every item you need, it has the basics and then some, including all the alcohol and chocolate a person could want.

Going out to bars and clubs on the weekends can be fun, but for those on a budget it’s probably best to limit nights out to special occasions.

Drinks at clubs can cost a fortune; I once paid 30 CHF, about the equivalent of $27, for one drink. As an alternative to going out every weekend, sit by the lake and enjoy a bottle of wine with friends.

2. It’s best to travel from Geneva by train.

Although Switzerland is at the center of Europe, it’s not so easy to find flights out of Geneva to where you want to go.

Traveling by train makes getting around easier and cheaper, especially with a half-fare card. This card costs 150 CHF for a year and saves you 50 percent off any tickets for travel within Switzerland.

3. Some bathrooms cost money to use.

Oftentimes train stations charge about 2 CHF to use restrooms. Those restrooms are better kept and cleaner, but they’re not the only ones available. In Geneva’s main train station there are free public restrooms in the bottom level.

4. The winters are cold.

Think of Geneva as the Chicago of Europe — the windy city. During the winter, the winds are especially brutal, so be sure to pack a heavy coat, scarves, gloves and hats.

5. Geneva is a French-speaking city.

Unlike most of Switzerland, the main language of Geneva is not German.

With the city located so close to the border with France, most people speak French and many even commute from France to work in Geneva.

6. The Swiss are very punctual.

Unless there’s an accident, trains always run on time in Switzerland, so don’t be late!

7. The last train out of Geneva leaves around midnight.

If you will be living just outside of Geneva, this is good to know. However, if you miss the train or are planning a late night, you can catch a night bus.

You may have the feeling of being kidnapped in these small vans, but they offer a cheaper alternative to cabs. They run about once every hour and a half in the very early morning hours and stop only at select spots.

8. Geneva is a great place to try skiing and paragliding.

The Alps make skiing convenient almost year-round, and there are many ski resorts in the area.

Paragliding off the top of Le Saleve, a mountain just across the border in France, allows you to see all of Geneva — the lake, fountain and mountains.

Geneva Study Abroad Programs

There are many study abroad programs in Geneva, so it helps to know which stand above the others.

My personal experience was with Webster University, which has its own campus in Geneva. Webster offers 8-week, semester, year and summer-long programs. Another perk, the school also covers round-trip airfare for undergraduates in good standing.

Kent State also has a solid study abroad program in Geneva, which allows students the chance to intern with a non-governmental organization during their stay. Students can live in dorms or with locals. Semester and summer programs are available.

Smith College, in Massachusetts, offers a yearlong study abroad internship program in Geneva in which students live in dorms with other international students. Students must have at least four years of college and have taken two years of French to be eligible.

For a comprehensive list of study abroad programs in Geneva, check out the Geneva page at studyabroad.com.

Feature Photo: rolandslakisPhoto: sethwoodworth

Two weeks into my home stay in Japan, I came home five minutes late.

To myself — an independent young American woman who has never had a curfew — this was par for the course. To my host family — a traditional, middle-aged couple — my little bout of tardiness was enough to convince them that I had potentially been robbed, kidnapped, or hurt.

I found their complaints against me overly protective and paternal. They had never had children and didn’t understand that I was an adult. They said I wasn’t respecting their culture and the rules of their house. Coming home even a minute late implied that I didn’t value their time.

Every home stay is different, depending on the people involved, the knowledge each side has of the other’s culture, and each side’s level of experience with home stays.

If you’re having a problem with your host family, confront yourself first and evaluate the situation before talking to them. Are your expectations realistic? Have you given yourself time to settle in before making any judgments about your home stay? Have you made every effort possible to become part of your host family, whether that be by conversing with them, helping out with housework, and/or spending time with them?

Photo: JoshBerglund19

Maybe, like me, you didn’t even get the chance to think about the problem before your host family confronted you. In this case…

1. Stay calm.

As hard as it may be hear about your faults or some faux pas you unknowingly committed, try to keep a level head. If you were in their shoes, would you be upset? Even if you think they are completely wrong to be angry at you, try to imagine the situation from their perspective and keep an open mind.

2.Talk about it.

Ask them about what they are feeling and why. Then, give your own perspective. Figure out where the problem is, whether it be a cultural misunderstanding or confusion relating to a foreign language.

3. Compromise.

Apologize for hurting them, and ask what you can do in the future to help solve the problem. Ask them to understand your point of view, and reinforce that adjusting to a different way of life is difficult for you. If you feel there’s something your host family could do to help you fit in better, ask them for help.

Photo: terminalnomadphotography

4. Fight it out their way.

Speak their language, and adhere to their culture’s social practices. Your host family will see that you are trying to fit in with them, and they’ll go easier on you.

5. Nip it in the bud.

Don’t let a problem fester, or else a simple misunderstanding could turn into a larger, more toxic issue. A friend of mine was having issues with her home stay, but was too afraid of talking about it with them. She didn’t want to be ungrateful and believed her host family would look down upon her.

Instead, her problems with them snowballed, and her relationship with her host mother became incredibly passive-aggressive. Eventually her host mother blew up at her in what was a very painful, personal exchange.

6. Don’t withdraw.

As enticing as it may be to run off to your room and lock the doors, it will only make you homesick or depressed. When a fight is over and there is nothing left to say, let it go. Spend some time with your host family in a happy, pleasurable way that you can all enjoy. Play a game, watch a movie, or talk about something funny or happy.

7. Try to make it up to them.

Photo: pthread

Do extra chores around the house, offer to make dinner one night, or bring home a little token of appreciation for your host family. Let your host family know you’ve put the fight behind you and that you respect them.

Misunderstandings are bound to happen during a home stay, but if problems are confronted early and handled respectfully, a compromise can be found that gives both you and your host family a deeper understanding of each other’s culture.

In my case, the confrontation with my host family led to me learning about the importance of punctuality in Japanese culture, and in turn they realized that I was an adult and could be trusted.

Just as an argument doesn’t make your parents love you any less, an argument with your host family doesn’t mean the end of your relationship. In fact, I found the mutual respect that resulted from our initial disagreement paved the way for a close, loving relationship that still continues a year later.

Community Connection

Feeling nervous about your home stay? Read up on 10 tips for a fun home stay. And don’t forget to thank your host for their hospitality.

Photo: panoramas

A reader wrote to me:

I’m leaving this comment because since you have lived in Russia and know much more about what’s going on there than I do, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. I was wondering, do you think it would even be smart at this point for a Black student to go to Russia to study? I was planning on going there after the summer for a year-long study abroad program but after hearing about all the racism I’m thinking that it might not be the right thing to do. Did you have a lot of close calls when you were over there?

This is a painful question for me.

On the one hand, I have had amazing experiences in Russia and I have been indelibly marked by the time I have spent with Russian history, literature and contemporary society. I can’t imagine my sense of the world outside of my interactions with Russia.

On the other hand, I simply don’t know if I can, in good conscience, advise people of Asian or African descent to travel to Russia in light of the continuing problem of racist violence.

In the past ten days, there have been attacks on Bangladeshi and Chinese students in Moscow, in addition to the earlier assaults this year on citizens of Cameroon and Vietnam. Last December, a nineteen-year-old African American was stabbed multiple times in Volgograd on his way home from the gym.

While these are certainly the most extreme types of violence, interviews with African students also reveal pervasive everyday racism in Russian society. If you travel to Russia, you are, quite frankly, playing a numbers game with your life and your well-being.

Photo: author

That said, you can do some things to improve your odds.

Personally, I was never attacked and I never experienced anything worse than dirty looks, stupid comments and mumbled threats. A number of factors probably account for my “luck” and I’ll share them with you, both as useful precautions and as information that might give you some insight into life in Russia for those of us of “non-Slavic appearance,” in case you are still considering your travel options even after the warning above.

First and foremost, I had the gift of genetics and a bad disposition–I am over six feet tall and, generally speaking, not of a soothing appearance; when I would hang out with African friends in Russia, they would joke that I was their bodyguard. To give you a more clear picture, a few years ago my high school students nick-named me “Mr. Buster, AKA Suge Knight.” If your friends haven’t given you a similar handle, then you should up your worry level a little.

Second, as soon as I got to Moscow, I asked other Asian and African residents about safety and took their recommendations very seriously. I rarely wandered around alone after dark. If there was a major soccer game, I avoided the subways and took a taxi instead to avoid the possibility of running into a crowd of drunken racist football hooligans.

In general, I kept an eye out for groups of sketchy-looking young men and walked away from them, even if it meant I would be late to wherever I was going. And, at the insistence of a Russian friend, I typically carried a small, easy-to-reach knife as a last resort.

Lastly, I tried to maintain a serious appearance—I wore a collared shirt and I always carried a briefcase (even when there was nothing inside of it) to look professional. This was mainly to fend off police shakedowns that tend to victimize people who the police think won’t have their papers in order and won’t want to take matters to their bosses or to court. I also worked on the assumption that skinheads targeted people that they perceived as weak, poor or unconnected.

In short, not a day went by that I didn’t consider the very real possibility of being attacked. I told myself that it was worth it to get my project done and I coped with the stress of constant worry. I also tried to focus on the positive interactions that I had with people in Russia.

Which is one reason why it hurts me to give such a negative report. Most people in Russia are not violent racists and I really love many things about Moscow: the libraries, the architecture, the museums, the street food, the random folks who chat with you at the market, the landlord who picks up the rent and stays to talk for three hours, the other migrants and foreigners who share the pain and the pleasures of being an outsider…

If you read through my posts from the year I spent in Moscow, it should give you some idea of my diverse feelings and experiences in Russia.

But can I responsibly tell a young person of color (who could presumably choose to travel to any country in the world) that it’s advisable to sign up for a year in Russia? Sadly, I just don’t think so.

The world is large and there are many options. You shouldn’t have to fear for your life every day.

UPDATE: I later learned of two more attacks on African students in Moscow; five persons were injured and three suffered stab wounds.

Community Connection

Planning on traveling to Asia? Get one traveler’s perspective about why racism in Asia might not be what you think. Matador’s Julie Schwietert has also written an excellent blog post about race, sex and economics in Cuba.

The author and her Nepali host family at home in Kathmandu. All photos courtesy Sarah Vazquez.

Being a minority is one of the most valuable experiences of travel. The sensitivity and awareness we learn from the minority perspective is important to bettering ourselves as global citizens. This is especially true for citizens of the United States.

Our country’s makeup includes many types of people and heritages. To say that there is one, streamlined “American Identity” is simply impossible.

From the earliest days of Manifest Destiny and mass immigration to our current times of hostile neighbor relationships (inside and outside our borders) and unprecedented presidential elections, the story of the American Minority has always been highly relevant.

My digging skills under review.

Foreign Americans

By definition, all Americans are travelers and foreigners.

Connecting with the experience of being a foreigner in a global context is really to relate back to the innate immigrant thread that all Americans share.

Amazingly, our common experience as immigrants does not fracture us into categories, regions and races, but rather weaves through our differences and ties us together as one nation.

Whether or not your (great-great-great-great) grandmother’s house was next to Plymouth Rock, or your family just moved to Queens five years ago, we can all learn what it feels like to be “the only one” in a room by adopting the minority perspective and remembering what the experience of immigration was like for our ancestors.

Maybe you are like many Americans and have ancestry rooted beyond the red, white and blue of our nation, but have simply not yet connected with your heritage. Sadly, many efforts towards assimilation and shared identity have meant losing our own distinctive histories and cultural traditions.

Laughing at me?

Personally, I have experienced much of this internal bi-racial contradiction.

My father is from Mexico, yet for many reasons, I have been raised more or less in a completely “American culture”.

Of course, there is no right or wrong type of heritage, and I’m thankful for the unconditional love and patience my family has given me.

However, in my mind, for better or for worse, “American culture” has sometimes meant a focus on the future at the expense of my heritage.

When I was in Nepal a wave of liberating realizations hit me, subtly and powerfully, over the course of my three months as an oddball foreigner.

I was sometimes, conspicuously, the only female in a room. I was the only one whose skin color didn’t match. I was the only one who couldn’t speak Nepali. I was the only one who couldn’t do the simple task at hand.

In addition, I was often culturally inept. I stepped in the wrong place, I ate the wrong way and I showered poorly.

I was a person I had never been at home in America.

I was a distinct minority.

Celebrating Holi, the Festival of Colors.

I tried to take my failures at cultural assimilation lightly.

I quickly got over being afraid of embarrassment, because embarrassment was simply inevitable.

I learned humility, and many of my pre-conceived notions of “what’s proper” soon disappeared as I watched the everyday tasks accomplished in a new way.

I began to lift my head and look around outside of myself. It occurred to me that the Nepali ways were not foreign. The only thing foreign was myself.

Relating to my Father

Perhaps I could now relate to how my own father, along with many other young immigrants, felt in his first years in America.

My father and I had never connected on this type of level before, because we had always focused on our commonalities, namely our recent past together and the future ahead of us.

Although we still don’t talk much about this now, I feel (and hope) that my new-found sensitivity to the minority perspective has spoken louder than my words ever could.

Just like family.

The Lessons of Being Different

Perhaps one of the most useful things I learned in Nepal was how to treat foreignness as a gift.

I began to take solace in the fact that I was learning what it meant to be “the only one” in the room.

Often times over the course of history, Americans have rejected foreignness in favor of conformity. In Nepal, thousands of miles away from home, I learned that everyone is a foreigner somewhere. We are all foreigners because we are all unique.

We all have differences, and so our position of being different turns into a shared experience.

Most Nepali’s seemed to dismiss the idea that I was “wrong” when I misspoke or made a cultural misstep. They just accepted, with enthusiasm, the fact that I was “different.”

I got laughed at. A lot. By many people.

It took me a while to get used to being in the social spotlight all the time, but the humor of my Nepali hosts was not malicious or antagonistic.

My host-family and their friends laughed simply because my differences amused them. It made me happy to see that I could make people smile simply by being myself and by doing some things my own way.

Working in the wheat field.

I treaded these cultural waters with trepidation at first, expecting to be chastised when I stepped incorrectly. Instead, I was respectfully guided in the more culturally acceptable direction.

Perhaps more amazingly, I was never corrected for the sake of retaliation or enforced conformity. Instead, I was always corrected so that I could become a better Nepali and improve my own experience.

Strength in Difference

I returned to America with a strong belief in the importance of respect and understanding within the global community. We must all be responsible, compassionate global neighbors.

But I also returned with a vision of what it means to be an American today. Our nation’s backbone lies in our shared experience of the minority perspective. Our differences help make us strong.

What do you think about the minority perspective?

Please join the conversation by leaving a comment below.

Photo by Brieze Levy

Many competitive colleges and universities encourage applicants to pursue a gap year option after graduating from high school.

The colleges believe that students who come to higher education with an extra year of life experience bring valuable perspective to the classroom.

“Taking a gap year in China was the best decision I ever made,” says Courtney Zenner, 26, who spent a year exploring China with the organization School Year Abroad.

“My experience in China exposed me to possibilities I never knew existed, taught me to think independently and allowed me to see the world.”

Photo by Kristin Brudevold

Courtney went on to graduate from Barnard College with a degree in Asian Studies and now leads semester programs in China and India.

Real world life experience gives gap year students a greater sense of personal direction and specific academic goals.

“I didn’t take a gap year, and I wish I had,” said Jessica Newman, 27, who is now an academic dean at South High-School in Denver, Colorado.

“Nobody knows exactly what they want to do when they’re eighteen years old. It’s smart to take time to figure out who you are before you rush into what you’re going to be.”

Gap years are popular with European and Australian students, but remain relatively rare in the Americas. However, in recent years more and more American students are preparing for college by taking a gap year.

Here are 10 good reasons for you to go for a gap year.

1. Learn About the World

Although gap years don’t have to involve foreign travel, most gap year students seize the opportunity to travel abroad.

This firsthand experience of unfamiliar cultures offers profound lessons, especially for curious and motivated young people.

After all, engaged travel is one of the best forms of genuine education.

2. Learn About Yourself

For students who grew up in a structured environment with clearly defined social, athletic and academic goals, gap years offer valuable personal freedom.

Young people are able to figure out who they are and what inspires them. During the gap year, they begin to emerge as self-actualized adults.

3. Have Fun

You only live once. A gap year bursting with travel, adventure, exploration and self-discovery can be a life-changing and intensely memorable experience.

4. Overcome Challenges

Make no mistake – a gap year isn’t time to slack off or take a vacation.

Gap year students usually work, volunteer or undertake self-directed service projects.

For many students, especially those from sheltered backgrounds, the gap year is a time to learn how to get along in the real world. This process isn’t always easy, but it is an essential part of growing up.

Photo by Adam Brooks

5. Save Money

There’s a common perception that gap years are only for wealthy students.

However, taking a gap year can actually save you money in the long run. Gap year students often work part-time as they travel, or volunteer for organizations that cover their expenses.

At the other end of the spectrum, structured gap year programs often offer college credit and cost less than college tuition.

The kicker is that by taking a gap year, students are much more likely to know what they want to study in college. Clear academic and career goals keep students from aimlessly drifting through 4 years of college and 3 years of graduate school at upwards of $40,000 per year.

6. Improve Your College Admission Chances

Imagine an admissions officer trying to decide between two applicants.

Both applicants boast impressive grades, scored high on the SATs, are highly recommended by their teachers and played varsity field hockey.

However, one applicant has volunteered for 8 months in East Africa, speaks some Swahili and is passionate about public health issues in developing countries.

Who do you think the admissions officer would choose?

7. Avoid the Social Pitfalls of College

Students who arrive at college with a full year of life experience under their belts are less likely to engage in risky behavior than students for whom college is their first intoxicating dose of freedom from parental supervision.

On this note, gap year students often become effective role models for their college classmates.

Photo by Camille Albouy

8. Find Your Academic Niche

College can be an opportunity to explore a wide range of academic disciplines, but students will get a lot more out of their education if they have at least a general idea of what they want to study, and what career their expensive education will prepare them for.

9. Learn A Foreign Language

Proficiency in a foreign language is an invaluable skill for young people in today’s interconnected world.

Living, working and traveling overseas is the best way to learn a foreign language, which means that gap year students who supplement their high-school Spanish with travel in Bolivia have a serious advantage over their peers.

10. Get Some Serious Perspective

Education, at its core, is about accumulating intimate knowledge of the world through a wide range of life experiences.

Nicholas Kristof, a Rhodes scholar, Pulitzer Prize winning author and star columnist for the New York Times has this to say about gap years:

The bottom line is that you’ll almost certainly learn more from a gap year than you will in any single year in college.

Community Connection

I personally recommend the gap year programs offered by Where There Be Dragons, an educational youth travel organization that specializes in cultural immersion in developing countries.

