GETTING YOUR EXPLORATIONS UNDERWAY

Start Early

Although program application deadlines (as well as in house deadline) are normally about mid-semester prior to the semester that you plan to be abroad (See: "When to Apply"), it's a good idea to begin two semesters ahead, or even earlier. First year is by no means too soon for your first appointment in this office.

Getting squared away for a semester, or year, abroad is going to take more legwork than getting squared away for the next semester at Swarthmore; and, since the 'unknown' factor is larger, you want to do it carefully and thoroughly. But the good news: once you get well into it, you'll find much of it to be a lot more enjoyable.

Meet with Steve Piker Early in the Process

At the beginning of your exploration, or very early on, have an initial session with Steve Piker. Some students (e.g., the French major who wants to go to Grenoble) are properly directed before they walk into this office for the first time. Many or most others have a more or less definite sense that they want to study abroad, and may or may not have some specification of this (e.g., want to go to a particular country or part of the world, work on a specific language, study a particular subject, work on a particular issue, or attend a certain kind of program). In either event, experience teaches that it is very useful to meet early on with Steve Piker, who will be glad to learn of your interests, help you to organize and focus them, clarify any administrative questions, help you get squared away on finding out how the foreign study world may be relevant to the specifics of your situation, and help you work with any issues that may be particular to your situation. Steve Piker will also be glad to review with you ways in which your foreign study can be integrated with your program of study at Swarthmore, and to refer you to other faculty members who can help with this as well.

Talk to Students Who Have Done Foreign Study

Ask students who have completed foreign study to talk with you about their experiences abroad. Just about without exception, they will be glad to do so. If you already know that you are, or may be, interested in one or a few programs, talk with students who have completed them. The Office for Foreign Study will help you to locate these students. If not (which is the majority occurrence), talk with any students who have completed foreign study, anywhere. At any time, there are, anyhow, 150-200 of these people on campus. This is likely to be enjoyable for you (not to mention your conversation partner), and helpful in lots of ways, not least of which is in responding to the nervousness many of us experience before going, for the first time, to live in (as opposed to visit or tour in) another culture, and that is the majority of you all. There are only two known, reliable antidotes to this: one is to spend time with people, preferably who are in the same station and place in life as you, who have done it, and listen to them and empathize and experience vicariously; and the other is to do it, and persevere in the face of the discombobulation you will likely experience at the beginning.

Program Visits

Each semester, representatives from programs recommended by this office visit campus to meet and talk with students who may be interested in their programs. We welcome these visits, and so should you. Be sure to read the Weekly News for information about scheduled visits. Specifically, if and when we have a representative visit from a program that you are looking at, make it a point if you at all can to attend the public meeting with the representative; and, if you wish to meet on your own with the representative, let us know a little in advance of the visit, usually this can be arranged. For the purposes of getting well informed about a program and, especially, figuring out whether or not it is right for you, the half hour or hour that you spend with the program representative will be time very well spent indeed.