“My history teacher would always say this,” says Tina Astorga, a UNCW sophomore, “if you want to learn something, you have to go and see it for yourself. The best way to actually learn is by experiencing it.”
This inspired Astorga and Nicole Grady, another sophomore studying business, to pursue studying abroad. For credit and class requirements, students can choose to study abroad for a year, a semester or a short-term break. Students take these trips despite the changing world, with roadblocks ranging from conflict overseas to natural disasters such as the Los Angeles fires and a flood in Spain. The Department of Education Abroad still finds ways to help students stay safe and enjoy their educational travel experience.
Grady went on a study abroad trip over winter break to Australia. For her, this was one of her first trips abroad traveling by herself. Although it was nerve-wracking learning how to navigate the airports, she found other study-abroad students in her program, and it helped her transition. “You’re going to meet up with people through your program all throughout the airports,” Grady said. “You always connect with people.”
While overseas she made friends, went to class and got to see the Great Barrier Reef. On her excursion to the reef, she noticed simple changes the Australian culture has made to benefit the environment because of climate change. “All the boats we went on had to improve their sustainable practices. Their forks [for lunch] couldn’t be plastic,” said Grady. “Even the nausea medicine that we were allowed to take was regulated. The sunscreen was regulated. All in efforts to protect the reef.” The simple things she saw that were done to help the environment made her consider her personal practices in the United States, including the sunscreen she uses. “I didn’t realize sunscreens played such a big part in water,” said Grady. The chemicals from sunscreen impact ocean flora and fauna.
Even with the responses people have toward climate change, there are unavoidable natural disasters that people can’t do anything about.
Three days before her flight back to the U.S., Grady heard about the LA fires. That was where she, and most of her program, was flying through. “We were like, ‘Do we need to rebook? Find a way through Dallas?’” said Grady. “But those [flights] were all booked. It was very scary.”
Upon her landing, she could see the bright orange glow in the distance of the Palisades fire wreaking havoc on LA. According to Business Insider, since the fires were about 10 miles away from the airport, the airport remained open but experienced delays. For Nicole, not only was there a delay in her flight but also with customs and her luggage. “Customs was backed up because of the fires. We couldn’t get off the plane until 30 minutes later,” Nicole said. “No one knew about all of the [conveyor] belts that were down because of the smoke. You had to take your luggage yourself and check it in.” After a scary flight to the U.S. and a hectic day in the airport, she felt better once out of LA.
But not everyone’s home is safe. Astorga who planned to go to Valencia, Spain also had family in the area. On Oct 29, 2024 a torrential rainfall led to a disastrous flood in Valencia. By Oct 30, about a hundred people had died or were missing, and the numbers kept climbing.
“What I understand was that the main city, the downtown area was fine, but the outskirts got destroyed. And they don’t have insurance like we do in the United States, so they have to pay everything themselves,” Astorga said. Fortunately, her family was safe from the flood’s effects; however, as the community came back together, other aspects were impacted such as traffic and reconstruction. “There’s like a bunch of videos of people posting about the flood, what they looked like, and you can literally see the destruction. They took cars and everything.”
Since the flood occurred, Astorga decided to postpone her plans to study abroad for another semester. She wants to go not just for the educational experience, but also an enriching life experience. Having travelled with family beforehand, she remembers how fun it was to experience an entirely different culture, especially the food. “It’s very fresh and you can tell they don’t have really big supermarkets. They go to work and buy their food and then go and cook it.” Even though a natural disaster caused her to change her plans, she says that it has allowed her to work things out for the better academically.
In regard to how students can best plan a study-abroad trip, “The most important thing is to talk to someone,” says Astorga. “Like a trusted advisor…they’re the people that are the most informed about it and they can really help.”
The Department of Education Abroad helps students through every step of the process. Whether or not a student knows where they want to go or are traveling for the first time, the department hosts information sessions open for students to learn about studying abroad and ask questions.
“Students are always welcome and encouraged to talk to our education abroad advising team,” said Dr. Kara Inman, the director of the Department of Education Abroad. “When they are in the planning process of going abroad, during their application phase, as well as after they’ve applied.”
Throughout the process are orientations and information sessions about the desired location students plan to go to. In addition to these sessions, the department provides resources for students studying abroad in general and specifics such as health insurance, Visas and the Alert Traveler app.
The Alert Traveler app is one of the many ways the university keeps in contact with student abroad to ensure safety. “It will provide alerts for a variety of things,” says Dr. Inman.
Through the app, students are able to share their additional travel plans and get alerts about upcoming world events. This can be specifically helpful for any last-minute changes due to events like what happened in Valencia and LA. In addition to the app, advisors of the department have resources in these locations. Inman stated, “The nice thing is that with all of our approved programs, we have people on the ground in those locations.”
Therefore, if there are changes, university partners and contacts will inform students who are in the location.
“We are constantly monitoring situations around the globe, and we also utilize information coming from a variety of sources including the Department of State Travel Alert Levels,” said Inman. “We don’t send students to countries that are a Department of State level 3.”
Countries like Colombia, Israel and Russia used to be study abroad locations; however, because of current events these countries have changed on the travel alert level and are not offered. Yet, there are plenty of places around the globe in Europe, Asia and Africa where students can go for a semester, on faculty-led trips, or even intern.
Ongoing international conflicts and climate change induced natural disasters have made it difficult to study abroad in certain regions around the world. These events have made students conscientious of international affairs and more intentional when traveling. For more information about how to start your study-abroad experience, visit UNCW Education Abroad.