Feature Photo: uib Photo: juanflauta

The decision to study abroad didn’t always seem like an obvious choice. In fact, there are several reasons it didn’t make any sense.

I delayed my graduation by six months. It took a four-page persuasive essay to change my dad’s opinion on the matter. I put my ever-ambitious career on hold. Most of all, I broke the bank… and then some.

In spite of these deterrents, my semester of international study was still the best investment I’ve ever made. We’ve all heard the classic excuses not to study abroad; I had some of them too. But they simply don’t offer compelling reasons to miss out.

1. It’s too much work to apply.

You applied to college, didn’t you? Study abroad applications are a far less arduous process. While some more competitive programs may require recommendations and essays, they’re generally not even close to as time-consuming. If your school has a study abroad office, have an adviser walk you through the entire process.

2. I can’t graduate on time.

Got history or art requirements? Language classes you need to take care of? Almost every international university will offer equivalent classes. If you take courses for your major early on, you can hold off on general ed requirements and take them abroad instead.

Photo: naixn

If all else fails, embrace the extra semester. Who’s rushing to graduate in this jobless economy anyway?

3. My parents / friends / significant other don’t want me to.

Going abroad is an incredible opportunity that builds maturity, worldliness, and independence. The people who want the best for you will encourage you to take the opportunity to go, and there’s nothing that can test the strength of a relationship like a couple of months apart.

4. I’ll get homesick.

You’ll undeniably have to give up certain things for a couple of months: heaven on earth in the form of your multiple down comforters, those bangin’ banana pancakes from the diner across the street, cuddle sessions with your chinchilla…

Photo: nuomi

However, you’ll be able keep up with your friends’ and family’s lives via Facebook, probably down to what your roommate had for breakfast. And hey, cuddling might be out, but you can still blow your chinchilla kisses over Skype video chat.

5. I can’t afford it.

Plenty of college students don’t have the means to drop several grand over the course of a few months, especially when most are just scraping by on a college budget.

However, studying abroad really doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think, especially if you’re not adamant about studying in a major European city. Sometimes you’ll find that the cost of a semester at an international university is comparable to the cost of a semester at your home university.

Moreover, many study abroad programs allow you to use your financial aid, and there are scholarships galore available for students who need a little help.

6. I can always travel after I graduate.

Photo:powi

Of course you can always travel later, but studying abroad is a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture for several months and experience an entirely fresh educational system (while experiencing an equally fresh nightlife, should you so desire).

Let’s be honest; most people only have the stamina for the globetrotting lifestyle when they’re young. Once you’re tied down with real-life bills and obligations, it won’t be so easy to drop everything and go.

Which all means that your excuses simply don’t measure up. Liberate yourself from them, and hit the road.

Community Connection

Not interested in the conventional study abroad semester in Paris or Seville? Why not try Cyprus, Chile, or China?

Need more motivation? Ask yourself: What am I waiting for?

Or have a look at what Pico Iyer, one of travel’s foremost advocates,, has to say about why we travel.

Photo above and feature photo by glen bowman

Even after my return from a semester in Cyprus, my friends still ask me how Greece was.

“Cyprus,” I correct them.

Spending four months on a tiny and obscure island in the middle of the Mediterranean wasn’t anything I expected it to be — but it was still the best. Experience. Ever.

Here are seven reasons I recommend studying abroad in Cyprus.

Photo by greenacre8

1. Nobody really knows where or what it is.

How many people do you know who have studied in Madrid? Beijing? London?

Then ask yourself how many people you know who have studied in Cyprus. Probably none, right? It’s truly a one-of-a-kind experience — you’ll have stories to tell for life.

2. The price of living in Cyprus is incredibly reasonable.

Unless you’re heading to fine dining and scuba diving lessons on the regular — which you totally can do in Cyprus! — you’ll spend a lot less than you would have spent studying in a major European city.

It’s easy to eat cheaply, taxis charge fairly, and once you start getting to know the locals you’ll barely pay a dime for the nightlife.

You literally have the world at your fingertips.

Europe’s to the west, Asia’s to the east, and Africa’s to the south. During my time abroad, I traveled to all three continents — a trip to Israel, a trip to Egypt, and a trip through Europe during my spring break.

Others in my program took individual trips to everywhere from Turkey to Malta. Even though we often booked flights last minute, they by no means broke the bank.

Photo by aiace

3. You’ll get to experience more of one country than you could anywhere else.

Because Cyprus is so small (seriously, check it out on a map — you may have to squint), not only will you be able to experience all the touristy things, you’ll become very familiar with your surroundings and get to know the locals quickly.

After a semester in Cyprus, it’ll really start to feel like your home away from home.

4. The weather is gorgeous year-round.

I’m a California native and certified weather wimp; European winters would not have been my thing. Cyprus didn’t dip below 55 at any point during my stay, which suited me perfectly.

My east coast friends were practically crying with joy because they could work on their tans in February.

Photo by aiace

5. There’s a reason Cyprus is a vacation destination.

It’s home to some amazing beaches, and there’s something magical about that Mediterranean water. Ocean swimming, jet-skiing, banana boating, cliff diving – there are lots of ways to play in the sea.

(I spent so many weekends on the beach that back home they now call me “The Bronze Goddess.” With Capital Letters.)

6. Cypriots know how to party.

It’s safe to say that they inherited the celebratory nature of the Greeks. That’s right — Cypriots hit the club on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Not that there’s any shortage of people at the bars on Monday and Tuesday.

If you happen to go abroad during the summer, just imagine your first semester of college all over again… with Greek music, beautiful people, and large bodies of water.

Photo by greenacre8

7. You’ll meet people from all over the world.

I had professors from France, Egypt, and England as well as classmates from literally everywhere.

My Facebook friends list became remarkably multicultural this past semester, and should I ever find myself in Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, or Syria, I now allegedly have a place to stay!

Interested in studying abroad in Cyprus? Here’s a comprehensive list of programs that are offered. If you’re primarily looking to brush up on your Greek or Turkish, try spending a summer studying at the language school in Limassol.

The most popular program for American students is with Global Learning Semesters, which offers studies at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus with the option of additional multi-country travel throughout Europe or Asia.

Community Connection

Matador community member Denise has lived in Cyprus for about 3 years. Member SierraKiloEcho is currently traveling in Cyprus, Turkey and France.

Connect with them and the author of this article – Teresa Wu – through the Matador travel community.

Photo by Alicepopkorn Feature photo by Turkairo

The crusading journalist Nicholas Kristof has long been an advocate of educational travel programs for high-school and college students. In 2006 he called for universities to offer college credit for gap year programs and independent travel.

Visionary, right? But the proposal went nowhere.

His latest column starts out on familiar ground, with Kristof criticizing American universities for their narrow approach to the study of pressing global issues:

One of the great failures of American universities is that they are far too parochial, rarely exposing students to worlds beyond our borders.

But then he gets to the sticking point….

FEAR FEAR FEAR

According to Kristof, a big part of why American students hesitate to travel is fear for their safety, so he wraps his argument for educational travel in 15 rather ridiculous travel safety tips.

Tip # 14. If terrorists finger you, break out singing “O Canada”!

Seriously?

Well, maybe if you’re a habitual visitor to Sudan, Iraq, North Korea and the Congo, it makes sense to “lift the sheet to look for bloodstains on the mattress”.

But Kristof knows as well as anyone that international travel is a safe and deeply educational experience.

His safety tips are an attention grabber, a desperate attempt at building viral buzz. The real message comes in the last tip:

Tip # 15: Don’t be so cautious that you miss the magic of escaping your comfort zone and mingling with local people and staying in their homes. The risks are minimal compared with the wonders of spending time in a small village. So take a gap year, or volunteer in a village or a slum.

And even if everything goes wrong and you are robbed and catch malaria, shrug it off — those are precisely the kinds of authentic interactions with local cultures that, in retrospect, enrich a journey and life itself.

Why is educational travel important?

Check out my essay Youth Travel Programs Are Vital To Our Security.

To read Nicholas Kristof’s complete column, check out Cum Laude In Evading Bandits.

For an organization that offers the finest student travel programs in the developing world, check out Where There Be Dragons.

Here in Cambodia, the guesthouse owner, a recent acquaintance, will openly ask if you have diarrhea. Women receive routine injections in their buttocks with family members, friends, and neighbors looking on.

Village medicine.

In America, the hospital is a space entirely dedicated to improving health, almost sacred in its sterilized simplicity.

In Cambodia, IVs are set up under stilted houses with cows in the background and babies are delivered on straw mats in the family home. Personal health is deeply integrated into daily life.

From what I have been able to observe, medicine here is a matter-of-fact business that appears, in my Western eyes, devoid of emotion.

New Questions

More than anything, my research on health care in Cambodia just opened up more questions for me.

I set out with a list of questions I wanted answered. Some of them I found answers to; some of them I didn’t.

Newborn and mother.

Originally, I wanted to find out the average number of births per Cambodian woman, the cost and availability of pre-natal care and the ratio of female to male healthcare workers in Cambodia.

What I found out was so much more valuable. I envisioned my research taking one path, but it took another and I am glad it did.

My entire experience with the American health care system has been documented, sanitized and monitored. We surround our personal health with such privacy, almost as if it were sacred.

In America, personal health carries a host of emotions: fear, dread, sadness, relief, joy. Not so in Cambodia.

It was not acceptable for a six-year-old girl to cry as her wound was cleaned no matter how much pain she may have been in. A new mother did not smile upon seeing her child for the first time.

Privileged Emotions

The author in Cambodia.

My research led me to consider emotions in a new way, less as natural impulses and more as privileges. By allowing ourselves to feel emotions, we are indulging ourselves. It is a luxury not everyone can afford.

Americans can afford to be egocentric. We expect a certain level of comfort in our hospitals. People here, I imagine, do not. It’s a cultural necessity.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Are you a student interested in traveling to Cambodia? Check out the Where There Be Dragons summer program Cambodia: Studies in Development and Peace.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/healthcare-in-cambodia/feed/ 11 http://matadorabroad.com/top-10-places-to-study-architecture/ http://matadorabroad.com/top-10-places-to-study-architecture/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:14:54 +0000 Juliane Huang http://matadorabroad.com/?p=79

Photo: http2007

From ancient Greece to modern day Dubai, humankind has consistently tested the boundaries of art, physics, and function through architecture.

Every year, thousands flock to major architectural landmarks around the world in appreciation of human engineering. We cross deserts to glimpse the pyramids. We climb mountains to set foot in Machu Picchu. A structural wonder worthy of a pilgrimage exists on every continent.

Below are the top 10 places to study and admire architecture:

1. Athens, Greece

One of the world’s oldest cities, Athens is home to some of the most revered structures in the history of architecture. In creating the Classical Style, the Greeks established some of the founding principles for today’s buildings, guaranteeing their spot in every architectural textbook. The Acropolis of Athens contains such incredible buildings as the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena, and the Erechtheum.

The Acropolis / Photo by Charles P.

2. Rome, Italy

Who can forget the Romans? They invented the arch and the dome and perfected the use of concrete. Home to such heavy-hitters as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Pont du Gard, and the famous bathhouses, Rome is a formidable presence in architectural history and appreciation. No true student of architecture can willingly bypass the opportunity to witness mind-blowing Roman innovation.

3. Beijing, China

With thousands of years of history, China has paved the way for many artistic styles and expressions in the Eastern world. China has contributed historical and structural wonders such as the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and Tianning Temple. The recent construction of the Bejing National Stadium, also known as the “Bird’s Nest”, garnered worldwide attention not only for its modern design, but also for its hefty price tag.

The Bird’s Nest / Photo by sHzaam!

4. London, England

Hailed as one of the world’s most important business, financial, and cultural centers, London contains four of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Greenwich, and Kew Gardens) within city limits. In addition, this major global city hosted the Great Exhibition in 1851 in one of the most ambitious and talked about architectural structures at the time, the Crystal Palace. Although that building was subsequently destroyed in a fire, London still boasts of the preservation of architectural rock stars such as the Banqueting House, Nelson’s Column, the British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Gherkin.

5. Paris, France

Arguably the most famous city in France, Paris is the site of such visitor favorites as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Sacre Couer. While there is no shortage of historically prominent architecture in Paris, modern structures have also been cultivating their reputation in the city of love. Architectural students and fans alike will not want to miss the Grande Arch, as well as I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in the Louvre.

6. Tokyo, Japan

A city near and dear to the heart of popular culture, Tokyo endured two devastating catastrophes in the 20th century that destroyed half the city. Consequently, much of the architecture in the greater Tokyo area is stylistically modern. Notable buildings include Fuji TV headquarters on O’Daiba, the Imperial Palace, and the chipper red and white Tokyo Tower. Fans of Kenzo Tange already know of the Yoyogi National Gymnasium with its suspension roof design and curvilinear lines reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp. For those interested in traditional Japanese architecture, the famous temple city of Kamakura is only a quick train ride south.

7. New York, New York, U.S.A.

Though most of its architecture has only been erected within the last few hundred years, many of architecture’s leading designers have enthusiastically left their print on the city that never sleeps. From Mies van der Rohe’s and Philip Johnson’s functionalist Seagram Building to Frank Lloyd Wright’s winding Guggenheim Museum, New York has much to offer the student of modern architecture. And let’s not forget Gregory Johnson’s formidable Empire State Building.

The Lotus Temple / Photo by jonrawlinson

8. Delhi, India

The second-largest metropolis in India, Delhi serves as a beautiful example of the juxtaposition of traditional Indian architectural styles with modern international styles. In Delhi, visitors may observe the zenith of Mughal creativity in the Red Fort. The fort’s Islamic domes and minarets are characteristic of traditional Indian architecture. Recently, the Akshardham Hindu temple complex was opened to the public, showcasing intricate, carved decoration reminiscent of the ancient stupas. The Lotus Temple, a house of worship stylistically anchored in modernity, provides a stunning visual complement to the Sydney Opera House. The Taj Majal is also just a quick train ride away.

9. Moscow, Russia

Moscow is an architectural force to be reckoned with. From the universally recognizable onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral to the constructivist lattice webbing of the Shukhov Tower, Moscow showcases a variety of architectural styles. It was during Soviet times that Moscow received its most fervent revamping as Stalin aimed to bring modernity to the city through architecture. Since then, there has been heavy criticism concerning the destruction of Moscow’s historical buildings and revived efforts to preserve those still standing.

The Burj Al Arab / Photo by dweekly

10. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Only really gaining the world’s attention within the last few decades, Dubai has quickly established itself as a powerhouse of construction and luxury. Although its architecture can’t rival Rome’s or China’s in historical value, Dubai is a fascinating junction of engineering and artistic design. Tom Wright’s Burj Al Arab was constructed atop one of Dubai’s many man-made islands; its claim to fame is not just its sharp, modern aesthetic, but also its complex engineering feat. If the ubiquity of its image means anything today, Burj Al Arab stands as one of the most memorable structures of the latter 20th century.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:
Interested in learning more about architecture? Why not use Craig Martin’s DIY Study Abroad Guide to plan travels in one of these cities? Take a peek at Tokyo through the looking glass to see if studying there’s your thing.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/top-10-places-to-study-architecture/feed/ 7 http://matadorabroad.com/student-travel-in-tibet/ http://matadorabroad.com/student-travel-in-tibet/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:55:00 +0000 Tim Patterson http://matadorabroad.com/?p=78 For intellectually curious high-school students who are ready for rugged travel, the Tibetan regions of the central Asian plateau offer profound learning adventures.

I’ve often written about the importance of youth travel programs, both for the individual students who are exposed to a foreign culture and for the international community, which desperately needs to foster a generation of empowered global citizens.

However, just as not all youth travel organizations are created equal, not all destinations offer the same degree of experiential education. One place that does provide motivated students with truly transformational and deeply educational travel experiences is the Tibetan plateau.

Tibet is a life-changing destination for two reasons. One, it is home to a culture remarkably different from any in the West. Many would argue that traditional Tibetan culture holds many lessons for the West.

Second, Tibet is place wrapped up in illusion and propaganda. Facts about Tibet are hard to come by, and first-hand travel experiences are extremely valuable. Most foreigners who travel to Tibet are confined by draconian regulations and only see a handful of government approved sites. Some student travel programs, however, are able to go deeper into Tibetan culture and explore places few tourists would get to see.

Where There Be Dragons is offering a 6 week Tibet student travel program for 16 – 18 year old students this summer. Last year, the Dragons Tibet trip was rerouted to Ladakh (a culturally Tibetan area of India) because of political tensions, but the students were able to meet with the Dalai Lama. This year, everyone at Dragons has fingers crossed for the Tibet Autonomous Region to open.

Whether the Tibet program is in Ladakh or in Tibet proper, the Dragons program will be a deeply profound journey for the right students.

For more info. check out Where There Be Dragons.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/student-travel-in-tibet/feed/ 1 http://matadorabroad.com/latin-americas-indigenous-languages/ http://matadorabroad.com/latin-americas-indigenous-languages/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:34:57 +0000 Sarah Menkedick http://matadorabroad.com/?p=70

Photo: Hyperscholar

Millions of people go to Latin America each year to study Spanish. But have you considered learning the language of the Indigenous peoples?

I won’t deny that learning Spanish is both necessary and fun—I studied for a month in Quito before traveling around South America. However, as anyone who has trekked across Bolivia or Guatemala or Mexico can tell you, Spanish is not the native language of the region.

And while most countries have done a remarkable job of wiping out native languages through a mixture of brutality, exclusionary educational policy, discrimination and intimidation, some of these languages have managed to hang on, and some have even seen a revival in recent years.

Travelers now have a chance to get a more intimate look at Latin America and its diverse cultural groups, and to aid in the preservation of distinct cultures and languages in danger of being usurped by mainstream Hispanic culture.

The following is your guide to Latin America’s indigenous languages and where to study them. The languages mentioned below are only a sampling—there are literally hundreds more, but I’ve tried to select the ones that are still spoken by a large number of people and that are offered at fairly accessible language schools.

1. Zapotec

Zapotec is spoken by around half a million people in the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero. There are more than 50 versions of the language, but the largest three are mountain Zapotec (spoken in the Sierra Norte and Sur), valley Zapotec (spoken in the central valley of Oaxaca), and Zapotec from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Of these three, the latter two are the most accessible.

Valley Zapotec can be studied in Téotitlan del Valle (a village a stone’s throw from the city of Oaxaca), and in the city of Oaxaca. In Téotitlan, you’ll need to ask around for private tutors and negotiate prices.

In Oaxaca, the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO) offers semester-long courses in Zapotec, with four evening classes a week, for 500 pesos (around $50 USD). These courses usually go from September-December and February-May.

Zapotec from the isthmus can be studied in Juchitán, Oaxaca, where the Casa de la Cultura offers courses. The University of California at San Diego offers a summer Zapotec immersion program in Juchitán which sounds wonderful, but costs $4,000.

