Student Experiences Abroad!
Since Study Abroad is such a huge part of the Evansville Experience, we thought that this year we would like to share the experiences of two of our majors who spent some time away from campus in the past year: Jeremy Taylor and Jessica Shewan
Jeremy Taylor
It seems like just yesterday that I stepped off of the train into Cambridge Rail Station. Having just braved the London Underground with a year’s worth of luggage, I thought I was ready for anything that old city could throw at me. Little did I know what challenges lay in store, that this place would shake me to the very core.
In making my college decisions senior year of high school, Harlaxton College was a major selling point for UE so it came as a bit of a surprise when Dr. Gahan encouraged me to look beyond Harlaxton and to find a program that would fully immerse me in the British university system. Upon hearing about the Junior Year Abroad program at Cambridge University, I was hooked. I could still study in England, and who could pass up on an opportunity like Cambridge? Dr. Gahan immediately encouraged me to apply, and the entire history faculty backed my endeavor, taking time to write letters of recommendation and fine-tune my application essay.
My first weeks in Cambridge were pure bliss. Lectures had not yet started, so I spent my time admiring centuries- old architecture, discovering new bike paths to my lecture sites, and learning to drink the pint like it was a part-time job. Then lectures began, and my world was turned on its head.
As an abroad student, I was allowed to take courses in two separate faculties- in my case this was Politics of the International Economy and Farsi (the language of the Persian people). My classmates told me I was crazy, that I needed to pick one or the other. Shamelessly overconfident, I did not heed their advice and began attending as many as 12 hours of lecture a week. Thankfully my politics course, although intense and thorough, built upon my studies at UE and was not completely foreign to me. Farsi, however, was a completely different story. I walked into my first lecture to find my peers already speaking Farsi, when I did not even know how to write the alphabet. During my first one-on-one session with Dr. Aghili, a native Iranian, he informed me that he had a Ph.D. in Shakespearean literature and that there was no need to practice our English. I was to speak only Farsi for an hour, when I was just then learning to write the alphabet.
My arrogance and overconfidence only sustained me for so long, as each day it became increasingly apparent that my classmates were progressing much faster than I. My lecturers almost took pity on me, neglecting to call on me to answer questions. For someone who always strove to be at the top of his class, contributing to discussions, it was devastating to see that my professors and my peers had essentially given up on me. While my professors were brilliant and able educators, I missed that bond that I had with professors back at UE. I could not even begin to imagine walking into Dr. van Ruymbeke’s office and pouring my heart out as I would with my history professors. I felt isolated, discouraged, and for once I truly began to question my own abilities. I spent many sleepless nights coming to grips with the fact that I was at Cambridge for all the wrong reasons. I was treating a once in a lifetime educational opportunity as a chance to stroke my own ego and to gain bragging rights. It was more than humbling to have my friends and faculty suggest that I drop Farsi and make the politics course my sole focus.
For some reason still unknown to me, I did not give up my Farsi studies. Perhaps it was pride, perhaps I simply would have felt guilty for wasting my lecturers’ time, but I stuck with it. While my friends traveled over Christmas and Easter break, I stayed home and hit the books. I read and re-read my texts, the final exams in June an ever-present, terrifying motivator. Upon returning from a month and a half of Easter break, I began to notice ever so subtle changes in the way my faculty interacted with me. I was able to answer a few more questions and was no longer too proud to ask those seemingly simple questions. The material fell into place, and by June, I entered the exams confident and prepared.
Returning from Cambridge, I can honestly say that it was the most challenging time of my life. I was forced to completely re-evaluate my own motivations and attitude, learning to become an intellectual sponge in the best place imaginable. Over time I came to thrive on and appreciate the challenges I faced at the university. While I miss the feel of a bike ride on narrow cobbled streets and the golden glow of a misty English morning, I must say that I miss the challenge of the classroom the most. Challenged, broken down, and built back up again, Cambridge University was the ultimate opportunity for personal growth, and I owe many a debt of gratitude for assisting me in my endeavor.
Jessica Shewen
My study abroad semester in Saint-Louis, Senegal, added a new dimension to my undergraduate education. Aside from gaining French and Wolof language skills and a better understanding of life in a developing country, the semester allowed me to explore history in new ways. Opportunities to visit museums and historical sites relating to the spread of Islam in the region, the slave trade, and colonialism made these concepts, which I had studied previously, much more tangible. In addition, I was able to conduct research for my senior thesis by accessing museums and archives in Saint-Louis and in the capital city of Dakar. I also encountered several challenges including my large lecture-style history course, which met very sporadically, and a surprising scarcity of written material for students to study.
The richness of this educational experience extended beyond the academic sphere. Thanks to my host family, I learned to cook and eat traditional food (lots of rice and fish!) and how to get a good price in the market, especially for the beautiful fabrics Senegal is known for. These all presented stimulating challenges, but the most rewarding were the chances I had to build relationships across cultures, which the Senegalese were very eager to do… in my house, at school, in town, or on cross-country bus trips. Now that I’m back in Evansville, my continued research on Senegal keeps the memories on the forefront of my mind and makes me look forward to my next overseas trip, wherever that may be!
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