Go Global

Exploring Tenerife with my Spanish astronomy class 

Studying abroad is an experience that is being increasingly stressed by Saint Michael's College; the Media, Journalism and Digital Arts department recently integrated a required semester abroad for their majors and I've even talked to pre-med students who are looking to spend a semester in Africa. Seeing as searching for the perfect study abroad program has been my obsession since I was 13 (when I began to study outside of Thailand/Switzerland over the summer), I thought I'd share a few tips. First, there's SMC's study abroad website which has a comprehensive list of approved programs that you can sort by language, semester and location. 

On the streets of London with my friend
Lodo after a long day of lectures

There are three other sections on the site that I love: a list of global news sources so you can see what's going on in your study abroad region, an album displaying 2011's Global Eyes study abroad photography competition winners and links to SMC study abroad bloggers. I also found the studyabroad.com and goabroad.com to be really great databases for program searches - although not all of them listed will be SMC-approved ,you can petition for approval. My favorite study abroad programme pages that are sponsored by other universities include Boston University, Syracuse, NYU and Middlebury. 

Finally, your number one resource will ultimately be SMC's study abroad director, Peggy Imai. You can schedule an appointment with her online or by calling 802-654-2222. She also has office hours between 13.00 - 17.00 on weekdays, and her office is located inside the same building as the Career Development Center next to the word garden (between Jeanmarie and the McCarthy Arts Center).