But for those interested in anthropology or in working with indigenous groups, the price may be worth it.

2. Quechua

Photo: Quinet

The official language of the Incas, Quechua is spoken today by more than 10 million people from southern Colombia to northern Chile, with the largest concentration of speakers in Peru and Bolivia. In the latter two countries, Quechua is recognized as an official language.

The best place to study Quechua is Bolivia, where Quechua and Aymara (another official language recognized by both Peru and Bolivia) are as widely used as Spanish. Aymara and Quechua share similar structures and over one-third of their vocabularies, so learning Quechua is practically a two-for-one deal.

Sustainable Bolivia, an NGO based in Cochabamba, offers full time Quechua language study, as well as a host of volunteer opportunities in Cochabamba and the surrounding communities. For total immersion, this is your best option.

For more information about where to learn Quechua, this page offers plenty of information.

3. Mayan

Photo: spankmeeehard

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that those elusive, mystical places and peoples featured on National Geographic specials (the ones where the narrator speaks in booming tones and the dramatic musical score plays in the background) actually exist.

The Maya are one such example; much has been written about ancient Mayan culture, but few people actually get involved with the present-day Mayan community, which, like most other indigenous communities in Latin America, is largely marginalized and poor.

There are more than six million Mayan speakers in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. By far, the biggest number live in Guatemala, which remains the best destination for full immersion Mayan study.

The Celas Maya language school in
Quetzaltenango, Gautemala, offers full immersion Mayan classes as well as local volunteer opportunities.

4. Guaraní

Photo: Nagillum

Guaraní is the language of the indigenous group of the same name. One of the two official languages in Paraguay, Guaraní is widely spoken throughout that country, as well as throughout parts of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Paraguay is an exceptional example of a country that has embraced an indigenous language and enforced a policy of bilingualism in education. All Paraguayan children are required to speak, read, and write Guaraní as well as Spanish.

Asunción is the best place to get started on Guaraní study. The National Registration Center for Study Abroad offers study abroad programs in Guaraní in Asunción (for a bit of a steep price!) and South America Inside offers slightly cheaper courses.

Both websites mention private language schools that I couldn’t dig up online, but I’d imagine that roaming around Asunción (or taking a glance at the Lonely Planet) you could find the addresses of these schools and save money by approaching them directly.

5. Nahuatl

The language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl dominated Mesoamerica for over a millennium, first as the lingua franca for merchants and politicians under Aztec rule, and then as the language favored by Spanish conquistadors for communication with local subjects.

In a policy that seems an anomaly within the larger history of colonization, Spain’s King Phillip II decreed in 1570 that Nahuatl would be the official language of New Spain.

During a period lasting over two centuries, Nahuatl spread from modern-day New Mexico to El Salvador. In the 16th and 17th centuries it became a literary language in which poetry, theatrical works, histories, chronicles, and administrative documents were written.

In 1770, a Spanish decree calling for the elimination of indigenous languages in Spanish colonies did away with Nahuatl as a literary language, but didn’t entirely eliminate it.

Today, it is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Mexico. You can study it in Cuernavaca at the International Center for Cultural and Language Studies (CICEL), which also offers seminars on traditional medicine and “reality tours” focusing on Mexican traditions and foods.

So instead of signing up for a Spanish course, go further back into Latin America’s history and get a little closer to its roots by studying Quechua, Guarani, Zapotec, Nahuatl, or Mayan, and in the meantime contribute to greater cultural diversity in this globalized world.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Matador offers resources for students of all languages! Check out 5 Questions to Ask When Picking a Language School, 5 Tips for a More Productive Language Exchange, or 10 Steps to Recovering a Language You’ve Forgotten, for a start.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/latin-americas-indigenous-languages/feed/ 7 http://matadorabroad.com/studying-medicine-in-the-caribbean/ http://matadorabroad.com/studying-medicine-in-the-caribbean/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:36:52 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorabroad.com/?p=67 Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo / Photo by Stuardo Herrera

There’s a reason doctors in training at the Caribbean’s numerous medical schools don’t talk about their studies.

As if the perpetually sunny forecast isn’t enticing enough, doctors-to-be (and nurses, too) who choose the Caribbean for medical school often enjoy the benefits of personalized attention and a small student body typically lacking in large North American or European universities.

Small student-professor ratios permit unmatched opportunities for mentoring and research that might take years to attain at other schools. Caribbean medical schools also provide students with specialties and training opportunities that are difficult to find elsewhere.

From specializing in tropical medicine to fulfilling residency requirements in small family or community-based practices, students who graduate from Caribbean medical schools will possess extensive hands-on clinical experience in settings that will give them insight into the ways in which society and medicine intersect.

There are still more benefits to studying medicine in the Caribbean. While they may be smaller than continental medical schools and may not have the same range or easy accessibility of medical technologies, facilities are modern, and often new.

Then there’s a benefit that’s often overlooked: diverse student bodies. Universities in the Caribbean attract students from around the world.

While this is also true of continental universities, foreign students in large schools often get absorbed into their own unique cultural groups. In the Caribbean, the small admission ratio serves to keep students intermingling regardless of their background.

Saba University School Of Medicine / Photo by misscrabette

Studying in the Caribbean isn’t without its challenges or drawbacks. If you’re a foreign student, there’s the issue of securing the appropriate visa to study abroad. You’ll also want to make sure that the country (and state or province) where you want to practice upon graduation recognize the validity of the degree you’ve worked so hard to earn.

Depending on the programs you’re considering, you may need to meet a language proficiency requirement, though many programs are taught in English.

Finally, some students have difficulty adjusting to the insular nature of island life. After the initial thrill of fun and sun wear off, it might be hard to establish a satisfying social life, especially on a small island where everybody knows everybody.

And while the cost of school may be much lower than elsewhere, the cost of living on islands is often high, as so many essential items are imported, so any savings may be offset by unanticipated expenses.

If you’re considering studying medicine abroad and think the Caribbean might be right for you, here are six islands with highly ranked medical schools just waiting for your application:

1. Antigua

Founded in 2004 by U.S. physicians, American University of Antigua is a brand new campus and the student body currently numbers just around 1,000.

The curriculum is designed for students from the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean to practice in their home countries. Though a handful of US states impose stringent accreditation standards that do not recognize degrees from medical schools in the Caribbean, AUA is one of the few schools whose graduates are accredited by New York to practice in the state.

Cayman Islands / Photo by JD Pavkovich

2. Cayman Islands

St. Matthew’s University turns 12 years old this year, and offers both research and clinical practice to students in the areas of traditional and veterinary medicine. Loans and scholarships are available for study; another benefit of St. Matthew’s is its rolling admissions policy (semesters start in September, January, and May).

3. Jamaica

University of the West Indies turned 60 years old in 2008, and offers more than 800 programs of study, medicine among them. UWI medical specialties include family, emergency, accident, internal, surgical, internal, sports, oral, and veterinary medicine. Be sure to check which of the university’s four campuses offer the program that interests you.

Photo by Wagner T. Cassimiro “Aranha”

4. St. Kitts Ross University

Since its inception in 1978, more than 9,000 students have graduated from Ross in medicine or veterinary medicine. Ross is a stand-out among Caribbean medical school programs because its graduates are accredited to practice in all 50 US states and 10 Canadian provinces.

5. Dominican Republic Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo

One of the Caribbean’s oldest universities (founded in 1538), the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo offers courses of study in medicine, nursing, radiology, and pharmacy. The medical school’s course of study consists of 11 semesters, terminating with a residency that includes pediatrics, ob-gyn, psychiatry, and traumatology rounds, among others.

Universidad de la Habana / Photo by Wagner T. Cassimiro “Aranha”

6. Cuba

Not the first or obvious choice for American citizens, the Universidad de La Habana’s medical school is a highly competitive option for citizens of other countries.

Cuba, despite the economic embargo that has kept the country and its people without much needed resources, is admired around the world for its advanced health care and pioneering medical research, including in the areas of cancer, meningitis, cholera, and HIV/AIDS.

Students who are accepted to this program will enjoy unparalleled research opportunities: more than 52 scientific research institutes are in the capital alone, and researchers around the world come to Cuba to collaborate with colleagues.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Thinking of heading overseas for post-graduate education? Check out these 7 Countries Where Graduate School is a Fraction of US Costs.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/studying-medicine-in-the-caribbean/feed/ 14 http://matadorabroad.com/nine-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-an-educational-summer-travel-program/ http://matadorabroad.com/nine-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-an-educational-summer-travel-program/#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:33:02 +0000 Tim Patterson http://matadorabroad.com/?p=62

Feature photo and photo above courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

Educational travel programs for high-school students are not all created equal. Know what you’re getting before making a commitment.

Each summer, thousands of North American high-school students travel abroad with organizations that specialize in educational travel programs.

Many of these lucky students return home with increased self-confidence, a heightened understanding of global issues, fabulous photos for Facebook, and a college essay topic that will impress even the most ruthless Ivy League admissions officer.

Parents and students who decide to invest in an educational travel program should be applauded, but choosing the right program is a daunting and complicated task. Dozens of organizations specialize in youth travel, and among these organizations there are tremendous variations in travel style, educational philosophy, and overall quality.

When it comes to youth travel programs, making the right choice requires extensive research and careful consideration. The following questions will help you make sense of your options.

1. What Risk-Management Policies Are in Place?

Every student travel company will tell you participant safety is their number one priority, but you should ask about their specific risk-management policies. At a minimum, trip instructors should be certified Wilderness First Responders, have extensive in-country experience, and be backed up by a qualified emergency services provider.

Student behavior is a greater risk than riots, floods, or bacteria. Does the program tacitly allow students to drink alcohol? Are students allowed to ride motor-bikes or hook-up with each other?

The travel company will probably insist that students are not allowed to engage in risky behavior, but ask former participants how strict their leaders were and you might get a more honest response.

Finally, it’s important to recognize that travel in developed countries like France or Argentina is not necessarily any less dangerous than travel in poor countries like Cambodia or Bolivia.

A qualified and experienced instructor team operating under carefully prepared risk management policies is the best line of defense against accident, injury, and illness.

Photo courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

2. How Many Students Are in a Group?

Small is beautiful. A travel group of 10-12 students is an ideal size, but 16 is too many and anything above 20 will guarantee a lack of instructor supervision and a cookie-cutter experience.

Ask if student groups will ever be combined. Some youth travel companies operate in-country base camps where several groups of students live at the same time. This is not an ideal scenario because it resembles summer camp – students will spend their time frantically forming cliques and be less likely to immerse themselves in the local culture or learn something new.

3. What Is The Instructor / Student Ratio?

Just as important as small group size is a low instructor to student ratio. One instructor for every four students is solid, one for every six is risky and one for every 10 is dangerous and irresponsible.

A low student-instructor ratio helps instructors keep close tabs on student health and behavior while giving students lots of individual attention. If only two instructors are trying to keep track of 20 students, they will not be able to do anything more than take attendance and make sure students are on the tour bus every morning.

Likewise, if an instructor gets sick, or needs to leave the group in order to escort a student to a hospital, it’s important to have at least two instructors who can stay behind and keep the group safe.

4. What Are the Instructors’ Qualifications?

Beyond basic qualifications like first aid training, ask if instructors are professional educators or just glorified baby-sitters.

How old is the average instructor? Many organizations hire recent college graduates or even current college students, which is asking for trouble.

How much in-country experience do the instructors have? Some organizations hire instructors who have never been to the country where the group will travel.

Finally, are the instructors even called instructors, or are they ‘guides’ or ‘counselors’? A guide leads a tour group and a counselor works at summer camp. If you’re looking for a genuinely educational travel experience, examine the credentials of the instructors with great care.

Photo courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

5. What Is the Organization’s Philosophy of Travel?

Philosophy of travel is a difficult concept to quantify, but it can make all the difference between a fun but forgettable vacation and a profoundly memorable learning experience.

How touristy is the program? Will the group be traveling on tour buses, visiting famous attractions and consuming pre-packaged experiences, or will they get off the beaten path, interact with local people and enjoy a uniquely memorable learning adventure?

A good traveler should be humble, appreciative, curious, and respectful of local customs. If the organization is promoting a whirlwind tour or spring break style party trip, stay well away.

6. What Is the Main Focus of the Program?

Some programs are focused on service projects, some on language studies, and others on niche activities like sailing or wildlife conservation.

This works out well when students’ interests and goals match the specific focus of the program, but other students might want a more comprehensive experience.

7. Will Students Interact With Local People?

When a dozen teenagers are thrown into a situation together, they sometimes find it difficult to pay attention to anything but the social dynamics of the group.

Since genuine interaction with local people is such a valuable element of travel, find out how students are encouraged to meet the locals.

Will there be home-stays? Are students given solo time? Does the program emphasize culturally appropriate behavior and give students the practical skills they need to communicate?

8. What Costs Are NOT Included in the Tuition?

Youth travel programs aren’t cheap, and it’s important to know exactly what you get for your money. Most companies list a tuition price that does not include international airfare.

Other costs that might not be covered include student visas, travel insurance, airport taxes, and money for personal items and souvenirs.

Photo by -Gep-.

9. How Many Swimsuit Photos Are in the Catalog?

Finally, allow me to introduce The Swimsuit Test – my favorite metric for determining the quality of a youth travel program.

The Swimsuit Test is simple. Look through the program catalog and count the photos of attractive students who are either shirtless or wearing swimsuits. The more swimsuit photos, the less respectable the company.

Why is The Swimsuit Test a good barometer of quality?

Youth travel companies know that photos of cute boys and girls having fun in swimsuits will attract teenage interest. Beyond the moral issue of using scantily clad teenagers for marketing purposes lie questions of cultural respect and educational priorities.

In many countries, showing so much skin is culturally inappropriate behavior. The very scenes that companies use to market their trips will alienate the local people and separate the students from the genuine culture they are ostensibly there to experience.

Moreover, while hanging out on the beach might look like fun, it’s not an activity students need to travel across the world to enjoy.

Find a program that focuses on challenging students to do more than just have fun at the beach. Travel is too valuable an opportunity to waste.

Support Youth Travel Programs

The Matador Network is proud to sponsor a student on a youth travel program with Where There Be Dragons, a highly regarded youth travel company. To help, please make a donation to The Matador Fund.

Wondering if youth travel programs are worth the investment? Read Tim Patterson’s recent essay “Youth Travel Programs Are Vital To Our Security.”

Compare Youth Travel Programs

Here is a list of companies that specialize in youth travel programs. If you notice an omission, feel free to add a link in the comment section.

360 Student Travel

Abbey Road Overseas Programs

Action Quest

Adventure Cross Country

Al Campo

Amigos de las Americas

Broadreach

Center for Cross-Cultural Study

China Prep

CIEE

Deer Hill Expeditions

EF International Schools

Experiment in International Living

Green Across the Pacific

Glimpses of China

Global Leadership Adventures

Longacre Expeditions

NOLS

Projects Abroad

Putney Student Travel

Rustic Pathways

SAGE

Sail Caribbean

Sea Trek

Students in Brazil

The Road Less Traveled

Travel for Teens

Triskallian Tours

Visions

Walking Tree

Where There Be Dragons

For more information and resources, check out this high school study abroad page at Transitions Abroad, which is loaded with quality articles and advice.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/nine-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-an-educational-summer-travel-program/feed/ 11 http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-study-abroad-in-hong-kong/ http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-study-abroad-in-hong-kong/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:41:32 +0000 Fiona Murray http://matadorabroad.com/?p=61 Photo by jiazi

When I was offered a study abroad opportunity in Hong Kong, I could only imagine myself sitting in a library studying, trying to escape pollution and lethal traffic.

Studying abroad in Hong Kong taught me that our assumptions about foreign cities are usually wrong — and that they can be changed by spending time letting the city change you.

Deciding to study somewhere you never imagined visiting, let alone living, is the beginning of an adventure. Here are seven reasons why I recommend studying abroad in Hong Kong:

Photo by tallkev

1. It’s not what it seems.

The typical image of Hong Kong is one of endless skyscrapers and fast paced madness. Guidebooks focus on shopping malls and high class restaurants. But this is only a small part of the picture.

As a resident, it’s possible to explore the other side – backstreets full of charismatic and grimy noodle shops and smoky Daoist temples. The ordinary side of Hong Kong is far more interesting.

2. When else can you afford to live there?

It’s hard to afford housing in Hong Kong unless you’re working a high paying job. Even backpacker hostels are more expensive that those in nearby Asian countries. But here’s a secret: Many of the university’s student halls are extremely cheap, providing accommodation in prime real estate locations.

3. Hong Kong has some of the best food in the world.

It’s worth leaving home just to explore the wonderful world of Cantonese cuisine.

Photo by tiltti

Cheap yet quality food and the abundant free time of a student’s schedule is a delicious combination – the perfect opportunity to spend a good portion of your week in the boggling number of dim sum restaurants!

4. Hong Kong has plenty of outdoor adventures.

Believe it or not, 70% of Hong Kong is actually covered by national parks. Public transport provides easy access to spectacular spots for hiking, cycling, and rock climbing. Travel outside the city to get a glimpse of more traditional lifestyles, eat some freshly caught fish, and join an army of old ladies for Tai Chi.

5. Hong Kong’s the gateway to mainland China.

China is just a short train ride away; from there, the options are immense.

6. Learn Mandarin or improve your English.

While Cantonese is the local language, there are many opportunities to learn Mandarin. Meanwhile, the other official language of Hong Kong is English, making it a convenient destination for many international students.

Photo by *Solar ikon*

7. Hong Kong students know how to have fun.

Whether it’s karaoke, hiking, or just hours spent at a hot-pot restaurant with friends, you are sure to be whisked away to some mystery adventure at any hour of the day or night by a hospitable classmate. Just accept all invitations and you’re sure to have a good, if not slightly bizarre, time.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Thinking of studying abroad in China, whether in Hong Kong or on the mainland? Check out David DeFranza’s detailed guide, Where in China Should I Study Abroad?

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-study-abroad-in-hong-kong/feed/ 8 http://matadorabroad.com/diy-study-abroad-10-ways-to-educate-yourself-while-traveling/ http://matadorabroad.com/diy-study-abroad-10-ways-to-educate-yourself-while-traveling/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:14:01 +0000 Craig Martin http://matadorabroad.com/?p=60 Photo by joguldi

1. View any trip as a research trip.

You don’t need a grant to go on a research trip. Approaching your next destination with an academic goal will help keep your mind sharp and active throughout the journey and bring purpose to your decision making.

Recording people’s stories, researching and then hunting out architectural styles, or photographing and geotagging a suburb’s graffiti can be educationally rewarding and enjoyable.

2. Visit libraries, galleries, religious centres, and museums.

At some point, normally quite early in our travel careers, we spend hours trailing from art gallery to museum, pretending we know what we’re talking about. At our third cathedral, we mutter something about Gothic arches and Romanticism.

