Academic Year 2009-2010

asad-banner

asad-asad-pic

Vitals: Junior Political Science and Spanish Major; Global Cultures Certificate

Goals: While abroad I have three goals: 1) to improve my Spanish-speaking fluency even more through consistent Spanish-speaking [no English will leave my lips while in Spain!]; 2) to travel as much as I can within Spain and throughout Europe; 3) to advance in comparative politics coursework.

Motivation: Madrid is the heart of Spain. As a metropolitan city, it will afford me the opportunity to see a unique mix of cultures all centering around castellano as a primary means of communication. Moreover, studying in Spain will give me the opportunity to experience all that I have learned while on-campus, such as the infamous windmills-turned-giants from Don Quixote and the Spanish theta.

Previous overseas travel: Canada, Palestine/Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Dominican Republic

eleanor-banner

conrad-eleanor-picVitals: German and (hopefully) French Major, Certificate in Women’s Studies

Goals: I am very eager to travel around Germany and Europe and meet new people. I want to improve my High German while learning some of the regional dialect.

Motivation: I have wanted to study abroad since middle school, and I decided to apply for a program my junior year of high school to improve my French. However, I was sent to a German speaking country. I fell in love with the language and really learned a lot about myself. I chose the Freiburg program because I heard it was very well run, it was centrally located in Europe, and I wanted to improve my German.

Previous Overseas Travel: Ireland, Switzerland

chris-banner

daykin-chris-pic

Vitals: French, History, and Political Science Major, with European Studies certificate

Goals: I hope to get a better understanding of French culture as well as the language, and also to figure out what career path I want to take.

Motivation: I chose for a couple of reasons: First, I had to go a French-speaking place so I could improve my language skills. Second, I really wanted to go to Europe so I could travel all over the continent and visit many countries during my time abroad. Third, I’ve lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin all my life, so I needed to go somewhere warm for once (Aix is in the south of France).

Previous overseas experience: Went to Italy for a week my senior year of high school for spring break with my Humanities class – and it was a great experience.

andrew-banner

knable-andrew-pic

Vitals: Japanese Major

Goals: Since I am a Japanese major, I truly want to become immersed in the language. I also want to expand my mind by experiencing a different culture and living on my own in a foreign country. Of course, I want to forge connections with people while I am abroad that I will know for the rest of my life and may help me get a nice career someday.

Motivation: While there are various locations throughout Japan that I could have tried to apply for, I decided I wanted to go to Sapporo because it is in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Hokkaido is very similar to Wisconsin, such as dairy and climate, but also Sapporo is near the city of Obihiro which is actually Madison’s sister city. I went there once before and really enjoyed the time I spent, but I could not speak a word of Japanese. Now, having spent a number of years honing my skills, I wish to go there whenever possible to see the people I met before and show them how far I have come. Sapporo is also a big city, but not too big, so there is a countless number of things I can do while there.

Previous overseas travel: The only time I have been outside of the US was when I went to Obihiro, Japan in 2007!

julie-banner

strupp-julie-picVitals: Journalism and International Studies, African Studies Certificate

Goals: My main goal is to get to know people in Senegal and learn about the culture through them. I want to improve my French as well–sink or swim style I guess, since it’s the official language–and learn to speak Wolof as best I can in under a year. As a fledgling journalist, I want to gain experience doing field research abroad, something I hope to do later as a profession. And I want to take pictures of those funky Baobab trees.

Motivation: I’ve always wanted to study abroad, not only because I have an insatiable wanderlust but because I believe the experience is so beneficial. I had multiple reasons for studying in Senegal in particular. I thought taking classes and living in a country that speaks my second language, French, would be a great challenge, but I didn’t really want to study in Europe since African cultures interest me much more. I became interested in Senegalese culture in particular from a good friend of mine who is Senegalese, so I was thrilled when I got into this program.

Previous overseas travel: (Sadly lacking… but I’m working on changing that.) Dominican Republic, Mexico, Canada