If you have to take notes, it might as well be at the Colosseum.
This past summer, many Aggies chose to give up their summers in order to travel, gain new cultural experiences and earn college credit all over the world.
Business administration sophomore Brooke Bossier spent the summer abroad in Greece with excursions to Rome and Israel, studying humanities, culture and the Bible.
“I think there’s a huge advantage to studying in a different culture and just being in a different place,” Bossier said.
Bossier said she believes that Greece was a perfect choice for studying abroad in regards to her major.
“Since I’m studying business I have to really understand the economy and how businesses work,” Bossier said. “Since Greece’s economy is bad right now, understanding the different routes they could be taking to better their economy is helping to broaden my understanding of business.”
Agricultural economics senior Landon Woods studied abroad for two weeks in Accra, Ghana, earning credit towards a certificate in international trade and agriculture.
“In my major, we believe in the value of the free market system,” Woods said. “In a country like Ghana where their democracy is less than 30 years old there’s still a lot of hiccups that prevent them from engaging in a free market system.”
Woods and his classmates were able to interact with industry experts and policy makers while gaining credit towards a certificate in international trade and agriculture.
“Our professor had a lot of connections in the government and parliament in Ghana,” Woods said. “We had opportunities to sit down with members of parliament and the supreme court who could shed a little more light on what’s going on in the country as opposed to just riding around on the tour bus.”
Political science sophomore Morgan Gimblet spent the summer abroad in Galway, Ireland to learn more about political communication.
“I think taking classes abroad is better because you get more of an experience in the culture and it’s so different than just taking classes at a community college in your hometown,” Gimblet said.
Gimblet’s professor in Ireland urged his students to spend time immersing themselves into the culture while they are abroad.
“He tells us to go to bars and that people will talk to us if they know that we’re American or not Irish,” she said.
Gimblet said she studied in Ireland as her destination for academic and personal reasons.
“I chose Ireland because this program is specifically for my major,” Gimblet said. “They did have others for political science, but they didn’t focus on one country, which I didn’t care for because I wanted to stay somewhere and really experience it. Plus my grandpa was from Ireland and he was my favorite, so I had more of a connection to going to Ireland.”
Communication senior Patrick Sheridan also spent the summer in Ireland taking courses for his major. However, instead of solely earning class credit, Sheridan spent the second half of the summer in an international internship.
“I’m going to work for a company called The Production People, and they cast extras in other companies’ ads,” Sheridan said. “Two of the companies they work closely with are Apple and Google.”
Like Gimblet, Sheridan said he chose to study in Ireland for academic and personal reasons.
“I had a semester of funding left because I am graduating early, so I had the financial opportunity and the program was good,” Sheridan said. “My family has Irish roots and I’ve always wanted to go.”