Collegiate Times

As many Virginia Tech students will attest, studying abroad at some point in their undergraduate career is many times the best experience they have ever had. What once was viewed as a luxury or as a fun getaway has now become much more important for American students.

It is also beginning to be seen as a necessity by employers, according to the New York Times. It's easy to see the advantages of going abroad: exposure to other languages, customs and politics can make a student more worldly and experienced. With more and more U.S. companies spreading their reach globally, it makes sense to hire graduates who have had a taste of those foreign cultures and ways of life.

As a recent returnee from a Tech study abroad program, I can vouch for the benefits of the experience: I had a first-hand experience with immersion in Swiss and European culture, learned local customs, the Italian language and also had the chance to learn about the Swiss world perspective.

As a political science major, that helped me immensely with my interests and studies, and now a doctorate in international relations is an increasingly attractive career option because of that exposure. But please take my endorsement with a grain of salt: I have lived overseas before and come from a multi-ethnic background, so I was already enthusiastic and receptive to the cultural exposure.

Where studying abroad can really make a difference, though, is for our fellow Hokies who may have never traveled outside our nation, or been exposed to cultural diversity before coming to Virginia Tech. In fact, many Americans know little about the world around us, poll after poll shows that most Americans struggle with world geography or basic world history.

Not surprisingly, this can lead to hostility toward Americans in the rest of the world, especially in those nations that consider themselves "culturally superior" to our countrymen.

Anti-Americanism comes in many different forms, and for different motives, and depends on geographical regions, sensitivity to globalization and previous foreign relations with the U. S. After working on a comparative study about anti-Americanism, one common trend is that, despite what many Americans would expect, anti-Americanism has risen noticeably since 9/11.

This column will not focus on how that happened or how it mostly was in response to our reactions to the terrorist attacks (Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.), but to add a unique reason to study abroad: to act as American ambassadors.

I believe that studying abroad in this new post-9/11 era is not only advantageous for a student's college experience, but also to learn how America is perceived abroad, and to find out why, by discussing issues with the citizens of the country of your choice.

Continue Reading: 12 Next »