Go Abroad!
InfoLink - Fri Oct 19, 2012On Wednesday, October 3rd, the University of Alberta’s Education Abroad Program held their Go Abroad Fair on the main floor of SUB. Education Abroad staff and past participants were on hand to talk to students about each of Education Abroad’s three program areas: Exchange Programs, Internships, and Summer Programs. Education Abroad enables students to enrich their university degree with international experience in over 40 locations around the world.
Emma Tunney, who has participated in three different programs, took language and academic courses and did an internship in Germany. Tunney says that the experience has had a great effect on her degree; she now studies German as part of a double major and has taken away new language and work skills from her experiences. Some students may be worried about going abroad due to language concerns, but Tunney says that while it was intimidating for her at first, she quickly adapted to living in a second language. Before she went to Germany, she had taken 100-level German courses at the U of A. As time went on, her German improved so that she was able to joke around and make real connections with her German counterparts. To students considering going abroad she says “leave your house before you find a reason to stay. Go out and do it because you won’t be sorry, you’ll never be sorry.”
Daniel Waring studied Spanish literature last year at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico. Daniel had finished SPAN 300, Advanced Spanish, before heading to Mexico and did not encounter any language problems. While in Mexico he was able to travel around the country. Some of his favorite destinations were southwest Mexico and Mexico City, the largest city in the Americas. He found Mexico to be very beautiful; the people were friendly, and contrary to what you might hear on the news, safe and not at all scary. He was able to transfer credits back to the U of A and has now finished all the Spanish credits required for his degree. To prospective study abroad students he says, “Do it. It’s an awesome experience.”
In addition to its normal programs, Education Abroad also offers opportunities to study at U of A partner institutions such as the Faculty of Arts’ school in Cortona, Italy or at the Université Catholique de Lille where U of A courses are offered, so credit transfer is not a problem. The Faculty of Education offers a Spring/Summer program in Ghana for students who have completed their IPT, up to 5-month long programs teaching in Beijing schools and the chance for students to complete their APT programs in the Alberta overseas school in Macau, China.
For more information on these and other Education Abroad opportunities, and upcoming events such as the Education Abroad Poster Symposium on October 25th, visit the Education Abroad website at www.goabroad.ualberta.ca or the Education Abroad offices in Enterprise Square.