As time goes on, we become increasingly jaded and start avoiding anything that might once have been considered for inclusion in a guidebook.

Move beyond the banal by choosing an area of knowledge and focusing on it. Keep a notebook or file on your topic and start gathering background information and reading about it. Eventually, you’ll find questions that interest you and be able to do first-hand research to develop your knowledge and your own thesis.

3. Conduct online research.

It can be difficult to locate and sift through specialist information online. Tools such as Project Gutenberg opens up the world of public domain research.

If you’re working from Internet cafes, write key points, arguments and quotes into your notebook for constant access. Clip and sort useful source material using an online notebook and consider printing relevant information to digest and annotate on your next flight or train trip.

4. Talk with locals.

Be intentional: Why are you going to talk to locals? Recording everyday stories, discovering quiet cafes, or gleaning first-hand historical accounts are all good reasons to interview the people you meet.

If you intend to publish your findings in any way, consider creating a simple release form which states that the person knows they are being interviewed, allows publication and will not seek any future compensation for their involvement in the project. This isn’t currently necessary in most countries, but you never know how law is going to evolve.

Photo by Peter Gene

5. Tune into a podcast.

Now that educational institutions are competing in the new media market, literally thousands of lectures from illustrious universities are available for free download.

The best directory of these is iTunes U, a category within the iTunes store (free download for Mac and PC).

Podcasts are often available from university websites, too, although it may take some digging to find and download them.

Two of my favourite general knowledge podcasts are BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time with Melvin Bragg and Stephen Fry’s Podgrams. These are highly anticipated downloads and never fail to provide insight and interest.

6. Arrange some meet-ups.

Meet-ups are a fun and casual way to explore areas of mutual interest with complete strangers who may soon become friends. Think of it as an intentional group.

Meet-ups are easy to find and to start. One website facilitating these local movements is Meetup. Choose your location and area of interest to get started. If meetings are happening in your area, you can see the attendees, time, and place and, if you wish, register to announce your own participation.

7. Volunteer.

You may think that volunteering, also referred to as voluntourism, is more about doing than learning.

Within hours of work, however, there are many lessons to be collected that support or detract from your working thesis.

Volunteering can also be a practical way to spend your university holidays, especially if budding indies can make their way onto an archaeological dig team in China or future Jane Goodalls spend time in environmental care teams around the world.

There are many practical skills to be learned, too: from avoiding uncomfortable situations with a colleague to plumbing a house. There are many voluntary opportunities to investigate through Matador Change.

Photo by pedestrianREX

8. Take a language course.

Many travellers dream of learning or perfecting a foreign language, and there is a large and competent industry available to help us. Immersion language courses, textbooks, CD’s, podcasts and specialised software exist, as do private tutors and informal meet-ups.

As a language education professional, I must report my preference for immersion study guided by a qualified teacher as a highly successful learning model.

9. Do distance study.

All our efforts are fruitful and meaningful for us but they might not hold that much water with a future professor or employer. Perhaps you don’t feel you’re getting enough out of your research or you’d prefer a more guided approach.

You may be able to formalise your study by working towards a diploma or degree with a local college’s distance learning programme. By completing quizzes online and filing your essays by e-mail or a proprietary submission programme, you’ll be able to earn points as you travel.

10. Enroll in the Open University.

Highly recognised English-language distance courses are run by the Open University. With well-ranked research facilities, this is a premier choice for formal correspondence study.

For undergraduate students, the Open University provides qualifications which can often be cross-credited into many traditional courses. If you already have a degree, the Open University offers teaching and coursework-based post-graduate courses which might, with appropriate sponsorship, be a fruitful path for the traveling scholar.

Whichever path you choose to follow, from reading about art history before entering the Louvre to digging for dinosaur bones in the Chinese countryside, we wish you all the best with your DIY attempts to keep studying while traveling.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

For more on self-directed learning on the road, check out How To Take a Foreign History Crash Course in 5 Easy Steps, 5 Reasons Dating Abroad is the Best Way to Learn a Language, or 5 Tips for Better Sessions with a Language Exchange Partner.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/diy-study-abroad-10-ways-to-educate-yourself-while-traveling/feed/ 9 http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-learn-spanish-in-chile/ http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-learn-spanish-in-chile/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:27:01 +0000 Cathy Dean http://matadorabroad.com/?p=59

Feature photo by ricardo.martins. Photo above by Patrick_coe.

Chile isn’t well known as a destination for language learning, which makes studying there all the more rewarding. All it takes is patience and the ability to laugh at yourself… a lot.

Wilderness

Chile is home to some of the longest stretches of pristine wilderness anywhere in the world. From the Atacama desert to the rivers of Patagonia, the massive glaciers of Tierra del Fuego to the long Pacific coastline, Chile is full of natural wonders that make for world-class outdoor adventuring.

Photo: magical-world (Flickr creative commons)

Amazing people

In your attempts to master Spanish, you will meet many friendly Chileans who will encourage you and help you learn the best (and worst) words in Chilean Spanish.

Even better, once you finish your stint in Chile, you can head to any other Spanish-speaking country with surprising results—they’ll be easy to understand!

Photo by P_R_.

You’ll learn a lot of swear words right away.

Chileans pepper their speech with colorful phrases and plenty of swear words. Anyone under the age of 35 adds huevon or huevona to the end of almost every sentence. Huevon is the Chilean equivalent of dude, but literally derives from huevos, the word for testicles.

Slang.

Chileans use a shortened form of the word pues– “po”– to add emphasis to certain words. The most common are: si po,obviopo, and no po.

Destinations

Community Connection to Chile

Much like po, cachai and other forms of “cachar” (to get or to understand) find their way into most conversations with Chileans.

It is the English version of “You know?”

If a Chilean is explaining something to you, you will eventually hear “Cachai?”

Often, a rhetorical “You know what I mean?” and a nod of the head (if you do know what the person means) is enough to keep the conversation going.

When you adopt po and cachai into your vocabulary, you are officially on your way to speaking Chilean Spanish.

You’ll learn to mumble like the locals.

Chileans are notorious for speaking fast. Chilean Spanish is also marked by a lack of clarity of speech. The “s” is hardly ever pronounced; the “d” in nouns and adjectives (like estado and complicado) are skipped, making the endings sound like “ao” instead of “ado.”

Plus, the entire tu form is pronounced differently than you learned in high school Spanish class. Como estas? becomes Como estai? and Que quieres? (What do you want?) becomes Que queri?

You’ll learn Mapuche words.

The Mapuche were indigenous people living in Chile before the Spanish arrived. As the two cultures mixed, the Spanish adopted many Mapuchan words: cahuín (gossip or party), guata (belly), and malón (potluck).

These are words won’t be taught in a university Spanish class—it’s only when you come to Chile that you are exposed to them.

You’ll learn about your own culture and language through Chilean Spanish.

Learning Chilean Spanish (and trying to translate English into Spanish in your head) will help you gain a new perspective on your own culture and language. Chilean Spanish has made me realize just how many American English phrases make absolutely no sense.

Try translating and explaining “Junk in your trunk” or “You’re the bomb.” Even phrases like “No way!” or “Sweet!” do not have direct translations. Certainly, there are similar phrases in Spanish…it’s just a matter of discovering them.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Planning to learn some Spanish? Check out the Top 10 Spanish Schools for Waves, Wilderness and Buena Onda!

Or, check in with some Matador members who are currently tackling the language: read How’s My Spanish? by member jgbrandt, or “Perdon, habla poquito castellano” by member laurenkearns.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/7-reasons-to-learn-spanish-in-chile/feed/ 12 http://matadorabroad.com/7-countries-where-graduate-school-is-a-fraction-of-us-costs/ http://matadorabroad.com/7-countries-where-graduate-school-is-a-fraction-of-us-costs/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:07:13 +0000 Sarah Menkedick http://matadorabroad.com/?p=53

Feature photo by scui3asteveo. Photo above by John Althouse Cohen.

Seven amazing opportunities across the globe for those looking for a higher education.

Sometimes I wonder if my undergraduate degree, which gave me a solid foundation in the History of Science and has led to a lucrative career in international vagabonding, is worth the $10,000 of student loans I am evading by living in Oaxaca, Mexico.

I ponder this, sometimes wallowing in bitterness, as I pore over the websites of American universities in search of graduate programs that won’t leave me forever indebted and doomed to the life of a backpacker on the run.

There are very few such programs—American education is undoubtedly very good, but it is also very expensive.

So, for those of us who love the experience of delving into and becoming part of different places, doesn’t it make sense to look abroad? The world offers some excellent opportunities for graduate school that might actually leave you spare change to, say, eat, and travel.

Thus, what follows: a brief overview of seven countries where you can get a graduate degree at a fraction of the price you’d pay in the U.S.

Photo by Martin Dougiamas.

Spain

At around $2,000 a year, graduate programs in Spain are an incredible deal. The University of Barcelona ranks as one of the three best universities in Ibero-America (the other two being the UNAM of Mexico City and the University of Sao Paolo), and the University of Madrid is not far behind.

Masters degrees are diverse, going way beyond the simple categories of anthropology or sociology—how about an analysis of the history and culture of food? Or the management of cultural heritage? Why not get a degree in women, gender, and citizenship studies? And of course, there are plenty of offerings in the sciences, from an interdisciplinary analysis of water to the study of artificial intelligence and mathematics.

France

I apologize for giving way to cliché, but France, whether you love it or hate it, has an age-old association with intellectual life. Intellectuals have long been the Marilyn Monroes and Tom Cruises of France, and the quality and seriousness of French higher education reflects this cultural preference.

The Ecole Normale Superior de Paris ranks at number 28 in the list of the world’s top universities, and tuition for international graduate students is a whopping 190 Euros a year.

Photo by Riviera Kid.

Sweden

Graduate school is free. The website for Uppsala university announces this nonchalantly, as if the whole world lived in the calm socialist paradise that is Sweden.

Now, keep in mind that you’ll probably be paying about five Euros for a beer and who knows how much for any sort of classy lifestyle, but with free tuition, you can take down two Euro espressos right and left while you hit the books.

Plus, Uppsala offers a whole catalogue of Master’s programs in English, unlike other Swedish universities that require a good working knowledge of Swedish.

Germany

Yet another case in which very solid, well-ranked universities come in at around 100-500 Euros a year for tuition. You’ll have to contend with somewhat exorbitant living costs, particularly in the country’s financial centers, but by living like a good ol’ suffering grad student (think of a steady diet of comforting, hearty pasta) you should come out with a pretty good deal in the end.

German language skills are required for some schools; others, such as the University of Berlin, offer a selection of degrees in English.

Photo by mjmyap.

Singapore

Asian students flock to Singapore by the thousands to take advantage of the (relatively) cheap and high quality education. Singapore National University is ranked at number 30 in the world, and tuition stands at around $4,000 a year for international graduate students.

Potential students with interests in Asian studies can explore a range of Masters degrees, from broader studies of Asian civilization to critical analyzes of Southeast Asia or the Malay Peninsula.

For those deeply embedded in love affairs with Asia and wanting to further them in an academic setting, Singapore offers a melting pot of Asian cultures, a high quality graduate education, and ah, yes, the affordability that allows you to take a much-needed chill weekend from time to time on a Thai beach.

Mexico

With tuition around $1,000 USD a year, the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico offers a tempting alternative to rival schools just North of the border.

And with UNAM ranking as one of Latin America’s most prestigious universities (along with Argentina’s University of Buenos Aires) you are really, let’s say, getting what you do not have to pay for: a top-quality graduate degree.

For those interested in Latin American studies and history, the program recently initiated here is one of the best in the world. And if Mexico City seems to you like an experience in pure chaos, try Puebla, Monterrey, or one of the CIESAS research institutes located throughout the country, all of which offer quality graduate degrees at prices comparable to that of UNAM.

Photo by DanieVDM.

South Africa

The country in and of itself is an education, and provides a seething, transforming, highly charged backdrop to academic study.

Universities have taken advantage of the country’s post-apartheid opening up to promote academic and personal freedom, as well as the study of many disciplines banned or marginalized in the past. Cape Town and Johannesburg contain the most well recognized universities, each of which charges around $4,000 a year in tuition for international graduate students.

Add to this the fact that the cost of living in South Africa affords grad students a much greater degree of luxury than they would experience in Europe or the U.S., and voila, you have the tantalizing prospect of plowing away at a doctorate without having to survive on heaping bowls of spaghetti.

Keep in mind this list is only the beginning. Start doing research online: the aptly named International Graduate Schools website has plenty of listings of specific schools and programs, but in my opinion the Top Grad School site is even better, with rankings, statistics, and programs listed for most major schools in dozens of countries.

Good luck, and may you save as much as you learn!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Still aren’t convinced that study abroad is right for you? Read Tanya Brothen’s article, Study Abroad: What Are You Waiting For?”.

Have you done grad work abroad? Share your experiences and insights below!

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/7-countries-where-graduate-school-is-a-fraction-of-us-costs/feed/ 109 http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-what-are-you-waiting-for/ http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-what-are-you-waiting-for/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:07:18 +0000 Tanya Brothen http://matadorabroad.com/?p=48

Feature photo by black_coffee_blue_jeans. Photo above by powerbooktrance.

Put the excuses aside and finally commit to studying abroad.

I’ve heard it all before: “I don’t have enough time,” “It’s too much work to plan,” “It costs too much money,” “I don’t see what benefit it will have on my life.”

As an alumnus of multiple study abroad programs, I’m passionate about helping others take the big international leap. But it seems no matter what I say, no matter how much I assuage fears and offer sound advice, some students are still not convinced.

There’s always something (real or imagined) holding them back from what most former study abroad students will say was the best thing they’ve ever done.

Not one to be easily discouraged, I’m giving it a final shot: If you’re one of those students who still hasn’t gotten up enough gumption to give it a go, here are five reasons why you must, finally, once and for all, say “yes” to study abroad.

Photo by stevecadman.

1. Someone will plan the trip for you.

Planning is a huge component of international travel. You have to think about visas, plane tickets, lodging, on-the-ground logistics, and creating an itinerary. But when you study abroad through a university or study abroad agency, many of these details are taken care of for you.

When I went to France in 2001, my university’s international education office organized nearly everything, from my visa application to sightseeing weekends. We still had plenty of time for independent activities, but many of the big-picture details were already arranged. Take advantage of it now; traveling abroad will never be this easy again.

2. Funding is readily available.

Worried about the cost of study abroad? Don’t be. Not only are good, federally funded student loans available if you need them, but many abroad programs don’t cost any more than studying at your home university. For the same price you pay to spend a semester in the U.S., you could spend a semester overseas.

A few things might cost extra, such as the plane ticket and any spending money you wish to have on hand, but this money can easily be obtained through a summer job or loans. I’ve never regretted a single dime I spent to study abroad, and neither will you.

Photo by Hector Garcia.

3. It’s all about you.

No one returns from a long-term overseas trip as the same person they were before. It’s impossible to not have been so deeply affected by the things you’ve done, seen, accomplished and overcome that it transforms your entire being.

In fact, I think it’s safe to say you’ll learn more about yourself in one semester than you did during the entire length of your pre-study abroad existence. Many students who complete trips abroad find that they are more confident, more self-aware, more independent, and a heck of a lot more knowledgeable once it’s done.

They also have a lot of interesting things to talk about at dinner parties. The new you might take any number of forms, but I guarantee you’ll be pleased with the results.

4. You’ll avoid regrets.

As a student worker for my university’s alumni office, I made regular phone calls to former students. Mostly this was to ask for donations, but we would inevitably spend time chatting about their experiences as a student. The most frequent comment my colleagues and I heard was “I wish I had studied abroad.”

The number of alumni who held this regret about their time in school was staggering. They had let the opportunity pass them by (often for no good reason) and now can only listen as their friends from college rave about their semesters abroad. A visit to your school’s study abroad office is all it takes.

Photo by malias.

5. Studying abroad is fun.

There’s a dirty little secret: your university doesn’t want you to know about studying abroad. Don’t tell them I told you, but in general, your academic load will be much lighter overseas than it is here at home. Everything depends on where you go and what you study, but you will probably have less homework, fewer commitments, and possibly even less class time.

Your newfound freedom leaves plenty of time for exploring, traveling to nearby countries, mingling with attractive locals, and – if you’re an American who’s under 21 – taking advantage of the much lower legal drinking ages that exist in foreign countries.

There are a lot of things your school doesn’t show you in the official trip pamphlet. Trust me when I say you don’t want to miss them.

Community Connection:

Still need some financial planning help for studying abroad? Check out Evan Miller’s article “How to Get Your School to Pay for Your Travel.”

Share your study abroad experiences–or regrets– in the comments section below!

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-what-are-you-waiting-for/feed/ 10 http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-in-eco-villages/ http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-in-eco-villages/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:27:47 +0000 Tim Patterson http://matadorabroad.com/?p=47

Living Routes students in Israel. Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Daniel Greenberg explains why eco-villages are the best campuses we have for people to learn about sustainable living.

These days, learning firsthand about practical solutions to the challenges of the post-carbon age looks more and more like a vital part of a college education.

I recently enjoyed a conversation with Matador member Daniel Greenberg, founder of Living Routes, a remarkable study abroad organization that runs programs in eco-villages on six continents.

Living Routes programs are highly regarded for both quality of life and academic integrity, and students earn college credit through the University of Massachusetts.

Tim: Sustainability is a mainstream buzzword, but I feel eco-villages still suffer from a certain stigma among much of mainstream society. I lived for a time at an eco-village in Thailand where people are remarkably serious and diligent about building a better world, but my dad dismissively refers to it as “the hippie commune.”

How do you counter the perception among parents and teachers who see study abroad in eco-villages as a frivolous, radical or ‘hippy-dippy’ concept?

Daniel: Eco-villages are not your parents’ communes. While some can trace their roots back to the counterculture of the ’60s and ’70s, few today identify with the “hippie” stereotype. Members are generally hard working, environmentally and health conscious, and family oriented.

Anyone who believes eco-villages are marginal or irrelevant is not aware of current global trends.

Essentially, eco-villages represent humanity’s best research and development laboratories for how we can learn to live well and lightly.

Just look around. Given today’s realities of climate change and peak oil, what do you think life will be like in a coming “carbon-constrained” world?

How will we get around? Where will our food come from? What kind of work will we be doing?

Essentially, eco-villages represent humanity’s best research and development laboratories for how we can learn to live well and lightly; for how we can think globally and act locally; and for how we can recreate fulfilling, sustainable communities.

We need eco-villages more than we can imagine. They are not utopias, but they are trying, and that makes them the best “campuses” we have for people to learn about living sustainably by actually doing it!

Tim: What are some of the practical skills Living Routes students learn in eco-villages that they can apply to their lives and careers back home?

