By Ashlyn Kennedy | Reporter
Baylor currently has 15,213 undergraduate students, but not all of them are in Waco.
Some students are spending their spring semester studying abroad all around the world. The Center for Global Engagement encourages students to study abroad at least once during undergrad as a way to expand their worldview and immerse themselves in different cultures.
Orlando, Fla., sophomore Charlotte Weir is studying in Paris, where she attends the American University of Paris. The university hosts students from many different countries, and its courses are mainly taught in English.
Weir said the expectations of “academic rigor” and self-discipline are different, in addition to the school being secular in mission and culture.
“It is such a blessing that I have been privileged enough to [go to a Christian school], but it has been really cool to go to a school where being a believer isn’t the status quo,” Weir said. “Seeing how that changes how professors act or how people interact, it’s provided me a lot of growth that I hadn’t really experienced before.”
Weir said living in Paris has “opened her eyes” to how big the world is outside of Baylor.
“I’m very thankful to have grown up in such a safe environment, but that’s just not reflective of what the world looks like,” Weir said. “I feel like sometimes we are drawn to those who are similar to us, and so here I’ve been able to meet people who believe so many different things and come from different places.”
Weir said she can slow down and find more free time in Paris, as is general in European culture.
“I feel like at Baylor specifically, we really book ourselves, and it’s kind of weird if you’re not overly social,” Weir said. “In Paris, people have mastered the art of being.”
Houston junior Sarah Chan is spending her semester in Madrid, where she lives with a host mom. She said they have learned to adapt to one another, and she has been able to take in so much culture through her living situation.
“It’s been really cool to get to know her and getting to see what Spanish culture is like in a home through something as simple as cooking dinner,” Chan said.
Chan said she came to Spain because she wanted to be challenged and grow in her knowledge of Spanish. She said she loves the day-to-day encounters she has with locals and building relationships with people she has met.
“As a study abroad student, you are only there temporarily, but you are there permanently in the means of you get to be a familiar face if you want to,” Chan said. “It’s been sweet to get to know Spain through the people and getting to be part of the culture.”
Dallas sophomore Lauren Goree has been taking classes and interning at Creoate in London. She said she has found there is a big culture of work-life balance that the U.S. does not have.
“When they’re done with work, they’re done with work,” Goree said. “Where in the States, and in my own personal experience, I almost feel like we’re workaholics.”
Goree said she expected to grow during her experience abroad, but she did not anticipate how much that would be. She said looking back even three months ago has shown her how much studying abroad has changed her perspective on her approach to everything from work to school.
“I’m trying to appreciate the little things in life here, which I think I take [at] Baylor for granted,” Goree said. “I’m living more in the moment.”