The end of spring means the start of friends’ Instagram posts from overseas and the start of the jealousy that we aren’t also tanning on a Barcelona shore or exploring downtown London. But have you ever wondered why the rest of the world is rarely represented? Europe only makes up a small portion of Earth’s landmass, yet hosts over 53 percent of American students studying abroad. Europe has a lot to offer, but if you have no personal or linguistic reason to go to Europe, it may be in your best interest to step out of your comfort zone and visit a country less traveled.
A college student who had studied abroad in multiple places wrote to the Matador Network, “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.”
Studying abroad in a non-Westernized culture will not only challenge your worldview, but it will also challenge you. Bailey Lee, a study abroad advisor at USC, says that studying abroad in a place where few people have been will grant you more cultural immersion, and increase your independence because you would need to learn to communicate with people different from you.
It’s a paradox that while most students say that they go abroad to gain a different perspective of the world, they shy away from entire continents because of American beliefs about other countries and cultures. Alexandria Caputo, a fourth-year political science student, was the first USC student to study abroad in Oman, and said of her experience: “Recently I received hateful backlash from listeners and readers who have heard about my travels and passion for the Middle East. Typically I am asked the question, ‘how did that happen?’ I tell them that I see the state of the world now and our relations with one another. I opened up my ears and closed my mouth - there I was gaining firsthand experience.”
The best way to combat a stigma is to go there yourself, and Caputo says that her travels in Oman “opened up the world.” Studying abroad in these undiscovered places gives you the ability to understand a world divided by the opinions of the inexperienced public.
Gaining firsthand knowledge of an unfamiliar culture may also help you in the workplace. Almost 40 percent of surveyed businesses said that they missed opportunities due to internationally incompetent personnel. This refers to a bias for the United States, or lack of knowledge of international consumers. International doesn’t just mean European, and studying abroad somewhere different will help you stand out and demonstrate knowledge of a culture completely different from your own.
Perhaps the biggest fear about going abroad is the safety of other parts of the world, but there are several countries that we don’t hear about (Oman, for example) simply because there is nothing bad to say about them, and in America, we thrive on pointing out the dangers and faults of these other places. Peyton Pretsch is a first-year public health student who has travelled several places, and she said that when her family was returning from Jordan, the threat level of their Paris layover was higher than the threat in Jordan itself.
At the end of the day, no country is guaranteed to be safe. And if a particular place is truly unsafe, study abroad programs simply won’t send students there.
If cost is a factor, most programs traveling to Europe are significantly more expensive than those going to other places in the world. This makes studying abroad more practical and leaves more money to travel to other countries and partake in more local activities.
As the world becomes a more united global society, there also may be long-term benefits from studying somewhere where fewer people have been. Susan Yuan is a Chinese resident obtaining her master’s degree at USC, and says that because China is a developing economic power, it is beneficial to get familiar with the people and culture. In fact, you may even get a deserved payoff from the experience, such as a job offer.
“Go where you feel like you will be challenged, and if you feel apprehensive that's usually a good sign,” Caputo says. And if you feel it in your heart, it may haunt you later.
Pierre d’Autel is an information resources consultant at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and after listing the European countries he’s been to, he says, “I should’ve gone to Australia and not chickened out, I think I would be a much different person today.”
Studying abroad in college is a unique opportunity to experience the world while having an outside program carry the burden of the paperwork for you. Later in life, travel is more difficult and may be restricted due to work, time or financial reasons.
All things considered, any opportunity to travel should be taken enthusiastically. But if you put the opinions of your peers and mass media aside, where in the world do you think you would experience the most growth?