Many international students share the same concerns as American students when considering a semester or summer abroad. These anxieties include insecurity over the completion of a major, missing out on Vanderbilt activities and leaving friends behind as they leave to experience an unfamiliar culture.
"Next year I will be a senior in the School of Engineering," said junior Serkan Yaliman, a native of Istanbul, Turkey. "I would have studied abroad, but I found it too difficult to arrange my classes. Now it is too late."
Catherine Ruelens, a sophomore engineering student from Belgium, said she does not plan on studying abroad either because the locations of many of the engineering programs do not interest her.
"The good programs are in Europe, and I live in Europe. I would want to go somewhere with a completely foreign culture," Ruelens said.
Although only 8 percent of the Vanderbilt undergraduate student body is composed of international students, the percentage of study abroad participants is actually greater within the international student community than within the American student community. Ara Pachmayer, director of the Global Education Office, said it relates to the different experiences and concerns of international students.
"The exposure to a new culture here in the U.S. might encourage (international students) to try studying in another country," Pachmayer said.
An international student's desire to study abroad is often questioned by other students, however.
"People always ask me why I want to study abroad, believing me to already be studying abroad," said sophomore Frances White, who is from London. "But I feel just as much at home in America as I do in England. I would like to experience a completely new culture." For this reason, White intends to study in New Zealand during the first semester of her senior year.
Some international students believe completing a semester abroad would be too difficult. Becoming accustomed to a new way of life can be demanding, and for those students who have already had to adapt to a different language, food and an alien culture, a semester abroad can be too challenging.
Rosamary Ochoa Vargas, a first-year student from Mexico, said she is not interested in studying abroad.
"I feel I would be studying abroad of abroad," Vargas said. "I love Vanderbilt, and I would rather spend all my time here instead of going somewhere else and adapting again and then coming back and readapting."
Arranging a semester abroad can be a difficult process, both for the student involved and for the GEO Office. Registration fees need to be paid and student visas need to be obtained. It is often easier for the GEO office when an international student decides to study abroad.
"We process visas for a few of our programs," Pachmayer said. "But it is much easier for EU citizens to study in the EU as they do not require visas."
