Why Study Abroad

Study abroad offers a unique opportunity for you to immerse yourself in the adventure and excitement of living in a new culture and exploring a new country. It is a life-changing event and college is the perfect time to experience it. Living and learning in another country allows you to see yourself and your country from another worldview allowing you to expand your global perspective.

Once you graduate, career, family, financial obligations and life's many complications may make it difficult, if not impossible for you to just move to another country. Your study abroad expereince will increase your hiring potential, support your personal growth at a critical moment, and provide you with life-changing new experiences that study in your home country simply cannot provide. If you feel that many of these statements sound cliche, take time to read the perspectives of our Study Abroad Alumni and Global Professionals.

Study Abroad Alumni

Champlain College Dublin

Marissa Bentivoglio: Public Relations, Human Resource Management

Marissa B I chose to study in Dublin because I wanted to be in Europe. It also helped that Ireland is primarily English-speaking, although I learned throughout my studies there that the Irish language has been quite the controversy, and there is still Gaelic written on the signs in the Republic. I also found it comforting that Champlain was hiring the faculty and staff, and was thoroughly impressed with the support of the people at the Dublin Campus. More or less, I knew I would be taken care of by people I could trust in Dublin, and these expectations were not only met, but exceeded. Plus, I was only a hop, skip and a jump over to continental Europe where I was able to visit and experience the beautiful cities of Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam.

I was one of those students who didn't picture themselves going abroad, because it is much easier to stay in Burlington to study. I finally convinced myself that if I didn't go now, I would regret it. I don't regret my experience abroad for a second - in fact, I would do it again in an instant. What I learned, the people I connected with, the experiences I would never have had anywhere else were all worthwhile. It's not only the Irish accents that made taking the classes in Dublin so valuable (and appealing), I learned from professors who had a different background and gained a new perspective on cultural diversity. Ireland is a truly unique and infinitely interesting country to learn about, and I was never bored. I also enjoyed taking the Social and Non-Profit Marketing course there, where I worked on a project for Dublin City Council.

Knowing that I will be graduating in the Spring, I now have an infinite array of experiences to talk about when I introduce myself to prospective employers. Many of them are likely to have traveled outside the US, so sharing favorite places and memories with them makes the experience more enjoyable for both parties, and you much more memorable as a potential employee. I am more well-rounded person, and especially since I chose to venture to Paris alone with my years of French, and I gained an extra sense of independence and confidence.

I challenged myself by going abroad, and it was one of the best challenges I have chosen to take.

Champlain College Montréal

Mike Fowler: Game Design

Mike Fowler My decision to spend time in Montreal was originally based entirely on academics. Three friends and I had decided that we were to work together for the semester on a game, and Montreal was the place to do it, both for the faculty and for the immersive game culture. My semester in Montreal turned into much more than just working on a game with friends. The combination of school, culture, exploration, city life and friends led to the most unique experience of my life.

Exploration has always been a hobby for me, perhaps even more than a hobby, more like an obsession to find new things and place myself in potentially uncomfortable situations. A city like Montreal made this desire easy. The one experience I always like to share with people is walking back several miles to my apartment at 5am after a concert with only a slight idea of where I was. The sun was rising, it was a Sunday morning, I had no worries, and for the first and only time during my time in Montreal, I heard birds chirping. Experiencing the calm and tranquility that exists in such a noisy, hectic city made my Montreal experience well near perfect.

As far as progressing my professional goals, I could have had no better introduction to game industry culture than being in Montreal for four months. Between attending IGDA meetings and touring three of the largest studios in the city, the insight into what it is actually like working in the industry is much clearer to me than it had been before. The experience as a whole feels entirely set off from the rest of the time I've spent at Champlain College. It was an experience so unique that it cannot be placed on the same level as anything I've done in Burlington, and for all of the reasons above I have absolutely zero regrets about spending a semester abroad.

Third Party or Exchange Program

Alex Nishida: International Business

Alex Nishida As a student at Champlain College from the very beginning as a first year student I had felt an international and multi-cultural environment among the student body. At Champlain College there exists a familiarity of different cultures that truly encompasses the very essence of Champlain College's international presence. Champlain College provided the platform for my study abroad adventures. From Champlain's Montreal campus to studying in Paris, Champlain provided the resources and guidance to make it all happen.

I started my year abroad in Montreal, which was a great experience. Montreal also prepared me for my spring semester in Paris, France. I arrived in Paris and I was impressed from the moment I stepped off the plane. The city was truly magnificent, among the small cafés, bistros and the Eiffel Tower I still couldn't believe I was going to study in the city of lights. I made a decision in Montreal before I arrived in Paris that I would take full advantage of my study abroad experience, including finding an internship overseas.

While I was studying in Montreal the director Genevieve Lord introduced me to a Foreign Service Officer working at the U.S. Embassy in Montreal. After speaking to him I discovered the various opportunities that existed in American Embassies overseas including Paris. I then applied to an internship with the U.S. Commercial Service in Paris. I was accepted and I was set for my study abroad experience.

While I was in Paris I essentially created my own life and schedule, I was able to do a lot in a short period of time aided by my beloved Parisian Metro system. I attended courses with a third party program CEA (Cultural Experiences Abroad) as soon as I arrived in Paris I wanted to see if I could perhaps make some spending money, so I soon found two jobs babysitting for two different French families. All the while working at the Embassy. It was quite a juggling act, but I felt as if I was a true Parisian, walking quite rapidly through the metro and on the streets to my next appointment. I would never pass up a chance though to sit and have coffee at a café with my friends, while we sat and talked and felt completely apart of a living, thriving, breathing city.

