"We are here to help the study abroad office. The point of outreach specifically is to help study abroad understand what they're doing. What they're doing well and what they need work on."
"Everything is confidential"

Where did you go? When? If they are international students you want to ask them where are they from.
A: My name is Alexis. I went to Argentina for 3ish weeks and winter break
A: Madi, studied in France for 10 weeks in SUmmer of 2016
A:Studied aborad in Abiz
A:Studied abroad in Madrid for Spring Semester of 2016
A: Lauren studied abroad in France for the summer of 2016, also did a semster in London for the fall of 2017
A:

How was your experience? "If theree was something memorable
A:I traveled a lot through Argentina. I went to like 6 different cities so there was a lot of moving. That was really cool. I've seen a touristy place, I went to Iguza falls, it's one of the world wonders or whatever. That was a crazy experience,
A:We did like 5 weeks of school and 4 weeks of a host family. I'm a food science major and one of the colledst things we did was make beer. Interesting to see small scale production
A: I guess just experiencing the culutre. I stayed within the city so I just explored it really
A: I stayed in Spain too because you're already there and there's so much to see. One of the most memorabel was seeing how easy it was to connect to people, everyone was so welcoming and nice
A: I was in France for their equivilent of 4th of July. IT was really cool to see one of their holidays and celbrate it with local people. Got to celbrate bonfire night

Probe: What was something memorable that you took from the experience?

What did you learn about the culture?
Probe:  What were some of the differences between home and where you studied?
A: Culture over there was very Eurocentric. A lot of their norms are very European, even the things they do on the daily. My program was a political program, I learned that politics plays a role in their daily lives. It's very different because they're governments more fucked up, the structure and the way they think about their government is just so different. And their economy sucks, so they have a lot of different factors that play in their
A: I went to school in the summer so it was just American students. They were a lot more relaxed, the teachers were the last ones in the building, "You americans are too uptight" they would make fun of us for having thiengs planned. Living with the family was really cool, they had 3 daughters it was cool seeing a family near the same age. One daughter is going to school for free, the other is going into med school. Free educaiton but kinda high taxes
A: it was similar, everything was much more slow paced, relaxed. Everything closes for 3 hours in the middle of thed day. Dinner takes about 4 hours of the evening. YOou saw that everywhere from buying plane ticket to going to class. I missed a train because I was waiting for my waiter to bring my bill.
"They eat dinner at like 11 at night. I was like HOW?"
-DO you like that better? I think I do. I think I would prefer a mix
A: Going to an engineering school was weird because you don't live on campus, it's like going to high school. The students are definetley more relaxed. one thing that was different was that here there's a sense of antreprenurership, everyone is more focused on making an impact. THat's one thing the s
A: Both in france and in UK the work-life balance was different. I worked in France a 9-5, and onc you're out of work you really stop caring about it. The World Cup was going on and everyone was more focused on that, even though it was an engineering firm. They were appaled that people went back to work in the US after holidays in the US, host dad was complaining about only getting 5 weeks of work. Their mental health and way of being is alot more healthy.



What technology did you take with you? Why?
Probe: If you didn’t take something, why not?
A: I actually didn't take my laptop because I knew I wasn't gonna be on my laptop. I was moving a lot so I didn't wanna be carrying so much technology. We traveled every other day in like bus rides for like 10 hours. But I did take a camera, and one of my light cameras, and my phone.
A: I took my phone and laptop, we were requiered to do jounal entries to get credit
A: Phone and my camera. It was no big deal if you didn't bring a laptop
A: I tooke verything. I took laptop. Phone, tablet, chargers
A: I brought my phone and my laptop.

When did you find yourself using it the most?
Probe:  Communicating with people in the host country or at home?  What did you use it for?
A:I think the main thing I did was take a lot of pictures. I took my camera with me everywhere I went. I used my phone a lot too
A: I mostly used my phone for pictures and laptop fo
A: Camera, thousands of pictures. Phone was basically a music player, didnt' have a plan
A; I used my phone for communication, getting around the city
A; Used my phone for getting around. I got a UK phone number, it was super useful because I could give my phone out to classmates, I felt more like a lcoal

What kind of advice do you have for someone who is preparing to go abroad and technology they should take with them?
A: Depending on your place, and course work. For mine I went to lectures but they required a journal, a lot of the times I really didn't need technology
A: Looking up wher eyoure going. If you really like pictures bring a camera. IF it's a longer study abroad bring a laptop
A: If you know you're doing a lot of online assignments bring a loptop, but I think you can get by without it.
A; Same, depends.
-"Yeah coursework is impoirtant but leisure"
A:A portable charger, literally, like two of them
A;
A; ONe reason I brought my tablet was because it was an easier interface to do stuff on the go. But your phone is really all you need, there's great apps for navigating and communicating even without a local plan
A: I still woudl recommend getting a sim card, in case there's no wifi. I felt much more assimlated and independent with the Sim Card.

