Study Abroad: How to Get the Most Out of Your Experience

by Michele-Marie Dowell, Kelly Mirsky

For all Study Abroad programs. Via personalized exercises, this self-directed workbook guides students through five distinct strands of development, all of which are necessary to fully capitalize on their study abroad experience. Strands personal development, learning about one's own culture, learning about another culture, professional development, and learning a language, and each is addressed at the three crucial phases of the before, during and after the sojourn. One major goal of the text is to offer a purposeful agenda to help students move from being the conventional tourist to an explorer who truly acquires an authentic view of another culture.

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2002

Reviews

[Juneko Robinson]

OK, there may be some things that are a bit obvious in this book, however, it's really designed for students--particularly undergrads-- who are about to embark on their first study abroad trip. The subtitle says it all: how to get the most of your experience and the questions in this workbook help students think more critically about how to get more--personally, educationally, and professionally--out of their study abroad experience. As I mentioned above, some of these questions might seem obvious to any one who has already experienced study or travel abroad. However, as the authors point out, it is entirely possible to NOT have a cross-cultural experience when studying abroad by simply limiting yourself to the tried and already familiar, hanging out exclusively with your own kind and avoiding anything novel or challenging.

That's where this book comes in. It's a workbook designed to encourage students to set goals for themselves: goals for improving their language skills, goals for increasing their self-confidence and independence while traveling and living abroad, and professional development goals that enable students to use their experiences abroad to help them stand out during job interviews, etc. Especially clever is the way in which the authors have divided the text up into sections that correspond to exercises designed to be completed during predeparture, while abroad, and upon returning home.

Thinking through your objectives and writing down goals definitely helps students be more engaged in their study abroad experiences and helps them reach attainable and measurable milestones. Even as a relatively seasoned study/travel abroad grad student who is planning another extended stay abroad, I still found the book helpful, particularly the professional development sections. My only complaint is that I wish that they had also included a bibliography of other books that go into more depth on topic such as culture shock, intercultural communication, etc. But, all in all, I highly recommend this book to teachers and administrators who run study abroad programs at colleges and universities, as well as their students. In fact, I'll be giving a friend of mine a heads up about this book: she's a Spanish teacher who organizes study abroad trips for her students at a community college.

[Sarah Felix]

Excellent resource! A student would do well to read this before the trip, then reflect afterwards.