More Things about Abroad Studies

Today is was looking at various studying abroad related articles on a particular travel blog that I found interesting to me called Virtual Wayfarer. I read an article about how often people mess up when abroad and why. Most reasons seemed to be about general stupidity, unawareness, and sometimes cultural insensitivity.

The blogger tells a story about a woman who entered a pub in Ireland and ordered an alcoholic drink called an Irish Car Bomb. The waiter in the bar did not serve her at first and moved to the next customer. The article explains that this was a faux pas because of Ireland’s past of violent terrorist attacks prominently with car bombs. I myself was not aware of Ireland’s history, or at least in that depth. The blogger gave the example that it would be equivalent to ordering a “9/11” in an American bar.

This article helped further a point that I already knew which is: It’s very, very important to be aware of the culture and history of the area that you travel to or study in. If you don’t respect the culture or history of a place then you might not make as many acquaintances or not learn as much as you could from your time abroad. Learning the history and culture is part of learning abroad so having a bit of knowledge before you step of the plane at wherever you’re going will always help you. So researching the area you are going to visit is important when you want to avoid appearing culturally insensitive and if you want to appear to have an initiative to learn from another culture.

I was also looking at an article that discussed the gender gap in studying abroad? I found it interesting but the majority of students abroad are female. The article said that the ratio was 66% female and 34% male. The article explains that it is likely due to the lack of marketing to male students and sometimes the lack of positive reinforcement for males. Also there is a huge deficit of differences in ethnicity in studying abroad numbers. Most abroad students are Caucasian and there are not very many African American, Hispanic Americans, or Asian Americans that are studying abroad. I think that it should be a goal to better promote the opportunity to study abroad to more people and to find and solve some of the things that may be preventing certain groups from international study.

 

Sources:

Berger, Alex. "Avoid Wrecking Your Study Abroad Experience." Web log post. Http://virtualwayfarer.com/. WordPress, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. http://virtualwayfarer.com/avoid-wrecking-your-study-abroad-experience/.

Berger, Alex. "Men, It Is Long Past Time to Study Abroad." Web log post. Http://virtualwayfarer.com/. WordPress, 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. http://virtualwayfarer.com/men-it-is-long-past-time-to-study-abroad/.

Kaufmann, Karen M. "The Gender Gap." PS: Political Science and Politics 39.3 (2006): 447-53. Www.aifsabroad.com. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. http://www.aifsabroad.com/advisors/pdf/Gender_Gap_Shirley.pdf.