Did you know that almost half of Miami students study abroad? With so many programs to choose from, lots of scholarships, great advisors, and our own overseas campus in Luxembourg, studying abroad is a possibility for anyone! We got in touch with a few students to share their own unique experiences while studying abroad in the past couple of years.
Lauren Voegtle – Argentina and Cuba
My name is Lauren Voegtle. I’m a junior International Studies and Latin American Studies double major, and I studied abroad in Argentina and Cuba. I studied in Argentina for a semester with the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) at Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires and spent J-Term in Cuba with the Latin American Studies department. My favorite part of studying abroad was having the opportunity to create a whole life and develop a sense of home in a city on the opposite end of our world! I truly feel like Buenos Aires became my second home and I feel like the challenge of being so far from my friends and family really pushed me to be more confident, independent, and make connections with new people. I never thought that I would see a glacier or go underneath a waterfall, but I had the opportunity to do both of these things on my trips to Patagonia and the Iguazú Falls (my first natural wonder of the world!) during my time studying abroad! This experience contributed to my liberal education because it really pushed me to observe the world around me and make connections between the people I met, the places I visited, and what I had learned in my classes at Miami and at Universidad del Salvador. For example, I have learned in my classes about the informal settlements or shantytowns in the outskirts of Latin American cities, but I had the chance to actually volunteer in one of these communities as a service learning component to one of the courses I took abroad. This opportunity made me realize that what I study isn’t just theory or words on a page, but real human experiences that deserve attention and thoughtful action.
Deron Clark – Costa Rica
My name is Deron Clark and I am a senior Zoology major with an Environmental Science co-major. During the summer of 2016, I participated in a field school in Costa Rica called “Danta: Association for Conservation of the Tropics.” I took a course called “Methods of Primate Behavior and Conservation” where I learned how to conduct field research on primates. I learned different field techniques and practiced them by observing the four species of monkeys in Costa Rica: white faced capuchin monkeys, red back squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and spider monkeys. We stayed at a research station in the Osa Peninsula where the conservation organization, Osa Conservation, also did research on a variety of things. We were able to learn about the things that organization does. I went to a night patrol with the coordinator of their sea turtle conservation program and we to find sea turtles laying eggs so we could move them to a gated nursery. We also did other things like visiting beaches, boat ride, and visiting a volcano crater.
Jen Laufmann – Luxembourg
