DU’s study abroad program is nationally acclaimed, and many juniors have just returned from their fall quarter spent in various parts of the world. Several juniors shared the good, the bad and the ugly of the study abroad experience.
“The hardest part of being back in the U.S. is the reverse culture shock. I feel like I’m more critical of the U.S. now in ways that I wouldn’t have been before because I am comparing everything to Denmark,” said Rosa Calabrese, a junior who studied outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.
“I’ve noticed that I actually prefer to just hear people talking around me (in Danish rather than English), but I think I got this because as soon as I was back in the U.S. I heard some guy complaining loudly about his grandpa having Facebook,” said Calabrese.
Junior Taylor Cedarholm had similar sentiments about the language barrier.
“I miss being surrounded by the Spanish language much more than I thought I would,” said Cedarholm, who studied in Vina del Mar, Chile.
Junior Becca Weig, on the other hand, said she is “really happy to be back.”
“I’m happy to be back and see all my friends,” said Weig, who spent five months in Auckland, New Zealand.
Weig spoke frequently about how expensive being abroad was.
“They tell you an amount to bring before you leave, and I remember thinking there was no way I could spend all that. But buying your own food, traveling – it all adds up,” said Weig.
Junior Patrick Gillespie spent his quarter in Grenada, Spain. He experienced similar frustrations, recounting a particularly interesting musical apprehension.
“It’s still real life,” Gillespie said. “They play American music everywhere. I would go to coffee shops, and they would play ‘Hammer Time.’ And I tried to explain that this was bad music. They kept laughing, asking if it was just old or something. I tried to say, ‘No, it’s not just old, it’s bad, guilty pleasure music. This is not coffee house music.'”
All the costs and frustrations aside, most juniors still contest their abroad experience was fantastic, life changing and enlightening.
Gillespie described a particularly perfect sunset over the cliffs on the coast of Portugal, where they used to think the world ended. Weig recalled an orange crescent moon kissing the ocean in the middle of the night. Cedarholm described coming to love her host family and know them as a true family. And Calabrese remembered a teary sing-along of a Beatles classic with friends, Americans and locals alike.
The study abroad experience, while expensive, strange and sometimes frustrating, is an opportunity for life-changing and unforgettable memories.
