Anonymous wrote:Russia. Early 90. B A N A N A S.

Me too! I was in Moscow in 92. We did spring break in Uzbekistan. Crazy fun.

Vietnam 2000. Changed my life.

Anonymous wrote:Madrid in the early 90s. It was awesome but I imagine the experience is very different for kids now with the internet, cell phones, etc. It makes me sad that my kids won't have the same experience I did, where we were completely disconnected from home friends and family. Also where we had to figure things out with books, maps, etc. It really made us all very self-sufficient.

+1

We program students were a very tight, bonded group, maybe because we were so dependent on each other. The friends I made that year are close friends to this day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madrid in the mid 1980s, for a full academic year. It changed my life including my career trajectory.

Are you a woman? I studied abroad’ just for a month in Spain in rhe late 80s and was so shocked by the sexual harasssment. Curious if others experienced it.

Yes, a woman. Lots of harassment and catcalls etc at that time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madrid in the mid 1980s, for a full academic year. It changed my life including my career trajectory.

Are you a woman? I studied abroad’ just for a month in Spain in rhe late 80s and was so shocked by the sexual harasssment. Curious if others experienced it.

I was in Madrid for a year in 1991 and did not experience a different level of harrassment than was happening in the U.S.

Madrid in the early 90s. It was awesome but I imagine the experience is very different for kids now with the internet, cell phones, etc. It makes me sad that my kids won't have the same experience I did, where we were completely disconnected from home friends and family. Also where we had to figure things out with books, maps, etc. It really made us all very self-sufficient.

Strasbourg, France - spring semester 2009. I studied French and political science but the university went on strike so I didn’t get to go to class much. I became good friends with a lot of Erasmus students and I further developed my worldview and my love of traveling.

I first discovered I loved international travel when I was 13 and my Catholic Church in Arlington asked if any youth wanted to go to Haiti on a teen delegation. I knew nothing about it but was I up for adventure?? Heck yeah! Changed my life and opened my mind to wanting to learn new languages, explore other cultures, and develop relationships with others from around the world. I remember going to westover library and pulling every book on Haiti 😂 it was a different world then.

Montpellier, France in the early 2000's. A life-changing experience. I will push my kids to do the same.

Nice, France for a semester in the 90s. It was fabulous and solidified my French skills. Traveled around France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland on weekends and during school breaks. Your kid will have a blast!

Yes, in Prague! At Charles!

It was amazing. It is my favorite European city. I hope your DC has as great of a time as I did. It's a beautiful city with so much to offer, yet at the same time not too big. The only hard thing about it is the Czech language -- much harder to learn a bit of and get along in than a Romance language.

Anonymous wrote:Madrid in the mid 1980s, for a full academic year. It changed my life including my career trajectory.

Are you a woman? I studied abroad’ just for a month in Spain in rhe late 80s and was so shocked by the sexual harasssment. Curious if others experienced it.

Anonymous wrote: Nice, France.

It solidified my French skills for the next 45 years!

+1 same UMD

Madrid in the mid 1980s, for a full academic year. It changed my life including my career trajectory.

Japan for two academic years - junior year and then the year between college and law school. I was a language major and my college gave fellowships for East Asian country study abroad. It was wonderful.

Semester at the University of Otago in Dunedin, NZ. Had a pleasantly good time, saw a stunningly beautiful country, plenty of weekend hiking trips. In retrospect probably should have gone somewhere in Europe. I thought going as far away as possible would be interesting, and it was, but culturally it was not too different.