Sh*t Study Abroaders Say

A couple of months back I posted about happy hour at the Porch at Schenley with my fellow Study Abroad Office interns. Well, on that warm spring afternoon, our intern happy hour turned into an episode of "Sh*t Study Abroaders Say..."

My friends and I laughed about some of the things we had done after returning to the states that earned us strange, clueless, or disgusted looks from friends, acquaintances and innocent bystanders as we clumsily re-assimilated to American culture. Such as:

• Starting to speak another language (with no invitation, and for no apparent reason)
• "I don't know the word for this in English, but..."
• "I've only been to Hooters in Lima."
• In response to "I like your bracelet, where did you get it?": "Oh, I got this at a market in Spain for only 2 euros!"

I was ecstatic to find a video that captures many of the things American students abroad will say. The Amizade students who created this did a great job, and if you are a study abroad veteran, especially a girl, I guarantee you will laugh:

All I could possibly add to this would be "Scene straight out of Taken." Girls abroad will often hear the terrifying Liam Neeson movie referenced any time foreign surroundings are suddenly frightening or shady. Hey, once you've seen it, it's always in the back of your mind!

This video hits the nail on the head, highlighting our totally ethnocentric culture. In the description, it says that "study abroad sometimes gets a bad name for ignoring academics and community interaction." I completely agree here, and I recognize that I have been very lucky to avoid this in my personal experiences. In France (with CEA) I did a homestay and volunteered at a local daycare center. Living with other French families, taking the public bus through town, and playing with French toddlers and children gave me a sense of community membership and cultural connectivity. In London (with CAPA), my internships gave me insight into the reality of the city as an area filled with hardworking people instead of a travel destination. Participating in the morning and evening commutes with my fellow Londoners and developing working relationships with professionals from many different cultural backgrounds altered the way I perceived my milieu for the better. I would always encourage study abroad students to seek out activities such as these to improve the quality of their study abroad experience.