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Daniel: I like to think of our programs as journeys into community, ecology, and spirit. On the community level, students learn about such topics as conflict facilitation, non-violent communication, consensus, fair trade, and local economies.

On the ecological level, students learn about ecological design, permaculture, reforestation, organic farming, appropriate technologies, [and] renewable energies.

On the spiritual dimension, while our programs are not religious, they do encourage students to ask big questions such as “What do I believe?”, “How did I come to believe this?”, and, perhaps most importantly, “What are my options?”

Whether they are engaging with shamans in Peru or radical sustainability folks in India, students are challenged to step out of their own comfort zones and engage with holistic, integrated solutions to today’s biggest issues.

Alumni of Living Routes programs can never again say “It can’t be done.” because they have witnessed people fully dedicated to Doing It!

What’s left is for students to ask themselves, “How can I best make a difference?” “What is my ‘purpose” or ‘vocation’?”, which Frederick Buechner has wonderfully defined as “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

The world is hungry for change and I am grateful every day for the opportunity to be living in this time where our actions are so vital and needed.

Tim: Living Routes has programs on 6 continents. What does each program have in common, and if you could only recommend one program, which would it be?

Daniel: All Living Routes’ programs are about sustainable community development and leadership for a post-carbon world.

Our primary vision is to immerse future leaders into communities that are creating new cultures that are living more sustainable “stories” about who we are in relation to each other and the planet.

You can only really hear and absorb these stories through being a part of them and that’s what makes these programs such transformational experiences.

And you can’t ask me to recommend only one. That’s like asking which is my favorite child!

Tim: One thing I struggle with as a world traveler is the fact that foreign travel, and air travel in particular, is an extremely high-impact activity. I often feel like a hypocrite, writing about sustainability and promoting low-impact lifestyles while flying from continent to continent.

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Is foreign travel compatible with the basic philosophy of eco-villages? How does Living Routes reconcile the environmental impact of travel with the values it attempts to instill?

Daniel: This is perhaps Living Routes’ biggest dilemma. How can we truly be advocates for sustainability when our programs produce over 200 metric tons of CO2/year, mostly from air travel?

The general answer is that we believe the transformation that happens on our programs and the change that ripples out from our students more than compensates for these impacts. And we’re not just taking that on faith.

In mid-2007, we started surveying students about their environmental beliefs and practices – just before, in the last few days, six-months after and two-years after each program – to examine what kinds of impacts our programs really make over time.

If, in a year or two, it becomes clear that our programs do not really change people, we are going to be hard pressed to continue running them.

More specifically, Living Routes started instituting a comprehensive carbon strategy in 2005, which to my knowledge, made us the first study abroad organization to do so. This involves measuring, reducing, and offsetting all of our office and program-related greenhouse gas emissions.

This has also been a great way to educate students about their impacts and support eco-village-based renewable energy projects.

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

We’re now developing a Carbon Commitment Calculator, which will allow our students (and others!) to commit to lifestyle changes that result in a reduction in CO2 in order to offset the impact of particular events (such as our programs).

While we believe major changes in governments and corporations are a necessary part of any “great turning” towards a more ecological age, they are not sufficient.

As an organization, we are now moving beyond being “carbon neutral” towards being “carbon conscious” because it is becoming increasingly obvious that individuals and communities will need to be at the core of any lasting change. And this is where eco-villages and Living Routes are leading the way.

Community Connection

For more information on Living Routes, check outwww.livingroutes.org. To find out the location of Daniel’s favorite spot to watch the sunrise, check out his Matador profile.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/study-abroad-in-eco-villages/feed/ 2 http://matadorabroad.com/reasons-to-fall-in-love-abroad-in-2009/ http://matadorabroad.com/reasons-to-fall-in-love-abroad-in-2009/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:41:57 +0000 Erin Granat http://matadorabroad.com/?p=46 Photo by nattu

In my travels, I’ve often found the way to experience a culture most authentically is not by reading the best guide or seeing the major sites, but by finding yourself in the most gleeful place of all: in love.

Here are seven reasons to fall in love abroad in 2009.

1. You can serve as an ambassador for your country.

Making a good impression on people in foreign lands by using your romantic dexterity is the most positive grassroots PR effort there is. Just don’t cheat. Your country is depending on you.

2. Falling in love is the best way to learn a language.

Your desire to communicate in a foreign language will be heightened dramatically when the person staring at you alluringly across the table invites you to meet their family and friends. Or did they say farm and frogs?

Photo by Edwin Dalorzo

3. You can be a sort of cultural anthropologist.

When you date someone abroad, you get an inside look at gender relations and familial customs that the average tourist could never fathom. Dating is the ultimate cultural immersion. Bonus points for getting invited to family holidays.

4. If you end up getting married, you’ll have awesome passport privileges.

It will be much easier to find work abroad if you earn dual citizenship. If Europe is one of your favorite travel destinations, then a passport from an EU member country would be particularly advantageous.

No more visa issues, no more work permits. And, you don’t have to stand in the “foreign passport holder” line at customs! Score! More reasons to marry someone who lives abroad are as follows:

Photo by pedrosimoes7

1. If you end up moving back to your home country, then your in-laws are really far away.

2. Same goes for (sniffle) if you break up. Not a chance you’ll run into him at your local coffee shop or have to suffer through walking by “your restaurant” or “your park bench.” They’re literally out of sight, out of mind.

5. A foreign accent whispering seductively into your ear.

Need I say more?

6. You can develop a vague, Madonna-esque faux accent of your own.

When you spend a lot of time with someone who doesn’t share your native tongue, you’ll find yourself picking up the cute little mistakes they make, even though you’ve been speaking the language since birth.

Suddenly, instead of saying “people” you say “peoples,” and you’ve purloined their curse words. I’m known for still sneaking in a “joder” from time to time.

7. Finally, do you ever really need a reason to fall in love?

Awww.

Photo by *L*u*z*a*

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/reasons-to-fall-in-love-abroad-in-2009/feed/ 5 http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-take-a-foreign-history-crash-course-in-5-steps/ http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-take-a-foreign-history-crash-course-in-5-steps/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:28:38 +0000 John Hewitt http://matadorabroad.com/?p=44 Photo by Wrote

Americans have a reputation for being ignorant of world history, and perhaps with good reason. When your country is the most powerful and wealthy in the world you expect other people to learn about you.

But when you’re a traveler that tendency tends to hamper your understanding of foreign cultures. US culture is unique in that it places relatively little importance on history. It can be a bit of a shock to discover that people around the world still care very deeply about events that transpired hundreds of years ago.

Learning the history of the country you’re visiting enriches your experience and helps you connect with people more easily. You endear yourself to others when they can see you’ve taken time to learn about their culture before visiting. It’s a sign of respect.

Here are five ways you can give yourself a crash course in foreign history.

1. Get a university library membership.

Non-students can frequently acquire university library memberships either for a small fee or by proving their local residency. Even if you have money to burn on books, it’s hard to beat the convenience and ease of a massive library with experienced staff.

A halfway decent library will also offer foreign newspapers, academic journals and historical archives that would otherwise be very difficult to acquire.

Photo by Helder da Rocha

2. Network with experts.

Going with blind library searches can be surprisingly successful if you know how to shape your terms and pick books efficiently. You can also save yourself considerable labor by just contacting an expert.

History professors are generally very willing to field questions from both students and the curious. Even if they don’t have time for a conversation with you or to field your emails, ask them to send you a copy of their syllabus.

You can pick books up off of it easily and bulk up your knowledge without having to worry about picking up out-of-date books.

Foreign correspondents and authors are also good resources. Don’t be shy – people are generally flattered to receive questions from curious knowledge-hunters.

If no one wants to talk to you, try identifying yourself as an independent journalist conducting research. It works!

3. Use bibliographies as springboards.

If you find a particular article or book interesting, follow the footnotes. If you like the work of a particular author, and they liked another work enough to cite it, there’s a good chance that you’ll derive some significant value by following footnotes.

The only potential pitfall with this approach is that you’ll likely only develop deep knowledge of one side of the issue or only learn about the perspective of a particular academic clique.

Photo by cstrom

4. Learn the language.

You can pick up a lot from only reading English-language publications, but your knowledge will be very limited if you can’t converse in the native language of the particular culture you’re learning about. It is much easier to learn how to read a language than it is to learn how to speak or write it well.

Learning the language also opens up foreign newspapers to you. Staying abreast of current events in your target country will enable you to understand the context of the history that you’re studying much more effectively.

Photo by umjanedoan

5. Specialize fast.

The faster that you specialize in your studies, the quicker you’ll derive value from them. You can spend forever trying to get the general sweep of history in your target country and then forget most of it within a week or two.

If you’re particularly interested in one aspect of a country’s history – or that of a particular locale, cultural group or period in time – follow that interest.If it excites you, there’s probably a good reason for it. Listen to your own passion.

Community Connection

Beyond the history, it can be great to learn about your destination’s music, art and literature, too. Click over to Julie Schwietert Collazo’s Before You Go Guide to Cuba, chime in on the Before You Go Guide to New York City in the forums, or check out Eva Holland’s South Africa Reading Guide.

Got some advice to share? Sign up for the Matador Travel community today and post some blogs of your own!

Goods:

Specialization is great before a trip, but a little general knowledge never hurt anyone either! Give travel writing legend Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything a try, or check out Norman Davies’ monster classic, Europe: A History.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-take-a-foreign-history-crash-course-in-5-steps/feed/ 5 http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-deal-with-your-bus-getting-hijacked-and-other-dangers-while-living-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-deal-with-your-bus-getting-hijacked-and-other-dangers-while-living-abroad/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:43:58 +0000 Jon Brandt http://matadorabroad.com/?p=43

Feature photo by DBarefoot. Photo above by debaird.

Travelers can do certain things to be ready should the worst happen while abroad.

Few people know what their lives are worth. My life was worth about $45, a credit and bank card, a new phone, an old watch, and a new iPod.

Bryce, Katherine, and I took the night bus to Quito so we could make the Ecuador vs. Bolivia soccer game Saturday afternoon. In the neighborhood of midnight, the bus was hijacked by 6 or 7 robbers.

This is the darkest part of foreign travel.

With a man waving a gun in the air, you tend to forget any premonition of heroism and simply follow what he tells you to do. As my friends were being interrogated, my heart rate was at the breaking point. Some men had to be made examples of, and as the cold metal pistols thudded into flesh, one man screamed out for his mother.

Bryce was pistol whipped and then taken off the bus.

Bryce was pistol whipped and then taken off the bus. Then Katherine was brought up and though she was shaky and on the verge of tears, she held it together with strength and courage that I can’t begin to understand.

I couldn’t see much because I didn’t want to risk being beaten for looking up. A slap on the head told me it was my turn. I opened my bag and showed them the contents. They stood me up and took me off the bus where two men were waiting to frisk me.

Travelers Are Targets

When you travel, no matter where it is in the world, you are inevitably a target for potential thieves. It’s easy for thieves to pick travelers out of a crowd, what with their big bags and looks of bewilderment.

That night on the bus was something out of my control, and yet there were ways in which I was able to limit my vulnerability. Luckily, some of these words of wisdom were passed on from a security representative from the U.S. Embassy in Quito. Because of his skill and professionalism, he was also able to help us through the aftermath of that night.

Photo by .m for matthijs.

What To Do If Tragedy Strikes

If you find yourself in a situation like a bus hijacking, realize there is little you can do. As it’s happening, do exactly as you’re told and follow what the locals are doing. If they put their hands behind their head, do the same.

You shouldn’t hide anything once a robbery has started, because if you’re caught, you could be in big trouble. Chances are you’ll be frisked thoroughly, and if they see that you’ve held out, you could face some consequences. Is the iPod, wallet, or camera really worth getting hurt?

One of the most important things to remember is that you don’t have to be a hero. There’s no shame in keeping your head down and doing as you’re told.

After the Incident

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to call home immediately. You will be hysterical and so will your parents or other family members. It’s much better to contact your Embassy first, and wait to call home until after you’ve calmed down.

Always have the number of someone at the Embassy to call, and memorize it. If your papers are stolen, you won’t know how to get in touch, so always have at least one number memorized.

Photo by debs.

Carry Only the Essentials

If you’re just arriving or leaving a country, you need to have your passport on you, but if you will be in the area for a while, stow your important documents in a place where they will be safe. You don’t need to carry your passport everywhere. As long as you have two good photocopies of your information page and visa, you should be all set.

This also goes for bank and credit cards. You should never walk around with a card unless you’re positive you are about to use it. Have cards photocopied so that if they are stolen you can get them replaced faster.

Money in a Foreign Country

You might want to have more cash on you to avoid bank fees from local ATMs, but leave most of it in the hotel. Especially if you’re in a developing country, you shouldn’t need more than $20 a day. Walk around with only what you need, but also make sure you have at least something on you.

As a foreigner, robbers won’t believe you if you’re actually broke. Make sure you carry some change too so you can hand over something if you’re out of bills.

As a foreigner, robbers won’t believe you if you’re actually broke. Make sure you carry some change too so you can hand over something if you’re out of bills.

Most importantly, never flash your money around. Only take it out when you need it. If you think an ATM is sketchy, don’t go to it. Trust the ones with guards or the ones inside a building more than the ones in the street. Cover up the pin pad as you type in your numbers, as there have been inside scams with security cameras.

Most likely you’ll want to carry around a camera, but never leave it around your neck. This is asking for trouble. Keep it somewhere you can access it, but try to hide it under a jacket or shirt. It might be uncomfortable, but keeping it out is unnecessary and dangerous.

If you’re sitting at an outdoor café, always wrap a strap of your bag around your leg; this way a thief can’t just run off with it.

If you’re riding a public bus, turn your bag around and wear it on your stomach. You might look stupid, but this way you can see your personal items at all times. Always have your money ready for the bus so no one else sees how much you have.

Trying Not To Lose Perspective

Photo by Weidmaier.

For a long time that night we sat in silence, occasionally hearing someone come back to yell at us or tell us it was going to be okay. Suddenly, the man two over from me started to groan in pain. He’d been stabbed too many times in the chest and groin, and was bleeding to death. He got up on his knees in pain, and a few of us around him tried to help.

The robbers soon realized that they’d gone too far and needed to leave, and after a long period of silence, we knew we were alone. Slowly, we got up and looked around.

This is exactly the kind of thing my family warned me about. There have been moments in my life when I’ve wanted to die, or to disappear, just as most people have in their growing pains. But the beat of my heart and the fear in me told me that I wasn’t ready for it, and that life is a precious thing.

So now I have to move on. I’m not going to leave Ecuador. I’m not going to give up and hate everyone I see. But I have serious doubts as to whether I can trust the majority of people I see and don’t already know, and for that, I truly hate the robbers. At the bare minimum, I won’t be taking any night buses any time soon.

And now it’s just a matter of getting back on the horse and moving on with my life, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-deal-with-your-bus-getting-hijacked-and-other-dangers-while-living-abroad/feed/ 47 http://matadorabroad.com/5-lessons-learned-after-studying-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/5-lessons-learned-after-studying-abroad/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:54:30 +0000 Teresa Ponkivar http://matadorabroad.com/?p=42

Feature and above photo by Quinn Mattingly.

Everyone has preconceptions about their first time studying in a foreign country, but it’s the unexpected experiences that can be the most rewarding.

1. You don’t understand, and that’s okay.

As a college student, you’re expected to understand class material. You’re used to analyzing and making sense of things—and being required to do so. Suddenly immersed in a new culture, however, you will come across things you simply don’t understand, and trying to analyze everything will just give you a headache.

Studying abroad will teach you to live with mysteries, and to appreciate the beauty of an unanswered question.

2. “Authenticity” is a meaningless concept.

Photo by Tinou Bao.

I arrived in Mexico for the first time with a clear image of my host mother: small and plump, with long pinned-up braids and an embroidered apron. She would clutch me to her bosom, feed me handmade tortillas, and declare me her honorary hija.

My actual host mother, as it turned out, had dyed blond hair, wore skintight jeans and false eyelashes, did yoga, and couldn’t cook so much as a quesadilla. Annoyed by what I perceived as her “inauthenticity,” I wrote in my journal that I could’ve stayed at home if I’d wanted to meet such a woman.

Later, though—after the afternoon she spent hours heating towels and laying them on my aching stomach as I curled, whimpering, in my bed—I had to admit that, her Wonderbra notwithstanding, she was an “authentic” representative of her culture, as well as a lovely human being. She couldn’t teach me how to make a tortilla over a wood fire, but like anybody in the world, she had things to teach, once I was willing to learn from her.

3. You are not the ultimate moral authority for all people (but you don’t have to abandon your values, either).

Maybe it’s the role of women, or the treatment of animals, or the attitude towards the environment, or the way children are disciplined—whatever it is, you are sure to run across some aspect of your host country’s culture that you find morally questionable, if not repugnant.

It’s tempting to either want to mount a protest or, conversely, to feel that you must adjust your own moral compass—“If these people I respect can do or believe this, maybe it’s not as bad as I think.” Resist those temptations: this is an opportunity to learn humility and restraint.

You’re in this country to study, not to subvert its dominant paradigm. Certainly you may run across an opportunity to tactfully and respectfully mention to a receptive individual that, hey, maybe Fido’d appreciate a little shade and more than a foot of chain. But those moments need to be chosen carefully.

Remember that it is the people who belong to the culture who are in the position to decide what needs changing, and change it. Let them do their job; your job is to keep your eyes and heart wide open.

4. Being able to communicate in a second language is awesome, but can be its own barrier.

Photo by Julie Schwietert.

You’re probably studying abroad at least in part because you want to learn a new language, and that’s wonderful. But you will run across situations where your newly-acquired ability to communicate in the local tongue actually gets in the way of communication—so go with it.

I will never forget trying, along with several of my classmates, to ask research questions of three women who were selling fruit in a village we visited.

We were sure that if we could phrase a grammatical, properly-pronounced question, we could communicate, but they just giggled at our queries. Perhaps we unknowingly touched on culturally inappropriate topics; perhaps they were just shy. Quite possibly Spanish was their second language, too—though we didn’t think of that at the time.

Only when the women offered us each a perfect, tiny peach—when we were standing there slurping and dripping all together—did the tension break. The language of food communicated far more than words could that day.

5. “Go back and tell them.”

Towards the end of my study abroad trip, I met a man in the market who told me how happy he was that I was in Mexico. He told me earnestly, “You have to go home and tell them what we’re like here. Go back and make them see that we’re people, too.”

And that’s key—of course, you’re studying abroad for you. But you’re also taking on a responsibility. This country has taken you in, fed you, taught you, broken your heart, and healed it again.

How will you return the favor?

Community Connection!

