After hearing about the Senator Paul Simon Foundation Study Abroad Act I am amazed that something like this is not already in place. I feel that too few Americans are given the chance to go abroad and open there eyes to the world outside our borders.
I went abroad in the summer of 2007 and I learned things that I never would have been able to comprehend had I not experienced them myself. I have told as many people as will listen that they
have to go abroad. It is an experience unlike any other. There is just one problem; it is too uncommon in the U.S. People are afraid to commit to something they know so little about. There are not enough students who have already gone abroad to tell them about their travels and encourage them to have their own. When I signed up to go abroad I was lucky enough to know someone who went on the same trip the previous year. He told me all about what he did and got me so interested that there was no way I was not going. I committed my self to the program and no one was going to stop me. After spending time at the University in France I found out how common it was for students to go abroad. For many of them it was mandatory if they wanted to get a degree.
The program I participated in was strictly set up for engineering students and had been running for close to five years. Everything was already planned and all I had to do was submit an application. The courses were pre-selected and pre-approved. This year I have decided I want to go abroad again. This time for a full academic year. Planning and preparation are a lot harder this time. I have yet to meet a single person who has studied at the University I plan to attend. I have no idea what it is going to be like over there (although that is part of the excitement). No body here seems ready to help me with my plans. I have spent months running around on campus talking with several people who are supposed to tell me what I need to do, yet none of them seem to be able to give me a straight answer. I thought they would know what courses I could and could not take, and whether or not they will count for the courses I need to take here at U.B. It apparently takes months to get approval, and I am forced to go to each individual professor and ask if I can take his course at another University.
I feel that a lot of these problems are created because our system is not used to having people go abroad (especially the engineering department). If it were more common for student to go abroad it would become easier and soon many students would be studying in a foreign country. The senator Paul Simon Foundation Study Abroad Act is a great idea and can make studying abroad common in higher education in America.