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Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: Clubs & Organizations

Media Credit: Heather Farrar The streets of Germany

About 100 students traveled abroad this summer to different countries and cities such as St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Uganda, South Korea, Austria, Paris, London and Berlin, according to Christian Wilwohl, the off-campus studies coordinator at Lynchburg College. Hospitality, spicy food, craziness and pastries from France were just a few words that Lynchburg College students used to describe their summer 2008 study abroad experience.

Signey Milks and Shannon Melchior, are two juniors who traveled to South Korea to attend Lynchburg's sister school Hannam University. They both agreed that the experience was worth it.

"We would go a million times over and think that all students should go," Melchior said.

They truly enjoyed getting to learn about the South Korean culture and according to Melchior daily activities "like sitting on the floor to eat, over time, wasn't so weird and actually became normal."

Both girls said that they were hesitant to travel to South Korea but found it to be one of the most fulfilling experiences of their lives.

"The food was really spicy and the cups were really small… [I was] always searching for a water pitcher," Milks said.

Both agreed that their favorite meal was bulgogi, a dish that requires you to drop raw beef in a boiling pot of hot oil in the middle of the table and then place the beef on top of rice and roll it in a lettuce leaf.

Melchior and Milks said their experiences have helped them gain more appreciation of how fortunate Americans are. They also said they have more respect for people who speak more than one language.
Senior Heather Farrar had a similar experience when she traveled to Berlin, London and Paris during the summer program, "How Wars End."

Farrar said she found that everyone was "bilingual or trilingual in Europe," which unfortunately made "Americans look like idiots who could only speak English."

Farrar was most impressed with the differences in architecture and enjoyed learning how European culture has been shaped by its' history. She now has plans to travel more and believes that studying abroad is a program that every student should participate in.

"This summer was one of the best experiences of my life…I met some amazing people," Farrar said.

Another senior, Kavian Tahbaz, who journeyed to Austria, had much of the same response.

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