When Rachel Johnson traveled to Cannes, France, to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, she said she gained a “once in a lifetime” experience, meeting with executives from international media companies and seeing award-winning public relations campaigns.
Johnson, a graduate student studying journalism, visited the festival as part of her public relations class through the Reed College of Media last summer.
“The food and the scenery in southern France was nothing like I’d ever experienced before, and I also think there’s just a sense of friendship and community you gain with the other people you’re traveling with,” she said.
Rachel Johnson enjoys food in Cannes, France during her study abroad trip in the summer of 2023.
“I feel super close to all of those people, and I also think there are just things that you don’t fully understand about the world until you leave the country and go do things like that.”
After her trip, Johnson wrote a feature story about her and her peers’ experiences for the Reed College of Media Magazine.
For students looking to enrich their studies or travel outside of the United States, WVU offers a variety of study abroad programs.
Rachel Johnson poses at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity’s TikTok booth.
Vanessa Yerkovich, director of Education Abroad, said that options for study abroad trips range from one week to one year, and most students choose to attend faculty-led programs.
“All majors are welcome to study abroad. Now, which programs are a better fit and how long they can be abroad might change based on their major, but there’s an opportunity for every student,” Yerkovich said.
Faculty-led trips, or short-term programs, are led during spring break, Thanksgiving break, winter break and summer break and provide students with the opportunity to earn credits.
Payton Ogden, a sophomore advertising and public relations major, attended a 10-day, faculty-led trip last summer to France and Italy where she documented her trip in a journal and created an advertisement project at the end.
During her stay in Genoa, Italy, the faculty leading the trip encouraged students to speak with locals about what the city has to offer, which became a memorable experience for Ogden.
“We went to this gelato shop where we met this lady named Rosa who owned the shop, and we asked her where to go and she gave us everything to do. She showed us this really cool lookout site, and she even told us about this restaurant, but I swear there was not a single American in there. It was very clear that the people of Genoa really only ate there, which was super cool,” she said.
“I feel like without that experience, I wouldn’t have gotten to go to some of the different places that I got to go to.”
Rachel Johnson pictured at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity during her study abroad trip in the summer of 2023.
In addition to faculty-led trips, students can participate in WVU’s affiliate programs, organized by third-party companies that connect students with locations that WVU’s traditional exchange programs do not offer.
WVU’s exchange programs allow the University and its partner institutions to send students abroad while the student continues to pay tuition towards their home institution, according to Education Abroad’s website.
Ali Bagshi is an alumni who transferred to the University as an exchange student from Saudi Arabia in 2017. Bagshi graduated in 2023 with a degree in industrial engineering and said studying abroad allowed him to broaden his academic and personal views by meeting people from different cultures.
“It’s a once-in-life experience. You’re going back to your home country later, so just try to explore and make connections that will help you with your resume,” he said.
Yerkovich suggests that students who are interested in a study abroad trip meet with their academic advisors at least one semester in advance to plan their trip.
Students can also submit the Education Abroad Advising Request form, which asks about their travel interests and provides them with a curated list of program options.
More information on WVU’s Education Abroad can be found at https://educationabroad.wvu.edu/.