Check out Anna Barto’s excellent article about the Best Places to Study Abroad in Mexico

Interested in a free apartment in the heart of Mexico City? Matador editor Julie Schwietert Collazo is letting travelers stay rent-free in her apartment while she and her husband are out of town from October 15th to late December. Click here for details!

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/5-lessons-learned-after-studying-abroad/feed/ 14 http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-get-your-school-to-pay-for-your-travel/ http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-get-your-school-to-pay-for-your-travel/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:11:52 +0000 Evan Miller http://matadorstudy.com/?p=40

Feature photo by oppositeofsuper. Photo above by Nueva Perspectiva.

Are you a student who wants to travel but doesn’t have a lot of money? With a little effort, your school will give you the cash to see the world.

How do so many poor students find the money to travel? By getting their schools to pay for it!

Here’s How

Visit a study abroad and financial aid office.

Most campuses have a study abroad office with extensive information on all study abroad programs that the school offers.

Explore a world of possibility.

Most study abroad offices will refer you to a financial officer who can take you through your options for paying for study abroad, including scholarships available for foreign study.

Many schools offer options where you can pay your current tuition rate to an international institution, even if that institution generally charges a much higher price.

Photo by delayed gratification.

Keep your options open.

There might be more available funding to visit a country that you hadn’t considered.

Prestigious national scholarship programs, such as the Gilman program, will generally offer more funding for study projects in third world countries as opposed to study in European countries (although an interesting thesis topic or academic topic can get you funding anywhere).

Search around!

If your school does not offer a program in the country of your choice, some schools have an option to enroll in study abroad programs sponsored by other schools. Make sure you know all of your options before you decide.

Get money from academic divisions.

Your academic division may have money set aside for students to conduct research abroad. Meeting with your advisor will help you get informed on funding options that are available to you via your academic division.

If you expect to get funding for an academic project offered outside of your school, you need to have a good reason for it.

Most divisions, if they do offer funding, will require you to defend your academic project via a formal proposal or grant. A brilliant project idea will help you get your foot in the door.

Photo by mezone.

Write a standout grant proposal.

Good grant proposals are articulate, simple, and well-planned. Grant committees are looking for a very specific budget outline, abstract or general description, previous research done on the topic, sources, and viable reasons for not conducting the study on campus.

They are also looking to see what personal reasons you have for wanting to travel to your particular destination. Grants and proposals that advocate contributing to a social or cultural consideration in your chosen destination will win you extra points, especially if they have personal significance.

Don’t be afraid to outline all of your projected financial needs in your budget, but avoid asking for more than you need!

Be prepared to do a project for your school community when you return (or better yet, offer to do one).

Photo by peiqianlong.

Impress your higher ups.

Pick a destination that will be respected by any academic division. While Amsterdam might be your destination of choice, you probably won’t get funding for it unless you have a really good reason.

Pick a country where you can get volunteer experience contributing to the community.

Photo by chrisschuepp.

Arabic and the Environment

Today, environmental initiatives are very important toward the socioeconomic well being of practically all communities. Pick a country where you can give something back to the environment, and impress your committee with your sense of justice.

Choose a country where you can learn an important foreign language. Do a little research and figure out what sorts of translators are in high demand (hint: Arabic and Mandarin).

Photo by StarvingFox.

Most schools have funding!

The biggest key to tapping into funding is to stay informed about available opportunities.

Make contacts within your study abroad department. Keep your ears open to outside sources of funding as well, as many community groups offer scholarships to specific departments within your university that you might be eligible to receive!

By combining all of your resources, you can get your school to sponsor free travel!

Travel Grants for Multiple Disciplines:

http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Fund/travel.html

Prestigious Travel Scholarships/Programs:

http://www.iie.org//programs/gilman/index.html

http://www.iie.org/Template.cfm?section=Fulbright1

Grant Writing Tips:

http://www.seanet.com/~sylvie/grants.htm

http://lone-eagles.com/granthelp.htm

community connection

For more resources on grants and travel scholarship, check out 31 Travel Scholarships, Grants, and Fellowships to fund Your Next Travels Abroad.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-get-your-school-to-pay-for-your-travel/feed/ 1 http://matadorabroad.com/youth-travel-programs-are-vital-to-our-security/ http://matadorabroad.com/youth-travel-programs-are-vital-to-our-security/#comments Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:27:45 +0000 Tim Patterson http://matadorstudy.com/?p=37 In the age of the War on Terror, youth travel programs are a powerful antidote to ignorance and fear.

Photo by Asian Insights

A global perspective is essential to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.

Addressing big problems like global warming and nuclear proliferation will require unprecedented levels of international cooperation.

Likewise, big opportunities like the chance to end poverty depend on our ability to extend compassion, knowledge and resources to the far reaches of the globe.

Many of the global citizens who will spearhead new levels of international cooperation in the next century are still young, students in high schools from Pittsburgh to Phnom Penh. We need to give the leaders of tomorrow the chance to get to know each other today.

Youth travel and grassroots exchange programs are one of the most important and cost-effective investments we can make.

Photo by Asian Insights

Travel is the Best Education

With travel comes both empathy and knowledge.

Travel – real, rugged, authentic travel – is the best sort of education. In this day and age, knowing Africa is more important than knowing algebra.

For our brightest students, taking a year to vagabond through China and study Mandarin looks more and more like a wise and practical alternative to a prestigious internship with Lehman Brothers or Bear Sterns.

Dragons in Cambodia

I recently had the opportunity to lead a group of 12 remarkable high school students on a 6 week Where There Be Dragons program in Cambodia.

The experience electrified me. I could not be more inspired.

The real world connections the students made in Cambodia are the seeds of future peace.

The courage they found in themselves to embark on an epic and challenging journey created a confidence that will carry them through life.

I don’t take any credit for the personal growth and profound education the students in my group experienced in Cambodia. The act of travel was what did it – the magical experience of confronting the world with clear and open eyes.

Photo by Asian Insights

Peace Depends on Knowledge

Where There Be Dragons is a funny name for a travel company. The thing about dragons, of course, is that they don’t exist. Our fears of the unknown are rarely justified.

We need young people who are willing to dream big.

Fear and ignorance are always dangerous, but especially so when institutionalized in the most powerful country in the world.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was dead on when he told Americans “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

In the era of perpetual War on Terror, we must nurture individuals who can distinguish between genuine threats to our security and paranoid fantasies born of ignorance and fear.

Photo by Shannanigans

Asking The BIG Questions

Travel forces the big questions.

The older we get, the less willing we become to question everything and make our choices as if we really can be the change we want to see in the world.

America needs smart, conscientious young people who are willing to dream big.

By empowering youth through authentic travel experiences in places where they are confronted with unvarnished truths, we create future leaders with the skill and motivation to work for peace and justice.

It’s not enough to drink away a study abroad semester in Florence, or traipse through Southeast Asian backpacker zones for a few months after college graduation.

Reaping the real humanitarian benefits of travel requires traveling close to the ground in places that provoke hard questions.

Overcoming a Foreign Policy of Fear

Photo by Shannanigans

We need young people who are not just clever, but also courageous.

We need high school students eager to break out of their sheltered suburbs and cozy Facebook networks to confront the world first-hand.

It costs billions of dollars to send cruise missiles and Predator drones to distant lands, but only thousands of dollars to help future leaders discover the world.

If you’re a parent, encourage your son or daughter to travel. If you’re a student, I’m envious – you can choose from a world of possibilities. If you’re a citizen who wants peace, please support youth travel programs.

The global challenges that lie ahead are too big to solve without profound, intimate knowledge of the outside world.

Community Connection!

For more inspiring essays about the value of travel and global citizenship in the 21st century, check out 10 Ways Travelers Can Change The World and A Manifesto From A Young American.

Where There Be Dragons offers youth travel programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

If you’re passionate about travel, dive into the Matador community and connect with like-minded innovators from around the world.

To help send inner-city youth on a Where There Be Dragons program to Asia, please support The Matador Fund.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/youth-travel-programs-are-vital-to-our-security/feed/ 27 http://matadorabroad.com/10-things-i-wish-id-known-before-studying-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/10-things-i-wish-id-known-before-studying-abroad/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:03:04 +0000 Tanya Brothen http://matadorstudy.com/?p=38

Feature photo by Canadian Veggie. Photo above by ndh.

Planning to study abroad? These 10 things will make life easier.

I’m a planner. I like to know what I’m going to be doing today, tomorrow, and four months from now. I like to stay organized in my day planner. I don’t like to leave things to chance.

So when I found out that I would be spending my final semester of graduate school in Paris, I promptly set about dotting my I’s and crossing my T’s. When the plane landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, I thought I had everything under control.

Boy was I wrong. As it turns out, moving abroad is filled with variables you don’t even consider before leaving. If you’ve ever lived overseas, you know what I’m talking about. And if you’re thinking about living overseas, here’s are 10 things you should know before you leave.

Photo by alfredlee.

1. Buying upon arrival is easier than packing.

Unless you’re truly moving to the middle of nowhere, you’ll be able to find the items you need for daily life in your new city. When I moved to Paris, I brought one enormous suitcase, one duffel bag and two carry-ons filled with things I could have bought at any number of stores in my new neighborhood.

Buying when you arrive might require some extra funds, but it will save you the headache of trying to pack everything you own and then dragging it halfway across the world.

Photo by Jeff Keen.

2. You will always need more money than you think.

Some travelers will argue that it’s possible to live on a bare-bones budget overseas, and they’re probably right. But if you’re anything like me, you like to maintain a minimum level of comfort and financial flexibility no matter where you are.

Trying to establish a life in a foreign country is even more costly than just passing through. Expenses that you didn’t imagine will pop-up, and even if you have a job waiting for you, that first paycheck won’t appear overnight.

Saving a few extra bucks in advance will go a long way towards preserving your financial health during the expensive first few months.

Photo by minwoo.

3. You might still have to pay taxes back home.

Americans working overseas are sometimes surprised to learn that Uncle Sam doesn’t take it easy on expats. Some of us who work abroad will still owe money to the I.R.S.

Before you go, check with a tax expert and get the facts straight. Paying taxes in two countries is never easy, but it will hurt less if you know about it in advance.

4. Your mail can follow you.

Mail can be hard to keep track of when you move overseas. You forward it to some permanent address and hope none of the important letters slip through the cracks.

International movers should look into setting up a service with a company such as Earth Class Mail. For a few dollars a month the company will receive all your mail, scan it, and send you the important stuff you request.

Photo by Robert France.

5. Opening a local bank account can save you money.

I should have done this within the first week of my arrival. But with everything else there was to take care of, I put off opening a French bank account. This was a very costly mistake.

After six months of paying foreign transaction fees on my credit card and bank fees for withdrawing money from foreign ATMs I had racked up a little more than $200 in unnecessary expenses. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but that money could have gone towards a weekend trip or a Parisian shopping spree, both of which are a lot more fun than giving money to the bank.

Photo by Belopa.

6. Language can be learned on-site

You’ve taken the classes, done your grammar exercises, and even found a partner to help you practice speaking, but you still worry that you won’t be able to communicate with the locals?

Maybe you will and maybe you won’t. But after a few short weeks of moving to a foreign country, you’ll have learned more than you did in all those months or years of sitting in the classroom.

Excessive worrying about your lack of fluency is not something you have time for before leaving. It will come on its own, and if it doesn’t you can always take more formal classes when you arrive.

7. There will be good days and bad days.

Moving overseas often gets glamorized. Everyone, including yourself, thinks you will only have an amazing time filled with amazing experiences, amazing new friends, and an amazing lifestyle.

Yes, it will be amazing on more levels than you can imagine, but there will also be some very unglamorous days tucked between the good ones. You’ll be able to manage the tough times more effectively if you don’t expect everything to be fun and easy all the time.

Living abroad involves a lot of work, sacrifice, administrative headaches and the occasional bout of homesickness. Don’t lose hope; the next amazing day is just around the corner.

Photo by stevenvanwel.

8. You can still vote back home.

Americans looking to participate in the upcoming presidential election, or any future elections, should know that being abroad doesn’t disqualify them from their right to vote.

The same voting rights apply to all American citizens, whether they live within the 50 states or not. Some foreign cities even have active American political groups, such as Democrats Abroad or Republicans Abroad.

No matter where in the world you find yourself, these groups can help you navigate the voting process.

9. Staying in touch will be easy.

If you’re moving to a place that has good Internet connection and/or phone service, home will never be more than a few clicks away. Sign yourself and your contacts back home up for Skype and you can even talk to each other for free online.

Even old-school telephone to telephone communication has become easier and cheaper than ever before. Moving to some remote un-connected location? See it as an excuse to dust off your letter writing skills.

Photo by alexi1982.

10. Coming home is more difficult than leaving.

As much as I loved living overseas, I wasn’t entirely disappointed at the prospect of moving back home. Home represented family, friends, and all of the things I love and missed while away.

In reality, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Moving abroad is difficult because of the things you have to prepare, the good-byes you have to say, and the uncertainty of what you’ll find “over there”. The sheer excitement of starting a new adventure can make all the worries seem minor. What’s more, there’s a certain reassurance that comes with knowing that home will always be there waiting for you.

But when your overseas stint comes to an end, you’ll have to deal with the knowledge that what you’ve just lived can probably never be recreated. No one but yourself (and those who lived it with you) can possibly understand what it means to you.

Hang in there; you’ll eventually get through the difficulties of returning home. After all, you just lived, loved, triumphed and flourished in a foreign country. You’ve literally taken on the world. Reverse culture shock? Relationship changes? Restarting a career? Bring it on!

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/10-things-i-wish-id-known-before-studying-abroad/feed/ 32 http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-pack-for-a-semester-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-pack-for-a-semester-abroad/#comments Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:25:10 +0000 Jenny Sherman http://matadorstudy.com/?p=33

Feature photo by obscure allusion Photo by obscure allusion

Trying to keep from packing to much while remembering essential items can be tricky. Don’t wait till the last minute for packing for your semester abroad, and keep the following in mind.

Backpack

You will be taking field trips with your class and on your own, so bring a backpack that can serve as a travel pack and/or overnight bag. Or opt for fanny packs, which are all the rage in Europe.

Clothes

Pack less than you think you need, and choose clothing that is comfortable and can mix-and-match. Pack layers so you are prepared for all types of weather.

Photo by sollang

Carry-on with change of clothes

When the airline “misplaced” my bags for two weeks, I was happy to have an extra shirt and pair of underwear.

Bathing suit

It doesn’t matter if you are landlocked or studying in Antarctica, you will need your bathing suit at some point. It takes up virtually no room.

A travel diary

Even if you don’t keep one at home, you’ll be glad to have it there. Get a nice one like a Moleskine and you will be more likely to write down your experience with the crazy waitress or the local slang you just learned.

A camera

These days, it’s not hard to find affordable, lightweight digital cameras that you can bring with you everywhere. This provides you the option to annoy family members by forcing them to sit through your explanation of hundreds of photos once you return home, or for a wider-ranging option, consider posting your photos in a travel blog.

Is it worth investing in a Digital SLR for your semester abroad? Find out here.

Photo by kratz

An Extra Duffel bag

Even if you’re not a shopper, you are bound to collect some souvenirs over a semester in a new place. If you can’t check the extra bag, you can always mail it home.

A Guidebooks and Maps

Do a little research of the place you will call home for the upcoming months. Locate places you may want to visit on your weekends, holidays and breaks.

Swiss army knife

Swiss Army knives and other multi-tools are unbelievably handy – as long they are not confiscated by a giggling TSA employee at security. Make sure they make it into your suitcase.

Important contacts/phone numbers

You program should provide you with some of these, but it’s always nice to come prepared with numbers to the embassy and local police.

Duct tape

Good for when your brand new backpack decides to give out on you while running between trains, forcing you to carry 70 lbs like a giant baby.

Money belt

These are flat pouches you can tuck under your clothing to keep you money, ID and credit cards safe from pickpockets, and they don’t take up much room in your suitcase.

A small picture album

You can purchase cheap albums at your local widget store that will hold 10 to 20 images of your family, friends, lovers, pets, etc. No matter what you think now, you will miss them, and they’re fun to share with other students and host families.

Limit the shoes!

Ladies, I know this may be hard, but if you can limit shoes to a pair of athletic, sandals, and everyday tennies, you will be much happier with the space it leaves in your suitcase. The infrequency of a formal event on a semester abroad is not worth the hassle of lugging along boots or heels.

Photo by Malik Williams

Limit the toiletries!

Don’t bring the extra bottle of lotion, toothpaste or body wash. Regardless of where you are studying, they will almost always have a store where you can purchase these items.

No to laptops!

Unless you are on a computer science study program, leave the technology at home. You will be provided with computer and Internet access through your program, and for godsakes, disconnect for a while!

Other list add-ons: book (long rides), iPod (familiar tunes), inflatable travel pillow (to arrive well-rested), international phone card (Hi mom!), tissues (double as TP), a rain slicker, scarf, sunglasses, a good hat, laundry bag, travel alarm, batteries, chargers, wallet, plane tickets, host family’s address, and a deck of cards.

Put explode-ables in plastic baggies and away from electronics, and remember not to put fluids (toothpaste included) in your carry-on. Research the area you will be staying for specific requirements, such as mosquito nets, electric plug converters, bug spray, malaria pills, sleeping bag, etc. And please, in all your sleepless college nights, try not to forget your passport.

Last but not least on the list: an open mind. You will inevitably run into customs and routines you are not familiar with, events that will frustrate you, all part of the beauty of a semester abroad, something they can’t teach you in a classroom.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/how-to-pack-for-a-semester-abroad/feed/ 18 http://matadorabroad.com/the-best-places-and-programs-for-studying-abroad-in-mexico/ http://matadorabroad.com/the-best-places-and-programs-for-studying-abroad-in-mexico/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:16:20 +0000 Anna Barto http://matadorstudy.com/?p=29

Feature photo by lachiquita Photo above by leomei

Study abroad offers insight not only into a foreign culture, but into our own. This is especially true for US students studying in Mexico. The two countries are connected not only by geography, but history – most of the southwestern US belonged to Mexico until 1846 – and immigration, which has given new vitality to Mexican culture within the US.

As you consider the many different study abroad locations, programs, and living arrangements in Mexico, keep this question in mind: How far are you willing to step outside your comfort zone in order to immerse yourself in another culture?

The key to a rewarding study abroad experience is finding the level of immersion that is right for you.

Choosing a location

Some locations in Mexico offer a greater degree of culture shock than others. In northern Mexico and many urban areas the pervasiveness of US consumer culture makes for an easier adjustment to life abroad.

This ease of adjustment, however, makes it more difficult to experience what is unique about Mexico. The same applies to coastal resort areas, like Cancun and Acapulco, where you often see as many foreigners as Mexicans.

Southern Mexico, on the other hand, is less economically developed, but rich in culture. Centuries-old indigenous traditions endure in the food, music, dance, and dress.

