By: KATELYN FIRESTEIN
Staff Writer
karfires@iu.edu
For students who are interested in studying abroad, there are 11 opportunities at IU South Bend for students to get involved this academic year. Over spring break there will be opportunities to travel to Mexico, Belize and Canada. During the summer, there will be multiple trips, including trips to Iceland, London, Athens, Japan, Florence and Costa Rica.
Though some trips might align well with more specific majors, such as business in Athens or English in London, all the study abroad trips fulfill credits for General Education requirements as well. This means that students do not need any specific pre-requisites for the trips.
Scholarships and financial aid can be used to cover expenses for the trip. There are also a variety of study abroad specific scholarships that are offered through IU South Bend and through other organizations.
The spring break trips last a week, while the summer trips vary from about two to four weeks long.
Members of the international Studies Program are very eager for students to get involved in these trips. When asked about the benefits for students who study abroad, International Studies Intern Studies, Gina Massaro, named several.
“You can widen your career opportunities because it expands your resume. It can create lasting friendships with the people you go with. You are able to discover the world in a wonderful way and much less expensively than if you were to go as a vacation” explained Massaro.
If interested in any of the spring break trips, students have until November 1 to apply. The Canada trip fulfills WGS-B 399 Human Behavior and Social Instruction: Gender, Human Rights, and Society. The cost of this trip is $1300.
The second spring break trip is to Belize which fulfills HSC-N 390 Health Promotion and Disease Prevention which costs $2950.
The final spring break trip is traveling to Mexico. In the past, it has been a 4-week summer trip, so the details for this trip were not yet given, but should be updated soon.
If there are not any trips offered through IU South Bend that interest students, IU Bloomington also has a variety of study abroad opportunities available for IU South Bend students as well with additional destinations.
Applications for these trips are available online at the IU South Bend International Programs page: https://academics.iusb.edu/international-programs/index.html. This is also where students can find more specific information on trips they are interested in, find the links to the International Studies Program blog and International Studies Program social media.
