After Pandemic Pause, Study Abroad Programming Returns to UMSL – UMSL Daily
This summer, Jeannette Memmer stood in the shadow of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Strasbourg, France, admiring the gothic architecture and sculptures practically leaping out of the sandstone facade.
More than 30 years ago, his mother stood on the same floor and even sang inside the thousand-year-old cathedral as a student. For the University of Missouri-St. Louis As a junior, touching a living piece of medieval history – and family history – was a dream come true.
“My mother studied abroad, and it was a very influential part of her college career,” says Memmer. “She loved it.”
Memmer traveled to France as part of the three weeks Study trip to Strasbourg Offered by Global UMSL and the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Studies. Over the years, UMSL’s nearly 70 study abroad programs have enriched the lives of countless students like Memmer, providing transformative experiences around the world. Not only do students learn about another culture; they also cultivate a sense of independence and self-confidence.
“It’s personal growth that happens in a very short time,” says Violaine White, associate professor of French and co-director of the Strasbourg program. “It’s taking that first step outside your personal and national boundaries and comfort zone, realizing that you can actually do it. In terms of growth, I think it’s an amazing experience.
That is, until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Many study abroad programs have been canceled and UMSL students participating in long-term exchanges have been brought back to the United States with little warning, a hard-hitting element of the UMSL experience was forced into a holding pattern.
Annie Hydewho has worked with UMSL Global since 2019 and was recently appointed head of the study abroad office, saw the impact on study abroad programs and knew she wanted to help restore them as soon as possible safely.
As a former student abroad, Hyde strongly believes in the academic and professional skills students develop through the program. For months, she worked with UMSL Global and program officials to ensure that as many students as possible would regain access to these opportunities once restrictions began to be lifted.
Earlier this year, a full slate of overseas programs returned, spanning from Spain to South Africa and South Korea to Costa Rica, and UMSL students were eager to see the world after months of online classes, quarantines and social distancing.
“As we entered the current semester, application cycles and student counseling, we saw that there was a strong interest in international study opportunities and overseas travel” , says Hyde.
Programming has largely returned to normal, starting with a two-week winter intersessional program in Costa Rica directed by Associate Professor of Spanish Amy D’Agrosa. White and his colleague French teacher Sandra Trapani led the summer trip to Strasbourg, France, while Hyde joined the Pierre Laclede Honors College summer program in Germany.
Memmer, a history and French double major, had never left the country before. Her hopes of doing so were first dashed in high school when a study abroad trip to France was cancelled, so she jumped at the chance to join the Strasbourg program.
The three-week stay included many historical and cultural activities such as language lessons, a cooking class, a visit to the Alsace Wine Route and a visit to European Parliament. As a history major, Memmer’s favorite part of the program was visiting Haut-Koenigsbourg Castlea medieval castle in the Vosges, and discover history around every corner.
“It was definitely surreal, walking for coffee and seeing something like Notre-Dame [de Strasbourg] right in the middle of the street, this beautiful symbol of French and German heritage,” she says.
Maria Osuna, a double major in French and Japanese, joined the Costa Rican program during the winter intersession at the request of D’Agrosa. Take lessons at the Costa Rican Language Academyvisiting San José and visiting the Pachira Lodge in the rainforest only made him want to travel more.
Osuna continued his studies at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, for the spring semester, where she quickly struck up friendships with several other international students. On weekends, the group regularly traveled to other parts of the country such as Busan, Jeju Island, and Seoul.
One early morning hike in particular led to an indelible memory.
“In Yeosu, we climbed 40 flights of stairs to get to a Buddhist temple,” she says. “Yeosu is the second in Japan to see the sunrise, so we were able to see the sun rise completely above the ocean. It was very beautiful. It really stuck with me.
Jamison Straulin, a junior from the Pierre Laclede Specialized College studying education, took a course on World War II and the Cold War given by Associate Professor Christoph Schiesslwhich convinced him to join Schiessl’s two-week study abroad program in Germany this summer.
The program focuses on the history and memory of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and takes students to historical sites in Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Nuremberg. In Munich, Straulin visited the Dachau Concentration Camp – the first built by the Nazi regime.
“It really is an out-of-body experience to be standing in the middle of a concentration camp,” he says. “Even studying the Holocaust, learning about it, can’t come close to it, really being physically there.”
Despite the grim subject matter of the trip, Straulin enjoyed the freedom to explore a foreign land. Memmer and Osuna did too.
They found that it didn’t take them long to adjust to their new surroundings. After a few days, Straulin dined alone in Germany’s biggest cities, Memmer developed a morning routine, stopping at the same café for coffee each day, and Osuna navigated public transport like a local.
“It’s always exciting to see how [the students] evolve in a short time,” says D’Agrosa. “It’s not just language and culture. There is a maturity that occurs because they experience a different world.
Trapani also points to the confidence building inherent in travel – something Straulin has experienced first hand.
“I gained a lot of confidence, kind of out of necessity, because I was in a foreign country with nobody I really knew,” he says. “I had to gain the confidence to make friends, talk to people, try new things.”
The three students are already considering their next destinations, with some considering stays of more than a few weeks.
“At the end of the program, I felt like I could live there,” Memmer says of France. “I could make my life there.”
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of UMSL magazine. If you have an idea for an article for UMSL magazine, send an e-mail [email protected].
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