But to put the crime rate in perspective, consider that many Mexicans have a similarly grim picture of violence in the US from watching news footage of school shootings like the one at Virginia Tech.

Do not be frightened away by reports of political unrest. The only Zapatistas you’re likely to encounter in Chiapas are the Comandante Marcos dolls for sale in the markets. While deep socioeconomic disparities make political unrest inevitable, it poses little danger to you as a traveler.

Like southern Mexico, Mexico City is a study in contrasts. It bombards your senses with dizzying extremes of high culture and abject poverty.

Unfortunately, Mexico City is as famous for its violent crime as its pyramids, murals and museums. For many students, the risks are far outweighed by chance to live at the center of art and culture, not only of Mexico, but all of Latin America.

But to put the crime rate in perspective, consider that many Mexicans have a similarly grim picture of violence in the US from watching news footage of school shootings like the one at Virginia Tech.

If Mexico City is too intimidating, consider Guadalajara, home of the Mariachi, or the equally lovely and more manageable sized colonial cities of Guanajuato, Cuernavaca, Morelia and Mérida.

Photo by leomei

Choosing a program

Almost all study abroad programs bill themselves as “immersion” programs; what this actually means can vary considerably. The level of immersion is determined by two factors: the type of school you will attend and your living situation.

Private language academies, such as Instituto Jovel in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas and the Ollin Tlahtoalli Spanish Center in Oaxaca provide a supportive environment, especially for beginning students. The classes are small and often held outdoors in scenic gardens or terraces.

Most schools supplement their language programs with workshops in traditional art, dance and cooking. Many also offer you the opportunity to volunteer with community organizations like Oaxaca Street Children.

The drawback is that you will be taking all your classes with other foreigners, which limits your opportunities to interact with Mexicans. As a way to compensate, most schools offer intercambios, or exchange programs, that match you with a Mexican conversation partner.

For students with higher proficiency in Spanish, I recommend programs like those offered by the Butler University Institute for Study Abroad which allow you to take regular university classes alongside Mexican students. Being plunged into an unfamiliar education system is bewildering at first, but your Mexican classmates will be only too happy to help you navigate the cultural differences.

This is also a good option for students of disciplines other than Spanish, as universities have more diverse course offerings. The National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City is the largest and most prestigious university in Latin America.

Also excellent are the Monterrey Institute of Technology and University of the Americas in Puebla.

Photo by lachiquita

Living Arrangements

The most common living arrangement for student abroad participants is a homestay. Some programs place you in dorms or other group housing. A few offer private apartments.

Programs build high expectations for homestays; students expect to be effusively welcomed into the bosom of their new Mexican family. Sometimes this happens. More often than not, host families treat participants with hospitable reserve. For most of these families, this is a business first.

You’d also be surprised how many participants find themselves speaking more English than Spanish at their homestay. This is because families usually host more than one foreign student at a time.

Even if you specifically request your “own” host family, your program may not be able to accommodate you; it just doesn’t make financial sense for the families they work with.

Dorm situations and other group housing offer a more independent lifestyle. You have greater freedom to come and go whenever (and with whomever!) you choose. However, you inevitably end up spending more time socializing with your foreign roommates (in English!) than with Mexicans.

Overall, if you focus on finding the right level and kind of immersion for you as an individual, these seemingly overwhelming questions about locations, programs, and housing will fall into place.

Community Connection

Connect with other travelers in Mexico as well as local experts, check out local orgs , read blogs about Mexico, and more, all at the matador community.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/the-best-places-and-programs-for-studying-abroad-in-mexico/feed/ 3 http://matadorabroad.com/the-top-10-things-you-must-do-before-studying-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/the-top-10-things-you-must-do-before-studying-abroad/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:33:56 +0000 Emma Jacobs http://matadorstudy.com/?p=27

Feature photo by mimemonkey. Photo above by Erin

Study abroad will be one of the most incredible experiences of your life.

There’s always a lot of planning to do for any trip, but study abroad requires special planning. Don’t procrastinate! Following these tips will ensure a safer and more relaxing time abroad.

1. Do Your Research

Do some reading on the culture and politics of the country you’re traveling to. Make sure you learn the name of the country’s president and the name of its currency. Knowing the basics ahead of time will help you feel a lot more comfortable once you’re on the ground.

2. Get your Passport and Visa Early

Make sure you have a passport that will be valid for 6 months after your program ends. Once that’s settled, apply for your visa as soon as you can. Some visas will take time to process and it’s important to leave time for any complications.

Photo by Erin Granat

3. Call Your Bank

Make sure you call your financial institutions and let them know you’ll be traveling. Many banks have security protections in place that can mean your bank card will be shut off if you don’t let them know you’ll be traveling ahead of time.

Find out if your bank has partnerships with any banks abroad that allow you to withdraw money without fees.

4. Meet with your Department Chairs and Advisors about Getting Credit

There is nothing worse than finding out that your credit will not count towards your major or graduation after you come home from study abroad. Find out deadlines for seminars and thesis proposals that will come up while you’re away.

5. Work out Your Housing for the Next Year Before You Leave

Do not assume things will work out. Make sure! Plans are a lot harder to make and change from abroad. Meet with your housing office before you go and make sure you know what to do in any situation that could come up.

6. Have a Travel Doctor’s Appointment

Especially if you’ll be traveling to somewhere off the beaten path, it’s important to check with a doctor before your departure. Make sure you have all the needed vaccinations for your destination and that there is no serious allergy risk for you in the country you’ll be visiting. Get any prescriptions you’ll have to take along.

Also make sure you have letters from your doctor accompanying all prescription medications to avoid any problems at customs. Certain countries will also require a World Health Organization card with proof of certain vaccinations required for entry.

Photo by geotraveler

7. Plan Your Budget

You will have additional expenses while you’re away. Do your best to find out as much about those expenses as possible. When you have made your estimate, plan accordingly.

8. Meet with your Financial Aid Office

If you are receiving financial aid, find out just what is covered when you are studying abroad and what you’ll need to know when you get back. Don’t wait to find out about any surprises.

9. Look for Additional Funds

A lot of scholarships are offered to help students studying abroad and to encourage international travel and communication. A lot of these grants are linked to the places students will be traveling. Some require a report when you get back, but the requirements are rarely too arduous.

See which grants are available to you and apply!

Photo by Nora Dunn

10. Get Excited

Do some exploring before you leave to get psyched about where you’re going. Find some novels set in your country of destination. Find some restaurants locally that serve its cuisine. It’s never to early to find things to look forward to about studying abroad.

Community Connection!

How will you keep in touch with friends and family back home while you’re away? E-mails are great, and Facebook is addictive, but you won’t have time to e-mail everyone individually, or waste precious hours checking the status of your friends.

The best way to keep in touch is to start a travel blog that you can update at your convenience. Many blogging platforms are available, but Matador is the most vibrant travel blogging community on the web.

Start your travel blog today!

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/the-top-10-things-you-must-do-before-studying-abroad/feed/ 11 http://matadorabroad.com/10-japanese-customs-you-must-know-before-a-trip-to-japan/ http://matadorabroad.com/10-japanese-customs-you-must-know-before-a-trip-to-japan/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 06:24:10 +0000 Turner Wright http://matadorstudy.com/?p=24

Feature photo by kalandrakas. Photo above by kalandrakas

If you know these key Japanese customs, you’ll get closer to the locals and see beneath the surface of Japan.

1. Addressing Someone, Respect

Bowing is nothing less than an art form in Japan, respect pounded into children’s heads from the moment they enter school. For tourists, a simple inclination of the head or an attempt at a bow at the waist will usually suffice.

The duration and inclination of the bow is proportionate to the elevation of the person you’re addressing.

The duration and inclination of the bow is proportionate to the elevation of the person you’re addressing. For example, a friend might get a lightning-fast 30-degree bow; an office superior might get a slow, extended, 70-degree bow. It’s all about position and circumstance.

In addition to bowing, addressing someone properly is key. Just as a “Dr. Smith” might feel a little insulted if you were to refer to him as “Smith”, so would a Japanese if you do not attach the suffix “san” to their last name, or “sama” if you are trying to be particularly respectful.

Usually children are content with just their first names, but you can add the suffix “chan” for girls and “kun” for boys if you like.

2. Table Manners

Some simple bullet points here:

- If you’re with a dinner party and receive drinks, wait before raising the glass to your lips. Everyone will be served, and someone will take the lead, make a speech, raise his drink, and yell “kampai!” (cheers).

- You will receive a small wet cloth at most Japanese restaurants. Use this to wash your hands before eating, then carefully fold it and set it aside on the table. Do not use it as a napkin, or to touch any part of your face.

- Slurping noodles or making loud noises while eating is OK! In fact, slurping hot food like ramen is polite, to show you are enjoying it.

- You may raise bowls to your mouth to make it easier to eat with chopsticks, especially bowls of rice.

- Just before digging in, whether it be a seven-course dinner or a sample at a supermarket, it’s polite to say “itadakimasu” (I will receive).

3. No Tipping

There is no tipping in any situation in Japan – cabs, restaurants, personal care. To tip someone is actually a little insulting; the services you’ve asked for are covered by the price given, so why pay more?

If you are in a large area like Tokyo and can’t speak any Japanese, a waiter or waitress might take the extra money you happen to leave rather than force themselves to deal with the awkward situation of explaining the concept of no tipping in broken English.

Just remind yourself: a price is a price.

Photo by tavallai

4. Chopsticks

Depending on the restaurant you decide upon for that evening, you may be required to use chopsticks.

If for some reason you aren’t too adept with chopsticks, try to learn before passing through immigration. It’s really not that hard.

One false assumption among many Japanese that’s slowly being dispelled by time is the “uniqueness” of Japan. Japan is an island nation; Japan is the only country that has four seasons; foreigners can’t understand Japan; only Japanese can use chopsticks properly.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve been told I use Japanese chopsticks with skill and grace, despite the fact I’ve seen three-year-olds managing just as well.

If you’re dining with a Japanese, don’t be surprised if you receive a look of amazement at your ability to eat like a Japanese.

5. Thresholds

Take off your shoes at the entrance to all homes, and most businesses and hotels. Usually a rack will be provided to store your shoes, and pair of guest slippers will be sitting nearby; many Japanese bring a pair of indoor slippers just in case, though.

Never wear slippers when you need to step onto a tatami mat (used in most Japanese homes and hotels; the standard unit of measurement for area even today), and be careful to remove the toilet slippers waiting for you in the bathroom.

It is extremely bad form, for example, to reenter the main room of a house wearing slippers that have been running across dirty linoleum.

6. Masks

Photo by toestubber

SARS is long gone, though I did happen to see a “SARS Preparation Kit” during my brief stay in a Japanese hospital.

Nevertheless, sterilized masks, like the ones you’d see in the emergency room, are commonly used by salarymen, office ladies, and municipal workers to protect other people from their germs.

Rather sensible when you think about it, as masks do not protect the wearer so much as the ones around him. The reason could be anything from a slight cold to simply being worried about exposing other people; don’t let it concern you on your Japanese vacation.

7. Conformity

When groups of high school students in Japan were asked to identify the dangers facing children today, the majority agreed on the number one threat: individualism.

Japanese society is focused on the group. Western cultures are focused on the individual.

Does this mean that the Japanese are nothing more that worker bees in a vast hive of steel and concrete? Certainly not, but their presentation of such individual qualities are carefully calculated and given in doses.

Drawing attention to yourself as an individual is a huge no-no: don’t blow your nose in public, try to avoid eating while on the go, and don’t speak on your cell phone in crowded public areas like trains or buses.

The main problem with this is that foreigners simply can’t avoid standing out; we stick out like sore thumbs no matter how long we’ve been here, or how much we know about Japanese culture and society.

As a result, being in Japan gives foreigners the status of D-level celebrities: you’ll get glances, shouts for attention, calls to have pictures taken with people, requests for autographs (happened once to me on a southern island), and overall just more awareness of being a “stake that sticks out”.

8. Bathing

Photo by meganscheminske

Public bathhouses are alive and well in Japan.

Sento, or neighborhood bathhouses, can be found from the largest area in Shinjuku to a small town on the island of Shikoku.

Onsen, or hot springs, are very popular as weekend excursion resorts.

Unlike in western cultures, the Japanese bath is used after you have washed and rinsed, and feel like soaking in extra-hot water for 10, 20, 30 minutes. It’s an acquired taste to be sure, but can be very relaxing.

If you happen to be invited into a Japanese household, you will be given the honor of using the bath first, usually before dinner. Be extra careful so as to not dirty the water in any way; the sanctity of the ofuro (bath) is of utmost importance.

Take the time to visit a sento if you have the opportunity. These are places without barriers, without regard to skin color, age, or language… well, they are separated by sex with the exception of some mixed-bathing areas.

Lying in the hot water and slowly listening to my heart beat slow down is a time when I feel most attuned to Japanese culture.

9. Speaking English

Japanese will generally assume you are a native English speaker until you prove otherwise.

Japanese will generally assume you are a native English speaker until you prove otherwise. Even during a short visit, you’ll see:

-A group of schoolchildren in neatly pressed Prussian uniforms walking across the intersection, shouting “Hello! Hello! Herro!” as they assess your foreign features

-A random person just walking up to you and asking “Where are you from?”

Friendly? Certainly. But I can see how constant celebrity status might get confusing or frustrating for travelers who don’t speak English.

Although you may speak some or fluent Japanese, the default language of choice is English. Many Japanese will insist on using their own English language ability, however limited, to converse with foreigners, in spite of the fact that the person on the opposing end may have more knowledge of the local tongue.

10. Safety

Every Japanese person I have met warns me to be safe in my travels, to take care of my belongings. Every foreigner tells me not to worry, nothing can go wrong, nothing will be stolen. This may be based on individual experience, but there are other issues:

- The fear of crime in Japan is high, especially among Japanese citizens.

- Murders happen. I repeat, murders happen. People are attacked, robbed, assaulted, raped, beaten, and swindled

However, Japan’s low crime rate is evident when you see businessmen who have missed the last train sleeping outside on a park bench, or a group of 5-year-old boys walking by themselves for over a kilometer to make the starting bell at school.

Going to Japan?

Check out our humorous list of 10 Extraordinarily Useful Japanese Phrases.

Community Connection!

There are a bunch of cool Matador folks living in various parts of Japan. If you want the lowdown on teaching English, ask Abram or Stephanie.

If you’re looking for a photography outing in Asia, ask pro photographers Ryan Libre or Scott Lothes.

Wanna ride a wave? Ask Angie where the best surf spots in Japan are.

Wanna go hiking? Check out Tim’s definitive list of the top 10 hikes in Hokkaido.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/10-japanese-customs-you-must-know-before-a-trip-to-japan/feed/ 278 http://matadorabroad.com/5-tips-for-a-more-productive-language-exchange/ http://matadorabroad.com/5-tips-for-a-more-productive-language-exchange/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:45:22 +0000 David DeFranza http://matadorstudy.com/?p=19

Photo by Marko

Be proactive: optimize the time you and your language partner spend together.

For the intermediate and advanced language student, an exchange with a native speaker is one of the best ways to practice conversation, learn colloquialisms, and develop a friendship with a person from another culture. The only problem is that oftentimes these meetings end up covering the same conversational topics again and again, or break down into English.

If you are feeling that your time with a language exchange partner could be more productive, give these techniques a try.

Pick your meeting place carefully.

A favorite bar, restaurant, or cafe are all fun and popular places to meet with a language exchange partner. However, if your meeting place is too loud to talk at a comfortable level, filled with your friends, or distracting in some other way, it is probably limiting what you are getting from each meeting.

Likewise, if you find that your quiet meeting place is making the interaction between you and your partner a bit stiff, than a livelier location might loosen you both up and spark some conversation. Finding an atmosphere that works for both you and your partner is one of the most important things to developing a beneficial and productive exchange.

Establish a schedule

photo by Oona Fay

Another impediment to productive classes relationship is establishing a schedule and sticking to it. Be flexible at first and work to find a time that will truly work for both people. If your language partner is constantly calling and canceling meetings, make the effort to reschedule. If the meeting time is a challenge for you, don’t be afraid to suggest a change.

Initiate your own learning

To make a language exchange worthwhile you must take initiative for your own learning. Take time before each meeting to write out a few situations, sentences, questions, or words that you would like to practice in your meeting. If you notice yourself slipping into English, move back into the language you are learning.

Take Notes

A good way to maintain focus in a language exchange meeting is to take notes. Over the course of a conversation, words and phrases that challenge you will come up and taking notes will allow you to capture this language for later study.

Also, the pace of a conversation can be so fast at time, you finish without really remembering what was discussed. Notes taken from meeting to meeting will allow you to plan for the future and decrease the amount of repetition in your conversations.

Focus on communication

photo by Jason Rezaian

Generally speaking, a meeting with a language partner is not the time to ask questions about specific grammar points. It is also not your job to give lessons on English grammar, even if your partner makes frequent errors. Instead, focus on communication. If both you and your partner can express the intended ideas, the exercise should be considered a success.

That is not to say that grammar mistakes should be ignored. If errors interfere with effectively expressing meaning, or your partner is making consistent, specific, errors, they should be discussed when they happen. Just avoid killing the flow with a lengthy discussion of grammar rules.

Use a timer

With some language partners, no matter how much initiative you take, it is nearly impossible to stay on task. For situations like this, introduce the use of a timer. While it does seem a bit stiff and structured at first, keeping formal time for each segment of the meeting can do wonders for focusing the group.

When you use a timer, try to establish periods of time with specific goals in mind. An example might be five minutes of general greetings, ten minutes of sentence review, five minutes of new vocabulary, etc.

Having regular meetings with a language exchange partner is a great way to practice and improve a foreign language. It is also a great way to make a new friend. With a little planning and the use of a few organizational techniques it will be easy to get the most out of the meetings and have fun at the same time.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/5-tips-for-a-more-productive-language-exchange/feed/ 6 http://matadorabroad.com/5-questions-to-ask-when-picking-a-language-school/ http://matadorabroad.com/5-questions-to-ask-when-picking-a-language-school/#comments Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:07:36 +0000 David DeFranza http://matadorstudy.com/?p=17

Photo by an untrained eye

Whether jumpstarting a new language or refining one you’ve nearly mastered, the right program can make all the difference.

When choosing a language school, start by asking these five simple questions to help narrow down the options, uncover your own needs, and asses the quality of potential programs:

1. What is the average class size?

Keep in mind that a larger number of students is not necessarily a bad thing. More classmates will provide more opportunities to make friends, form study groups outside of class, and learn with a variety of styles and abilities.

However, small, or even private classes, allow you more time with a teacher and the possibility to tailor a class to your own strengths and weaknesses.

