U. adds ten sites to study abroad options

The University wants you to leave. Or so says the Study Abroad Program, which has expanded dramatically in the past year to help students study in foreign countries. Currently, there are approximately 27 University programs available to students, Study Abroad Advisor Katherine Krebs said. More than ten of these programs began in the past year or will begin in the upcoming year. For instance, this spring the University will offer a new European culture and society program at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, Krebs said. The program's curriculum will be taught in English with an "emphasis on contemporary Europe," she added. Many other existing Study Abroad programs have been supplemented, Krebs said. A Wharton component has been added to the Lyon Program in France, and the University has expanded its affiliations with the London universities, Krebs said. "In general, the program structure is different in each case," Krebs added. "The programs, each one, probably has a slightly different genesis." Krebs also said that each program reflects its origin and the reasons it was created. She added that the program sites in Japan and Korea reflect the University's interest in expanding into the Pacific Rim and strengthening its relations with these and other Asian nations. But, according to Krebs, these programs are not just one-sided because the University reciprocates by hosting many students from foreign countries. The University sends over 400 students abroad annually, Krebs said. The University hosts approximately 3,000 international students. College senior Mark Liiv, who attended the Penn Abroad program in Nigeria at the University of Ibadan, said that his experience was very educational. "It was the kind of thing that you really don't know what you're getting into, but no amount of preparation will prepare you for it," Liiv said. "It was just amazing, and it got better and better." Liiv and three other University students left for Nigeria in early March and were abroad for five-and-a-half months. Liiv said he was immersed in the culture. Some students travelled, lived with families and went to traditional events. He added that due to the political turmoil in Nigeria, the school schedule could not be relied on.