Our guest blogger for this post is Heidi Fischer, Director of Study Abroad. 
At age eleven, I marched for the reunification of a divided Germany, carrying a candle and a German flag, passing by armed guards that allowed a peaceful revolution. I walked through the Brandenburg Gate in a free Berlin, sat on top of the Wall that had separated a people and chipped away chunks with my dad’s hammer and chisel. It is thanks to these life-changing events that I was able to study abroad in the United States, and that has impacted me greatly.
Today, I help countless students at High Point University to fulfill their dream of living and studying in another country, and I do it, as Wes Moore called it, so that they may deepen their “understanding of people all over the globe” (103). While studying at Oxford University, Moore “understood that [his] perspective was still being formed. [Study abroad] would give [him] the tools to help shape and articulate it, but the world itself was the raw material [he] would apply it to” (20). You can do this as well: broaden your horizons with an international experience while studying at HPU!
Immerse yourself in a new location, language and culture in our program in Valparaiso, Chile, where you will live with a host family, enjoy traditional Chilean cuisine and take courses in Spanish alongside Chilean students. Study Eastern European politics in beautiful Graz, Austria, taking courses in English with students from around the world and exploring Western Europe on the weekends and term breaks. Or spend a semester in a metropolis like Seoul, South Korea, studying Asian business in English and travelling throughout Southeast Asia.
Students at High Point University also have the option to participate in four Global Experience “Maymester” programs during their studies. These programs vary each year and most are open to all majors. In 2016, you may want to consider Intermediate Spanish in Costa Rica, where you will live with a host family and earn 8 credits in the month of May. You could participate in our Global Business course which will travel to London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin. You may want to join our Global Village Habitat for Humanities build in Romania and travel to Budapest and Bucharest for cultural exploration. Or you could study Japanese anime and manga in Tokyo on our Japanese Media and Pop-culture program.
Join us for our two study abroad fairs this fall: explore the new semester programs on Friday, August 28, and learn more about the 2016 Maymester programs on Friday, September 18. Both fairs run from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the Slane Center Track.
So, you, too, can walk in a free Berlin. You, too, can deepen your understanding of the world, and the “other.” You, too, can explore and experience the exciting things our world has to offer. And when you do, I hope will change your life as it has mine.
Do you plan to study abroad while at HPU? Have you had a life-changing experience through travel or cross-cultural exchange?