Study Abroad

Q: I don't know how to post a question without giving my email address, and I don't want to put my email address on any public board because then I get lots of junk mail and after a few months I have to change email addresses to get rid of the problem. But here's my question: My school (ASU) offers study abroad programs in several cities, and I want to go to one, but I can't decide which one. Does anyone have any experience with these places and the cities around them and things to do there besides study economics and social policy? The places are: Ottawa Canada, Osaka Japan, Johannesburg South Africa, Brussels Belgium, and La Paz, Bolivia. Any help on any of these cities would be appreciated, and I need it in the next few days.

-- Looking for a break from Little Rock


A: Dear Breaking Rocks,

I've been to Brussels, Belgium. I went there as a one-day trip for my Study Abroad session in Antwerp, Belgium. Most of what we looked at was art museums, and we got a tour of the city itself. It's a very beautiful city.

As far as picking a destination, I could give you some advice. First of all, you may want to look at prices. Second, think about languages. They may tell you that learning a foreign language is unnecessary for a Study Abroad program and honestly, that's true. But knowing at least a bit of the language not only makes it a thousand times easier, it also makes it more interesting. It's a lot of fun to point to a sign written in French and say "Oh, oh, I know what that says!" Also, it improves your skill in the language significantly. So if you know a little French, you may want to pick Canada or Belgium. If you know some Japanese, I'd suggest Japan.

Another thing you may want to investigate is how many field trips you would take in each program. For my school, the Antwerp Belgium study abroad program took field trips every couple of weeks and we ended up touring all over western Europe. The London England program didn't take any field trips at all.

As far as things to do there, I can't help you much because I'm not sure what you're interested in, but I can guarantee that there will plenty of museums, parks, and other things you'll find to do in any location.

-Bumpo the Explorer


Dear Broken,

I sympathize with your not wanting to post your e-mail address. If you want to read a funny rant about advertising, you could check out this entry from a blog I like to read.

And I'd say pick Belgium, because you can rack up the number of countries you've been to by taking weekend trips (the countries in Europe are small enough and close enough, you could see a lot), and then you could brag to your friends about how well-traveled you are. Or you can go to Canada to hear the people say "eh?" and not get laughed at, except of course by you.

-Fiddlesticks the Defenestrator