how to prepare and what to expect
by kathryn patterson
[email protected]
Leanna Stephens is currently the President of the Student Government Association here at Bainbridge State College, and has visited Canada, as well as France and Italy, through our Study Abroad Program. I recently interviewed Leanna, and asked her a few questions pertaining to safety precautions, her favorite part of the experience, and what advice she would give to fellow travelers.
We met bright and early on a Tuesday morning at about 8a.m., and Leanna was more than happy to share a bit of her experience with students! We discussed the safety measures taken during the course of her trip, and she said “we traveled as a group mostly, and couldn’t go off on our own.” “When we were in certain places, you knew to put your bag in front of you, but not for long; just a few beggars and pick-pocketers,” said Leanna. “They were just like anyone you’d see here in the U.S,” she said. “We were far from danger of any kind, and our professors kept track of where everyone was,” she said.
Traveling to another country is an amazing opportunity, and as most people do, Leanna was able to select her favorite aspect of the trip, saying “being in another country, and seeing other people do the things that we do, just in a different way, is fascinating!” Leanna described the view of the churches in Italy as “beautiful and very, very moving.” “They made me cry,” she said, placing her hands firmly on the table and revealing the age of the historical sites. This led her to suggest “journaling at the end of every day.” Leanna said that she did so much that she couldn’t remember everything, and wished she had continued logging her daily activities.
Speaking of daily activities, Leanna advised students to “be prepared to WALK, because you will be doing a lot of it!” Besides journaling while you’re in, and trekking across, a different country, Leanna only had a few more pieces of advice to pass on, saying “don’t overwhelm yourself trying to bring a laptop and all of that, because you probably won’t need it.” She also said to “save room in your bag, because you can just buy a few toiletries when you get there.” Basically, “just keep it simple and easy!”
Leanna and I concluded our interview with what she found beneficial about visiting different cultures, to which she answered “it changed the way I saw everything when I got back! I noticed the amount of liter here in our country in comparison to Italy, France, and especially Canada, and the use of freshly picked foods and herbs at restaurants where we went.” She said “I notice some strange little habits now that I didn’t notice before, and I love that I am able see those differences and similarities between different cultures.”
We met bright and early on a Tuesday morning at about 8a.m., and Leanna was more than happy to share a bit of her experience with students! We discussed the safety measures taken during the course of her trip, and she said “we traveled as a group mostly, and couldn’t go off on our own.” “When we were in certain places, you knew to put your bag in front of you, but not for long; just a few beggars and pick-pocketers,” said Leanna. “They were just like anyone you’d see here in the U.S,” she said. “We were far from danger of any kind, and our professors kept track of where everyone was,” she said.
Traveling to another country is an amazing opportunity, and as most people do, Leanna was able to select her favorite aspect of the trip, saying “being in another country, and seeing other people do the things that we do, just in a different way, is fascinating!” Leanna described the view of the churches in Italy as “beautiful and very, very moving.” “They made me cry,” she said, placing her hands firmly on the table and revealing the age of the historical sites. This led her to suggest “journaling at the end of every day.” Leanna said that she did so much that she couldn’t remember everything, and wished she had continued logging her daily activities.
Speaking of daily activities, Leanna advised students to “be prepared to WALK, because you will be doing a lot of it!” Besides journaling while you’re in, and trekking across, a different country, Leanna only had a few more pieces of advice to pass on, saying “don’t overwhelm yourself trying to bring a laptop and all of that, because you probably won’t need it.” She also said to “save room in your bag, because you can just buy a few toiletries when you get there.” Basically, “just keep it simple and easy!”
Leanna and I concluded our interview with what she found beneficial about visiting different cultures, to which she answered “it changed the way I saw everything when I got back! I noticed the amount of liter here in our country in comparison to Italy, France, and especially Canada, and the use of freshly picked foods and herbs at restaurants where we went.” She said “I notice some strange little habits now that I didn’t notice before, and I love that I am able see those differences and similarities between different cultures.”