After ten months in Beirut, Lebanon, College senior Sara Barclay saw her study-abroad experience come to a sudden and surreal end aboard an evacuation helicopter on July 23.
"It was really a strange, bizarre thing to see Lebanon in this state," Barclay said. "There was a real sense of not knowing what happened or how long it's going to last."
Barclay is one of the students who chose to leave the Middle East in the wake of escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah this summer. And while she said she hopes to someday return, experts predict that the violence will significantly alter the way in which schools and students approach study abroad in the Middle East.
Penn's Middle East Overseas Program Manager Shannon Connelly said she expects that students will be more cautious about traveling in the area. She added that she has heard of students canceling trips at other schools, but that this has not yet happened at Penn.
Nine Penn students are slated to study in Israel, Syria, Cairo and Turkey this fall. Of the three traveling to Israel, one changed location from the northern city of Haifa to Tel Aviv.
University policy requires that students petition to study in Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and all other regions under U.S. State Department travel warnings. Penn's Office of International Programs accepts petitions solely on academic grounds, and Connelly said she expects no changes in this policy.
"I just continue to approach [the Middle East] as an interesting and educational part of the world to study in," Connelly said. "People become very enthusiastic in their history, their language, their political science courses . they're looking for that to continue."
According to the Institute of International Education, 957 American students studied abroad in the Middle East in the 2003-2004 school year --- the most recent statistics available. This number marks a significant increase from the previous year, but represents 0.5 percent of all U.S study-abroad students -that year - the fewest of all regions.
Gary Rhodes, director of Loyola Marymount University's Center for Global Education, said travellers should consider the region on a country-to-country basis.
He said that Egypt - a popular destination for American students -- remains a good study location. However, he predicted that the mounting number of students considering study in Israel will die down.
Connelly stressed that studying in a high-risk region is a personal decision. Whether a student travels to Lebanon or France, "the important thing is that people are more aware of local events," she said.
Penn monitors conditions abroad through discussions with Penn regional experts and foreign faculty, on-site staff abroad and International SOS, a medical, legal and security organization.
Barclay said Connelly was especially helpful during the crisis, providing a list of alumni in the area and evacuation contacts.
College senior Livia Levine spent the summer interning in Israel and said that despite the war, she felt safe living in Jerusalem.
"It was definitely worth it to spend a summer here," she said, adding that it was safe to travel in areas outside of northern Israel.
Rhodes agreed that there is still much to be gained by studying in a high-risk area.
"On the one side, there's the safety challenges, and on the other side, there's the importance of U.S. colleges and universities getting to understand the Middle East," Rhodes said.