2. What are the teacher’s qualifications?

While most language schools have teachers with excellent qualifications, this is not always the case. Ask the program for information about the teachers you will be studying with. Other things to consider: how much the teacher can, or is expected to speak English, and how many different teachers you will be exposed to.

3. What is the format of the classes?

Language schools affiliated with universities will have a different format and style than private schools. While every language class will have some combination of conversation, lecture, and exercises, different schools and programs will emphasis these activities to differing degrees. Think about how you learn best and look for a program that fits your own style.

Many language schools also offer more “hands on” programs featuring field trips, cultural activities, and social events. While these are excellent experiences that are necessary to contextualize any language study, they required more personal direction and focus for the beginning student to keep up.

Another important consideration is the teaching style of the program. Some schools focus on teaching very formal versions of the language, the goal being students who sound “proper.” Others like to emphasize colloquial language, introducing idioms and slang into lessons. Take a close look at your goals in the language, not only your personal preferences, when deciding on a teaching style.

4. What is the placement process?

photo by ipanemic

How students are placed in classes is an important consideration for all students, whether they are just beginning or very advanced. More experienced students want to ensure that they will be able to be placed in the class at their level. Make sure you know what areas of language are assessed and that you are prepared to show your best.

Beginning students don’t usually have to worry about how they will be placed, but should be aware of how others may be. Sometimes beginning classes can become filled with weak, experienced, students not yet ready for intermediate classes. While this can push beginners to work harder, the classes may move at a faster pace than is comfortable.

5. What is the difference between the intensive and regular programs?

Intensive programs often follow the same curriculum of a normal course but offer one or two additional hours of instruction per day. This can be an excellent opportunity to spend extra time studying with a teacher or your classmates. These extra hours are particularly useful in programs with larger class sizes.

Still, it is important to determine how the extra time is spent before you choose the intensive program. If the additional class activities match your needs and interests then the intensive class will be a good fit for you.

Keep in mind that intensive language programs can be very taxing on their students and often lead to the burnout. If this is a concern then a non-intensive program, one that allows plenty of time outside class for studying, work with language partners, travel, and fun, might be a better choice for you.

Picking a language program can be hard but if you take your time, do a little research, and ask plenty of questions, you’ll find one that fits your needs and goals perfectly.

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/5-questions-to-ask-when-picking-a-language-school/feed/ 2 http://matadorabroad.com/study-wildlife-conservation-in-kenya/ http://matadorabroad.com/study-wildlife-conservation-in-kenya/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:25:17 +0000 Becky Timbers http://matadorstudy.com/?p=12

Photo by Becky Timbers

Escape the classroom for a hands-on wildlife conservation experience with the Kenya School for Field Studies.

Our classroom for the day was the summit of a rocky foothill near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our chairs were small round boulders and our desks were our own sunburned thighs.

We sat side by side, knee to knee, listening to our professor speak about conservation issues in Kenya and how modern technology and an increasing human population is negatively impacting wildlife by consuming their natural habitats.

A year and a half later, I can’t remember the specifics of the lecture or even which teacher was addressing us, but I can still see, as if it were yesterday, the stark, dry expanse of Kenyan soil as it stretched out to the horizon, united with the sloping wings of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Maasai Tribesmen and Marauding Elephants

I was a junior in college, studying abroad in Kenya through the School for Field Studies, an organization dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and the environment, and a proponent of working with locals to improve health, education, human rights and land management.

photo by Becky Timbers

Our base camp was located just outside Amboseli National Park in the southern part of Kenya. Stepping out of our bandas in the morning, we were met with a radiant vista of Kilimanjaro topped with fresh snow. After breakfast, class was held in the open-air classroom.

After lunch we would put the classroom information to practical use by visiting the national parks or surrounding areas and finding examples of the issues we had previously discussed.

We examined the trunks and limbs of trees to assess the amount of damage done by marauding elephants, whose home ranges have been steadily decreasing due to privatization of land.

We visited the homes of countless Maasai tribesmen and asked them how the national parks have impacted their pastoral and nomadic lifestyles.

We counted the species of birds we saw in a day, the number of elephants in a herd and the number of gazelles in the park. We went on two two-week expeditions into the rugged interiors of lion country, where guards with loaded guns surrounded our circle of tents just in case a roaming pair of felines got curious and wanted a midnight snack.

To become more involved in the community, we taught English at a local school and helped pick up trash in a nearby town. The askari’s, or guards, at our base camp were all from the area and we employed local guides to help us with surveys and studies.

A First-Hand Perspective

photo by Becky Timbers

As our society is propelled into international crises and environmental degradation, I believe it is vital for young scholars to take a year, or even a semester, to learn about the problems and dilemmas people and wildlife are facing throughout the world.

More often than not, university-taught classes do not generate the same profound effect that study abroad in a foreign country can instill. The emotion gained by ladling soup into a dented tin can for a malnourished child, or seeing a gazelle tangled up in the metal coils of a snare cannot be taught through lectures or pictures in a textbook.

The School for Field Studies Kenya Semester Program allowed me to immerse myself into the rich culture and diversity of East African heritage. Although strict and exasperating at times (they attribute their prudery to safety and liability issues), the Program was an amazing experience that I would recommend to any student wishing to throw themselves into a fascinating culture while learning about and helping to address conservation issues.

I not only met other students interested in similar ideas and concepts, but I also made lasting friendships with Kenyan natives and I gained a greater appreciation for East African culture.

The School for Field Studies also offers programs in Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, and Turks and Caicos.

Community Connection!

For more study abroad options in Africa, check out Matador member Alexis Wolff’s article “Where In Africa Should I study Abroad ?”

New Matador member Robin Spanner felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when he was living in Kasigau in southern Kenya: “We lived on the highest point of the village on the side of a mountain!”

]]> http://matadorabroad.com/study-wildlife-conservation-in-kenya/feed/ 6 http://matadorabroad.com/the-study-abroad-guide-to-italy/ http://matadorabroad.com/the-study-abroad-guide-to-italy/#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:36:53 +0000 Sara Rosso http://matadorstudy.com/the-study-abroad-guide-to-italy/

Your success with the language depends on how deeply you immerse yourself.

Thinking of studying abroad in Italy but not sure where? Whether choosing a university-based program or an independent experience, here is a roundup of the best programs plus several important considertions before immersing yourself in the Bel Paese.

Set your study abroad objectives

First ask yourself why you’re going to study abroad in Italy. Is it to spend some time with a fellow classmate or boyfriend? To learn the language? To study a specialized subject or a specific region? To see as much of Italy as possible and/or travel to other countries?

Pick a location in Italy that fits your needs. A fashion designer might find it more advantageous to study in Milan even though the Tuscan hills are breathtaking. An architectural student may benefit more from being in Rome than a small town.

Shelley Ruelle, former Director of the Accent International Rome Study Center, believes the students who enjoy their time best in Italy “keep their expectations fairly neutral, meaning that rather than trying to adapt the experience to what they might have expected, they accept the experience.”

Italy is unashamedly itself and changes for no one. The little quirks and traditions that might have been amusing to you as a tourist in Italy can be frustrating to a resident. It is best to pick a place where you’ll benefit the most and adapt yourself rather than ask Italy to change while you are studying there.

Immerse yourself in the country and the language

Once you’re there, you will have to seek out opportunities to learn and enjoy your new country. You may not have had a choice where to study, but wherever you are in Italy, you can really immerse yourself in the la dolce vita.

Have Italian at Hand.

Bring a small dictionary with you and keep it in your pocket wherever you go. Try to speak the language and you will see that people will respond to you. Be patient when someone doesn’t understand you the first or second time you say something. Keep trying and speak Italian. YOU are the guest in their country.

Go Solo.

Don’t always rely on fellow classmates to explore the city or where you’re studying. Strike out on your own sometimes. Not only will you discover new things, you’ll rely only on yourself to comprehend and be understood. Gather knowledge and experiences by yourself and then seek to share with others what you learn during your stay.

Live like a local.

Italians like seeing a familiar face. If you enjoy a morning cappuccino, take an extra few minutes to ask a question or two to the barista. Buy your bus ticket from the same Tabaccheria or fruit from the same fruttivendolo so you can start a relationship with some of the locals. Every phrase you offer, even if incorrect, will open up a new conversation and opportunity to speak the language and learn. Click here for more tips on living like a local.

Get Involved.

Ask your professors or check English language publications and websites for opportunities to volunteer, meet people or join a sports group. Even watching the game every Wednesday or Sunday may open you up to a new group of people. Taking part in local celebrations and holidays is also a great way to show you’re interested and meet locals.

Make an Exchange.

Find a language exchange with an Italian. Many schools will have Italian teachers that they recommend, or you can put up some flyers at the local high school or university for a language exchange, or answer an ad yourself. English language publications are again a great source of exchange requests for finding someone in your area.

Ask Away.

A sure way to get a lot of conversation and opinions is to ask questions about the town itself – favorite places to eat, information about historical landmarks. Italians love to talk and complaining is sometimes considered a national pastime.

Where to Study

Bologna

Home to one of Europe’s oldest universities, Bologna is considered THE Italian university town by Italians. A constant flow of Italian and international students keeps the city young and vibrant, while its size remains small enough so that you’re not fighting for sidewalk space with the tourists. English will be useful for you to interact with international students, but you’ll need to use Italian when off the main streets of the city. You’ll find plenty of language exchange partners as students in Italy are really interested in learning and speaking English.

Food is wonderful in the Emilia-Romagna region, home of tortellini, prosciutto di Parma and many other delicious Italian essentials. Bologna’s position in Italy is central and you’re only a direct train ride away from most of Italy as well as Europe.

University programs:

Bologna.

Rome

Romans are notoriously proud of their city. Living there, you too will become proud of the vast amount of architectural history and beauty that surrounds you. Ancient ruins are tucked back in alleyways and the very cobblestones the Vespas bounce over have a story of their own. English is spoken widely enough that you’ll be able to get by with basic Italian and a mix of English, but there are many areas of the city where only Italian is spoken and they should be discovered!

If you’re not used to big city life, you may feel a bit lost in Rome, which has several million people moving in and around it daily. There is a lot of traffic and getting around the city can sometimes be unpredictable and time-consuming. If you go out in the center, you may find more tourists and students than Italians. Rome is closer to very interesting parts of the country like Puglia, Campania, and Sicily.

Universities / Programs in Rome:

John Cabot University

La Sapienza (Italian only)

Roma Tre

Torre Vergata (appears Italian only)

Florence

Florence is the most popular destination for students and it’s obvious why. It has the right combination of natural beauty, rich history and a small-town feeling that remains quintessentially Italy. You’ll meet a lot of fellow students as potential partners for exploring the city and you can share that cappuccino after 11am without any reproving glances.

Other Study Abroad Options in Italy

Milan is best known as being the fashion capital of Italy, and according to some, the world. While it’s not renown for lush green hills or sunny coasts, it has its own appeal, especially for fashion or design students and is well-connected to explore the rest of Europe.

University Programs:

University of Milan

Politecnico

University of Bocconi

La Cattolica

Siena and Perugia are both small yet charming little towns in central Italy that have international student populations and many specializing in language. Pavia is located just outside of Milan and students make up almost 1/3 of the population. Arezzo is a small town close enough to Florence to return often, and far enough away that you feel you’re deep in Tuscany. Genova is along the beautiful Italian Riviera and you can make weekend trips to Cinque Terre or Nice. Naples, a large coastal town is a favorite for students but chronic bureaucracy and mafia problems make it a choice for the not faint-of-heart.

Final Preparation Tips

Wherever you stay you’ll have Italy’s train system available to you, which means that you’re never without a means to see the country. Explore and map out potential trips online before leaving since train schedules in Italy are set for an entire calendar year.

Get a head start on your study abroad and familiarize yourself with basic Italian phrases and start making lists of what to do and see before you leave. Browse as many guide books in bookstores and websites as you can for ideas and make a master list to consult when you need inspiration.

Community Connection

Before you go, connect with these matador community members. Katiebas is in Rome, along with Fillipo, who can help you organize tours. Julianne is in Venice. And you can find many more matador travelers in other places around Italy by visiting here ]]> http://matadorabroad.com/the-study-abroad-guide-to-italy/feed/ 9 http://matadorabroad.com/where-in-spain-should-i-study-abroad/ http://matadorabroad.com/where-in-spain-should-i-study-abroad/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:22:00 +0000 Jon Brandt http://matadorstudy.com/where-in-spain-should-i-study-abroad/

photo by – Nick –

Spain is a great place to study abroad, but each city has a very different character. Which option is best for you?

Spain is one of the most diverse countries in Europe. Though Castilian is the official language, there are several spoken languages as well as regional dialects. These differences are only a part of what to consider while figuring out where to study.

Madrid

Madrid is the capital, and as such is a cosmopolitan city with a great metro system, food at all hours, entertainment, and what many argue is the best nightlife in Europe.

Madrid has undergone huge changes in the last decade. As it has increasingly become a center of business in Europe and a premiere destination for travelers from all over the world, Madrid has lost some of it’s authentic Spanish charm and it has gotten a lot more expensive. This is not all bad of course, depending on what you’re looking for.

Just in the last five years, many of the tiny coffee shops that once served whiskey and coffee side by side and were adorned with legs of Jamon on the walls have been replaced by sleek new restaurants and bars. This has made the nightlife and general experience of going out in Madrid more colorful and diverse than ever. Madrid is also the most convenient place to get flights and trains, which, if you plan on doing a lot of travel while you study abroad, is something to take into account.

Barcelona

Barcelona, or “BCN” as it is commonly referred to by locals and expats, is another cosmopolitan city with a great nightlife and the unique culture of Catalan. Barcelona is known for its colorful party lifestyle and is sprinkled with impressive art and architecture from Antonio Gaudí and many other legendary innovators.

It is perhaps an even more popular tourist destination than Madrid which makes it a constantly-churning melting pot of people, languages, and cultures. With that however, comes crime and theft. Walking around by yourself at night, especially drunk, is a bad idea.

Las Ramblas, the big strip where people go to hang out, is a cool place, but can be dangerous; opportunists lurk in many of the city’s hot spots hoping to catch someone slipping. You need to keep your eyes open at all times and your hands on your valuables. Barcelona also has some great beaches that can be reached easily via metro, bike, or on foot.

photo by eduardpitt

One important thing to note regarding studying Spanish in Barcelona is that Castillano (the Spanish most people learn in high school and college in the US), is not the dominant language of Barcelona. Most locals in BCN speak Catalan, which is quite different from Castillano. If you want to learn Spanish that you can use elsewhere–especially in Latin America, make sure your program offers courses in Castillano.

Sevilla

Considered by many as the capital of Andalucia, Sevilla is a center of well-preserved Spanish culture. The summers are blistering hot, as Andalucia almost touches Northern Africa, but the hot nights tend to inspire people to go out. With over 4,000 bars, Sevilla boasts the most bars per person of any European city. A great nightlife is guaranteed and many of the restaurants serve some of Spain’s tastiest traditional cuisine.

Considered by many as the capital of Andalucia, Sevilla is a center of well-preserved Spanish culture.

Sevilla has a good bus system and is currently building a tram that will connect the city and the surrounding suburbs with above ground and subway cars. In addition, because Sevilla isn’t as large or crowded as Madrid or Barcelona, it’s cheaper. At a local bar in Madrid, a beer might cost anywhere from 4-6 Euro; in Sevilla it’s 2-4.

Sevilla also has great festivals throughout the year. Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Fería de Abril, are in close proximity for a reason: after a week of holy processions, the Sevillanos get wild for Fería. Full of friendly people, and situated next to a beautiful river, Sevilla is solid choice for the study abroad student looking for balance of parties and authentic Spanish culture. Madrid can be reached pretty easily for a weekend by taking a high-speed train called the AVE. It takes 3 hours and costs $50 USD one-way.

Granada

This small city in the Sierra Nevada mountains was the former capital of the Ottomans and Ferdinand and Isabel. At first you will find it hard to understand people. Words are clipped and colloquialisms dominate the dialect. However, if you can master the language here, no matter where you go in the Spanish speaking world, you should be able to understand what’s being said.

This small city in the Sierra Nevada mountains was the former capital of the Ottomans and Ferdinand and Isabel.

Granada has a law that says with any purchase of a beer you are entitled to free plate of tapas, so if you’re short on cash you can just head to the bar. This phenomenon has made Granada the Spanish capital of tapas and one can drink and eat for hours jumping from one bar to the next.

Due to it’s close proximity to N. Africa and large Moroccan population, Granada has some of the best kebabs in Spain. It is also home to another treasure: La Alhambra. This fortress and palace complex left by the Moorish monarchs is one of the most impressive tourist attractions I’ve ever visited and should not be missed–regardless of where you study in Spain.

Salamanca

Salamanca is a typical college town; most of the people there are between the ages of 18-35. The nightlife is fantastic. Only a short bus ride from Madrid, Salamanca can be pretty cold in the winter and boiling hot in the summer. It’s a great place to study abroad because of the Intercambio program offered at the university. Students will speak part of the time in Spanish and part of the time in English, thus privately tutoring each other.

Oviedo

Oviedo, located in northern Spain, can be very cold in the winters and warm but not too hot in the summer. Tourism in the city is minimal, and you’ll have to speak Spanish to survive. Getting thrown into this environment can be intimidating, but it’s the fast-track to fluency, and can be made easier when you arrange a study / homestay program such as the one offered by Eurolingua.

San Sebastián

San Sebastián, located just south of France, on Spain’s northeastern coast, has just over 180,000 people, making for a cozy atmosphere and a laid-back way of life. It’s known for some of the best surfing in Spain. IHSpain offers a combined surfing and Spanish program.The city is located in the Basque region, and it’s necessary to learn a little Euskadi (the Basque language), to read the street signs.

Valencia

photo by icanteachyouhowtodoi t

Valencia is a large beach city. The locals speak a dialect of Catalan. In March, Las Fallas, a huge festival, brings people from all over Europe. Valencia will pretty much shut down for the festival. Every day will be filled with drinking, dancing, and singing. At the end of the festival, all of the floats (made of paper mache and some of which rise 70 ft tall) are burnt to the ground. No matter where you study in Spain, try to make it to the last weekend of Fallas. It is like no other party on Earth.

Which Program is Right for You?

There are hundreds of independent study abroad programs available if you aren’t going through your home university. Programs range in difficulty, price, and options, such as staying in an apartment with other students or living with a host family. One of the best programs available is Academic Programs International. API offers the same services and excursions as other programs, but it’s much cheaper. One semester with API will cost a little less than $9,000. With that in mind, if you go to an expensive school, you stand to save a lot of money by studying abroad with API. Another good program is International Studies Abroad. Like API, ISA has programs throughout Spain, offering placement, student assistance, and excursions. A semester with ISA will cost a little over $9,000.

For more information, contact these Matador Experts on Spain:

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