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Study Abroad Newsletter - October 2009
Welcome, new readers! We gained over 300 new subscribers at the Study Abroad Fair. Please remember: if you wish to subscribe, unsubscribe or read this issue online instead of through email, you can do so at http://www.muohio.edu/international/sa-newsletter.php. You're welcome to forward this message to anyone you think might be interested (friends, parents, professors), and they can subscribe at the same address.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines
See http://www.muohio.edu/international/events.php for more information on upcoming events and deadlines, including times, locations and links for more information. If you plan on studying abroad in spring 2010, CHECK NOW to see what your program's application deadline is. We only list here application deadlines that have changed, or internal deadlines for this campus.
- Monday, October 5 - FSB Summer Programs information session
- Tuesday, October 6 - AIFS information table
- Tuesday, October 6 - Gilman International Scholarship deadline
- Wednesday, October 7 - Semester at Sea information session
- Wednesday, October 7 - Study Abroad for Diversity Students
- Thursday, October 8 - Architecture Study Abroad in Denmark information session
- Tuesday, October 13 - FSB Semester Programs information session
- Monday, October 19 - Deadline to apply for OIE-administered scholarships
- Wednesday, October 28 - Exploring International Experiences (Education, Health and Society)
- Monday, November 2 - Deadline to apply for U.S. State Department internships
- Wednesday, December 2 - Passport Blitz
- Wednesday, December 9 and Saturday, December 12 - Study Abroad Pre-departure Orientation Session for spring 2010 students
If you are starting out your study abroad search, please attend one of our Study Abroad 101 Information Sessions. Dates and times can be found here.
Program Updates
Engineering and Computing Study Abroad
We spent a few weeks at the beginning of this semester meeting with first-year SEAS students to talk about the study abroad opportunities available to students in Engineering and Computer Science majors. Students in these majors often assume that they can't study abroad, but it's possible, it's encouraged by SEAS, and we'd like to see more of you going abroad! Engineering and Computer Science are global fields, and having international experience before you enter the job market will make you more attractive to employers.
We encourage Engineering and Computer Science students to look at two options:
- Arrange your classes so that you can focus on your Miami Plan and thematic sequence requirements
OR
- Find a program where you can take the Engineering or Computer Science classes you need
The option that you choose (after discussion with your departmental advisor) will affect the program that you choose. There are lots of programs that would fit option 1, but here are just a few of the study abroad programs that offer Engineering and Computer Science classes in English:
The best way for you to get started is to talk to your departmental advisor about where study abroad will fit in to your overall academic plan. Will you go on the Engineering in Poland summer program, spend a semester in Luxembourg, or enroll at the American University of Cairo for an academic year? There are lots of opportunities for you!
Study Abroad Photo Contest Winners
Miami Students Help Each other Cross One of the 365 Rivers
on the Nature Island of Dominica
by Thomas Klak
"Student Life" category, third place
2009 Study Abroad Photo Contest
Congratulations to the winners of our 2009 Study Abroad Photo Contest! We've put the top three photos from each category on our website, and those photos (plus nine honorable mentions per category) are now on display in MacMillan Hall. Please stop by and visit us and check out the photos our students (and faculty) have submitted from all over the world. You may also see additional photos from the contest used on our website, in these study abroad newsletters or in presentations we give around campus. Keep this opportunity in mind when you're studying abroad - you could be a winner too!
State Department Internships
Are you interested in a career in diplomacy or foreign relations? You could get a summer internship with the U.S. State Department and be placed in a State Department office in Washington D.C. or abroad! There are a number of State Department offices and bureaux where a student can be placed and many different projects for them to work on, so they are interested in students from a wide variety of majors, including Business, Architecture, Art History, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering and Interior Design, as well as more obvious matches like Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs, International Studies, Black World Studies, Latin American Studies, etc. The application deadline for summer 2010 is November 2. For more information on the program, see the brochure(pdf).