What were the differnces between tourist and locals?
A; I went to a small town so like no tourists go there. It was the whole town and us. They wake up at like 11 and don't go outside at all, eat, hang out all day. A lot of them work at little corner stores, come home, hang out, have dinner at like 9 at night. Then go out and drink and come home at like 2 in the morning. At least the young people
A; I lived in a really small town too. Everyone all knows each other, so they actually liked having a tourist. But in Paris I definetley felt like an American, I felt like I stuck out. Locals didn't really want to talk to you
A; Every morning I walked by the leaning tower of piza, it got really annoying trying to navigate through the crowd. There's a big difference because there's a lot of catering to tourists in the area.

How did you start getting around? (differences of navigation) What did you do for fun?
A: when I was in Buenos Aires, we got to immerse ourselves, we all took the same train etc.
A:
A: Getting around everyone would walk around, the locals would be more biking or vespas. Some students say that it's really easy to spot an American
A: Yea with the tourists I was with in class, you could tell who was a tourists because only internantional students used backpacks. No one in spain uses a backpack for school
A; In bothe France and UK you can tell who's a tourist because they always look lost. I tried not to stand out. Americans wear gym shoes, leggins, sweatpants, or logo shirts. Even just going to class, girls would wear lipstip, dress up. Locals dressed differently. No local or European takes pictures with monuments

In what ways did your use of technology change from the time you arrived and the time you left?
Probe: Which apps did you use more or less often from when you arrived, etc? (So like when you start, when you finish, did you find yourself using something more, maybe apps)
A: I don't think I uses any apps, I didn't realy use my phone that much but for pictures. I used Tripit, it had an agenda for the whole day.
A; I used Whatsapp so I could call my parents, I did that pretty consitently. In the school the Wifi was set up so you could only use one device at a time. My host family was super rural, they had a limited amount of data for Wifi, I had to learn which apps use how much, tried to use wifi a lot less to be respectful
A; I dont think it changed too much. I used google maps a lot less near the end
A: I used whatsapp for the first time. I used a map app where you could download the map of the city, you can use it without wifi.
A; When I didn't have the sim card I was on my phone a lot less. I feel like I appreciated things a lot more, less snapchat, etc. But overall it was pretty consistent

At what point in your experience did you feel most comfortable ?
A: This was towards the end. We had a chill day we went to like a really really big market. I just got lost purposely I was by myself the whole day, I was just like whatever. I just wandered off on my own and I bought some freshly squeezed orange juice. I was like "Oh whatever, I can get by"
A: I was responsible getting myself TO the internship. Traveling was usually with a group of people, doing that on my own made me feel more comfortable
A; I was comfortable pretty quickly, not really scared of new environments. I stopped by the same cafe, so by the time they knew who I was and what I ordered I felt more like a local
a; I don't think I was uncomfortable in the city, never felt out of place or anythin glike that
A; There was some points I kinda was uncomfortable. I felt most confident when I was with locals in whatever town I was in, i tried to mirror their attitude, etc.

What technology did you find invaluable that you couldn't live without when you were there?
A; I took this little sony camera with me. Towards the end one of my SD cards ran out, so one day I didn't have my camera and it really bothered me.
A; Probably my phone for getting around and taking pictures. Nice to look back at memories. Some of my group members would try to take pictures of everything, it was annoying that you could really tell they were Americans, taking like a million pictures to get the perfect instagram picture
A; Camera
A: Phone
A; I guess my phone. You don't really need it to have a good time

You think you could have had a better experience if you didn't have your tech?
A: I could see how social media could have a negative impact. A lot of people get pulled into the idea that study abroad is a life changing experience and try to prove it, and they end up getting too involved in social media
A: For my favorite part of the trips I took so many pictures. Now that I look back you know it was a really good spot to just medidate and just feel it, I feel like I didn't do that

A; I think you need a balance, a lot of people still keep too much contact at home and you don't really get to experience the trip. It's like going to a concert and putting the whole thing on snapchat.