More and more Tech students are looking to places beyond the Main Quad and Dixie Avenue — places such as Germany’s Cathedral of Aachen; Ethiopia’s cool, rainy highlands; and China’s Forbidden City — to define their college experience.

Hundreds of students travel through the university’s burgeoning study abroad program, while others take advantage of internship or research opportunities. The lion’s share of students who study abroad coordinate their travels through the International Student Affairs Office.

Before TTU created a study abroad coordinator position three years ago, about 20 students per year participated. Each year since then, the number has doubled and Amy Miller, TTU’s study abroad coordinator, anticipates that by the end of spring, almost 150 students will have gone through one of the programs this academic year.

Miller says the lure of adventure still plays a part in motivating most students, but students increasingly understand how thinking globally will enhance, even define,
their careers.

“There are several reasons students study abroad,” said Miller. “Language majors want to immerse themselves to become fluent, others are drawn to countries connected to their genealogy, some have a major that requires travel, and still, there are students who just want to see more of the world.

“In the business world, studying abroad gives you a big advantage,” said Miller. “Companies looking for college graduates are globally competitive, and you have a definite advantage seeking almost any job with this experience. It proves you can work well with all types of people.”

As one of 60 students in her high school class in Lynchburg, Tenn., Casey Millard’s hometown claustrophobia fostered a desire to travel. And to the TTU junior’s benefit, circumstances led her to pursue studying abroad.

She met her current boyfriend, Vadim Zheglov of Germany, the first day she moved to campus. She found a job at a company that exports German and French textbooks, and her boss spoke German. She then was assigned to TTU’s International Affairs Office as a work study student.

“Vadim is an exchange student and he traveled back home in May 2006 to fulfill his degree requirements,” said Millard. “I traveled to Aachen in northwest Germany in the spring of 2007 to study, and now he is back here working on his master’s degree.”

When the two compare notes of their experiences, both of them praise their experiences outside their own countries. (See International students, American experiences for Zheglov’s thoughts as an international student at Tech.)

“I found going to school in Europe required me to study more on my own, research more and learn to apply what I learned,” she said.

Miller says that’s exactly what students need to know before they venture to a European university for the first time.

“There’s no hand-holding,” said Miller. “Europeans tend to expect all of their students to study and learn things independently.

“But the great gain for students is independence,” said Miller. “There’s a selfconfidence that comes from learning to change plans and make decisions at the spur of the moment and realizing you can do it.”

Student Katy Long is not just surviving but thriving in Austria, where she writes frequent, long missives from her diary chronicling her adventures and e-mails them to Miller. Much of her correspondence is about every day life, punctuated by tales and photos from frequent trips around the country.

“Katy is a great example of how students can really grow by being open to learn from the people around them,” said Miller. “From doing dishes to discussing religion, she takes all that information in and sees how different cultures have different perspectives.

“Most students get to travel a lot because of the style of teaching they experience,” Miller added. “The grade is usually based solely on a final exam. There are not many projects or much homework during the semester, so it all rides on the final. Many students are happy to learn the credit transfers back to TTU as pass or fail instead of a letter grade.”

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