Host Families
Study abroad programs have several different housing options. Some place students in apartments with other American students, some house students in residence halls, and others will place students in homestays with a host family. Host families come in all shapes and sizes. Many students will live in a typical nuclear family of parents and young children, like Sarah did in Chile or Stephanie did in Japan. You might live with parents, grandparents and college-aged children, like Meghan is doing in Mexico. Or you might have a less predictable host family, like Anna did in Jordan, where she lived with three elderly sisters. Sometimes your "host family" might be one elderly woman, several generations of a family living together in one house, or a young couple with no children. In any case, you can learn a lot about the local culture and about how other families work. When you live in another country, you learn a lot about the cultural assumptions you take for granted ("Because we do it that way in America, I thought everyone ate pasta as a main course!") and when you live within another family, you also learn about the personal assumptions you take for granted ("Because my family did it this way, I thought everyone's parents made the kids do their own laundry!")
In some cases, the homestay is like a boardinghouse or landlord/renter situation, where you have your own detached apartment within their home and little day-to-day contact with the family. In others, you're more integrated into daily life and take your meals with the family. Many host families have been taking in visiting students for years. I know that I was very anxious about making a bad impression on my host family, but relaxed a lot more when I realized they'd had 20+ American students over the past ten years, and they'd seen everything. They know that visiting American students will want to travel, will occasionally stay out late, and might forget to call to tell their host parents they won't be home for dinner. If there are any serious conflicts between the student and the host family, the study abroad program will help mediate and, if necessary, move the student to a new situation.
If you're going abroad to study a foreign language, a homestay is the best housing option for you. While learning a foreign language can be mentally exhausting, it's even more exhausting if you're switching back and forth between English and that language. If you're immersed in the classroom and at home, you'll start thinking in that language, rather than trying to mentally translate all the time, and that makes it much easier and less stressful! Even if language isn't your main focus, a homestay is also a great way to casually learn about a society and what's important to them. You'll be included in family meals and learn about what and how people eat. You'll be included in festivals and holidays and see how people celebrate. And you'll see them in their down time to learn how people relax.
If a homestay is not an option in the location you're looking at, the next best thing would be a residence hall or apartment setting where you're living with local roommates or flatmates. That's another way to get the "in" into local culture and a way to casually observe the way that the locals live, eat and celebrate.
On Facebook: Miami University Study Abroad
Here are a few things you can do on our Miami University Study Abroad page on Facebook:
- Become a fan of Miami University Study Abroad and get updates on new programs, upcoming events and more
- RSVP for an upcoming Study Abroad 101 information session or other campus event
- Swap housing information with interested students in order to find a roommate, a subletter or someone who wants to share a full-year lease
- Talk to other students going abroad the same semester as you (we've already started discussion threads for students studying abroad in spring 2010, fall 2010 and spring 2011!)
Featured Study Abroad Locations of the Month: Emerging Markets and the US's Top Trading Partners
Shanghai is just one of the many places to study Business!
Business students have a lot of flexibility to study all over the world, and are sometimes overwhelmed by their options. Like with other majors, we encourage those students to consider their future plans and make a strategic study abroad decision based on their goals. If your goal is to work in a major multinational corporation or to help your company expand into new markets, having experience in a strategic location might help you. When your company is looking to work with a new international trading partner or open a branch in a new country, which are the countries and cultures you'll be dealing with? If you have experience with that country, you may be able to apply your understanding of the culture to get ahead in business.
You may have heard about the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), but there are many other emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Central Europe. We've put together the following list, which combines these emerging markets with the U.S.'s top trading partners, and links to study abroad programs that offer business classes in those countries. Hopefully this will be a good starting point for Business students looking to get some relevant experience to jump-start their future careers!
Recommended Study Abroad Programs in Emerging Markets and Top Trading Partner Countries(pdf)
This monthly newsletter is brought to you by the Office of International Education. Please remember: if you wish to subscribe, unsubscribe or read this issue online instead of through email, you can do so at
http://www.muohio.edu/international/sa-newsletter.php
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