Curt Knobloch, finance senior, takes a panorama of the Dover, England also known as White Cliffs Country. Photo by Curt Knobloch
The smell of toast fills the aroma in the house as Madre cooks breakfast for the family. Leaving the house, tall buildings line the streets of Grenada, Spain. The cool wind blows through the city. People enter and leave constantly from the restaurants and small boutiques. The Sierra Nevada mountains shape the valley.
The sun rises at 4:30 a.m. 1, 323 miles away. Noises from the construction crew echo outside windows of the five-bedroom flat at Queen Mary campus. 6:30 a.m. students prepare for their four-mile walk through the urban city. As they step outside, the polluted air is breathed and the weather is gloomy. People are everywhere. A city that typically holds 8 million doubles as tourists arrive. Big Ben. London Eye. London Tower. Buckingham Palace. Sights seen walking through the city.
As part of the study abroad program, students who apply can choose to study in London, England, Grenada, Spain or Tours, France and earn six hours of credit.
“In London, students will do comparative studies in areas such as criminal justice, business or physiology. In Spain and France, they focus more on language and culture courses,” Michael Mills, director of international education, said.
Spain courses also offer students ability to specialize in options of healthcare, business or teaching.
“This allows the language skills with their areas of interest,” Mills said.
Faculty from MSU or one of the partner schools in the program accompany students to Spain and France. Faculty attend as chaperones and work with the language institute to help determine final grades of students.
“You are actually attending a language institute in Spain and France,” Mills said. “Our faculty attend to make sure students attend class daily, are learning the course material, and if any problems occur, they can help fix them. They do not actually teach, but they do help determine what the final grade for students should be.”
An Enriching Experience
Attending the Spanish abroad program this past summer, Kristen Gregg, mass communication junior, said her chaperone professor was from University of North Texas.
“She was one of the best people I have met and I really like her a lot,” Gregg said. “She was understanding with everyone and supportive of us. She was a lot of fun.”
France and Spain students live with host families chosen by the institute and two students are housed per host family.
“The institute screens the families our students will be staying with,” Mills said. “The program offers a true emersion for students. The host family allows for teaching of culture and improvement of language skills because enables students to speak the language. Students report that staying with the families is one of the highlights.”
Gregg said she her host family was awesome, but spoke little English, which at times was challenging.
“They spoke no English and I spoke some Spanish so it was very interesting for us to converse,” Gregg said. “It’s interesting to see how you can carry out a conversation when put in that position.”
The London program houses students on Queen Mary campus, part of University of London system, in residence halls. The classes are taught in classrooms by an American professor.
“Rather than enrolling in Queen Mary, what we have done is rent out part of their campus: an entire residence hall and classrooms,” Mills said. “Professors are either an MSU faculty member or a member of one of our partner schools. It will not be a British faculty member.”
Curt Knobloch, finance senior, poses for a photo while on the Study Abroad program in London, England for British studies. Photo by Curt Knobloch
Curtis Knobloch, finance senior, said the flat (dorm) was like a typical suite here on campus.
“There was four to five rooms in the flat. You would walk in and there would be two rooms on each side with one at the back,” Knobloch said. “We also had a kitchen and a bathroom, but the bathroom was different. Their infrastructure for plumbing is different for the United Kingdom, so one just had a toilet and sink and the other was shower/tub combination. It was nice when we had five people in a flat.”
Professors teach one-third of time in classroom, students go out to businesses with the area of study a third of time and do site visits and then a third of time, guest speakers are brought in from London to lecture for class.
“You get a blend of the emersion because you are living in a dorm on the college campus with fellow students, but have opportunity once classes are finished to enjoy the city,” Mills said. “American faculty teach comparatively. For example, they discuss how criminal justice system in United Kingdom compares to system in United States and how students can understand the differences.”
One speaker Knobloch said he remembers was Nick Byers, managing director, of Du Beers jewllery which sells diamonds to the jewellery companies.
“He gave us practical knowledge that helped us be able to apply it right away. He gave us advice on how to be a good manager and talked about what all goes into working the position,” Knobloch said. “Byers also told us how relationships are important in business and if you don’t establish a good relationship with customers, you aren’t going to have successful transactions.”
Gabraella Weaver, Spanish sophomore and transfer student from Ohio State University, said she studied abroad last summer in Italy through the Italian Emerson Program and said it is similar to the programs offered at MSU.
“I wan’t give any elective or course credit like offered here, but the experience I underwent is life changing,” Weaver said. “I did have to apply for the program and the university in Ohio only choose up to 15 students.”
Similar to the French and Spanish programs, the Italian program Weaver attended paired students up with host families and immersed them into the culture.
“Before the trip, I was given the list of who I was staying with in Italy and their email, and that allowed me to exchange information about myself before the departure,” Weaver said. “I got connected with my Italian family before I went and knowing who I was staying with made everything more comfortable. Today, I am still connected by social media with my Italian family.”
The Costs
The cost to attend the program is $6,800 for Spain and France and $6,900 for London. Aside from the cost to attend abroad, students also need to budget for extra spending.
“You are paying much more than a language course,” Gregg said. “You are paying for culture. You can only see so many things on the television and have an idea of what something is until you are actually there and experience it. The spending for shopping and meals is reasonable.”
Knobloch said on top of the $6,900 for London, students who go want to budget about $3,500 for eating and activities.
“I brought that much extra and I spent that for the month abroad,” Knobloch said.
A major difference in the program Weaver attended to the Spanish program she is seeking to attend is the financial responsibility.
“The trip through the Italian Emerson Program was fully-funded from donors of the university in Ohio,” Weaver said. “Either next summer or summer after, I would like to go (ideally) on the Spanish and British programs in the same summer. I am looking into session one for Spanish and session two for business. My concern right now is the expense to attend. I feel if I could qualify for scholarships, grants and any extra financial aid, I think it is a program here worth doing.”
Safety Abroad
Safety abroad is not 100 percent guaranteed, but precautions are outlined to try to limit incidences.
“We have a faculty member that is present at all times during our programs and visit with the students daily,” Mills said. “When they travel on their own, we strongly discourage individual travel. Students have to log all travel they do once they leave the city on an excursion. It helps us know when they are traveling, where they are going and who they are with. That’s one of the checklists we put in place to know where everyone is at all times.”
Mills said during his time as director, he does not recall any major incident regarding students being unsafe, but small issues have happened.
“We did have students at one time forgotten their letter which states why they are abroad and where they are staying,” Mills said.
Regarding the recent terrorist attack in Paris, France, Mills said the French program offered is 120 miles away in Tours.
“It is a smaller city southwest of Paris and the program is still scheduled to go on since it is not for another eight months,” Mills said. “If things continue to change, we will look into it before the trip. We never want to send our students into a dangerous situation.”
Mills said it is up to the individual to determine what is their best interest regarding studying abroad.
“We never want to ask a student to attend where a risk may be too high,” Mills said. “We can’t predict everything that could happen. We do follow the state department guidelines on tourist safety in countries abroad.”