While working at the Embassy two very important opportunities came up, one of which was an opportunity to work closely with my manager on the Paris Air Show, which is one of the largest Aerospace tradeshows in the world. Which was an amazing experience and an excellent opportunity for networking. The second opportunity had an incredible emotional impact on me, a chance to meet the President. President Obama was going to come into Paris before traveling to the D-day Beaches on June 6th for the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landings. While in Paris, he was going to hold a meet and greet with the entire staff and their families of the Embassy.

I was born and raised in Chicago, where President Obama became a politician. In 21 years of living in Chicago I had never met any prominent politician let alone the president. On a rainy Saturday morning in June, after waiting two hours outside the ambassador's residence, an old French mansion it should be noted, President Obama came out and spoke and shook everyone's hands it was short, but the entire crowd went wild. My French colleagues were especially excited, as was I. The first time I met a President was on the lawn of the Ambassador's residence in Paris, France truly something I will never forget.

Global Professionals Perspective on Studying & Living Abroad

Steven Shepard: President, Shepard Communication Group

Background

Steve Shepard I had the great good fortune of growing up in Spain. We moved there when I was 13 as the result of my Dad being transferred there; I left to return to the States for college when I turned 18, but went back later for graduate studies. The experience of living in a different country, on a different continent, in a different culture and language group, had a profound impact on my development as a person. It made me aware of the international and intercultural nature of the world. It made me understand that the world does not revolve around my own country. It made me realize that new experiences aren't good or bad - they're just different. It forced me to see the world through the eyes of a minority, because I didn't (initially) speak the language, nor did I truly belong there. It taught me that language is the clearest window into the soul of a country.

Perhaps most important of all, it opened my eyes to the power, the beauty, the richness of diversity. It became part of my personality, my makeup, to seek out differences rather than to be fearful of them.

Why Study Abroad?

I can't improve on Mark Twain. In The Innocents Abroad, he said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." A semester abroad serves as an eye-opener to what lies beyond the perspective that any person has when they stay close to home. There's nothing wrong with home, but there's a big world out there that cannot be denied. When I speak to the executives that I do most of my work with, they all say the same thing to me, and I've heard it a hundred times: "Show me someone who has traveled, who can speak another language, who can speak coherently, who can write effectively, and who can think critically, and I'll hire them on the spot - I don't care what they have a degree in." The point is that the opportunity to spend time in a different culture forces a person to understand who they really in the context of something bigger. It serves as a cultural mirror, an opportunity to see yourself through another's eyes. And it strengthens non-verbal communications in remarkable ways.

Employer Perspective on Study Abroad

Corporations are increasingly operating in the multinational domain. An employee who walks in the door with international experience tells them that this is a person who has tested the bonds of ethnocentricity and found them to be restricting. It tells them that this person is willing to "put themselves out there," to take a risk, to test themselves, and to make the cultures of the world part of who they are. It also tells the potential employer that this person has a degree of flexibility that others may not have, because the only way to truly experience a semester abroad is to get out there and take a few risks, make a few mistakes, commit the occasional cultural faux pas, and to be laughed at in a good-natured way every once-in-a-while.

Alexander Graham Bell: Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. You will be certain to find something that you have never seen before.

The rewards? Staggering.

Richard Lowe (Champlain Class 1994);
Vice President, Information Technology TELUS International Philippines Inc.

Background

Richard Lowe In 1991, after many years in the US Marines, I was discharged with a back injury. Through some luck and help from the Veteran's Administration I was able to enroll in Champlain College. My goal, and there wasn't a real degree program at the time, was to combine a Business degree and Computer Skills. I figured that a businessperson with computer skills could act as a translator between the two worlds.

People in the class of 1994 probably remembered me as the older guy (I was in my thirties) that was endlessly pressing my instructors in classes. As many of us, I too wondered if I was going to make it through college and get on with my life. Those days when I took Introductory Accounting, and Introduction to Business Law were some of the most challenging in my life. Of course it made me appreciative of the value of a good Accountant, Finance person and Attorney later in my career.

After leaving Champlain, I spent a bit of time in the New York City area, first as a software trainer for a major training company, teaching over 40 different applications courses, then as a national trainer for a home health care company. I ended up in Silicon Valley, as the first project manager for Exodus Communications, this was at the very beginning of the dot com boom. For a while, I was a VP of customer service and also IT operations, creating web based support systems when no one was doing this. That introduced me to the Philippines. In 2000 I was invited over to become COO / CTO of a 200 seat customer service center and in 2004 I was recruited to join TELUS International, which is the offshore arm of TELUS, the 2nd largest Canadian telecommunications company. http://www.telusinternational.com/solutions/contact_center_solutions.shtml

We support some of the worlds most demanding clients and every day you get a chance to prove yourself. Global competition is ever more intense and we compete with organizations all over the world.

Thoughts on Studying and Living Abroad

If it was going to be like the US or Canada, then there would be a flag from there flying over it. Don't expect things to work exactly it does at home, get immersed in the culture, I have a wonderful time learning new things.

The rest of the world thinks, acts and governs differently, respect the differences. Life is pretty good here in the Philippines believe me, come and find out but don't expect things to be like main street USA and the Filipinos don't want it to be either. Not everything is regulated from some lawsuit outcome. They don't have safety directions on hot coffee cups saying, "contents are hot"; Spicy food is spicy; people do not sue the local restaurant because someone failed to inform them the food was spicy.

In many other countries things aren't all sanitized, pristine and thought out for you. In North America zoning, design, process has homogenized life, in the rest of the world you are expected to use your brain and some common sense, and believe it or not, its fun defining the rules.

For those of you considering studying and living abroad, by all means continue your study, learn as much about the world as you can, and know you too can find your path.