Overseas office connects students to new cultures

Approximately 1,200 IU students are exploring other cultures while furthering their academic lives abroad at this time. \nJunior Lacey Gillotte has furthered her horizons through studying abroad. Gillotte is majoring in human development/family studies in the Health and Physical Education and Recreation. Gillotte has already participated in a study abroad program, but unlike many of her college-age counterparts, she did it while still attending Lainsburg High School in Lainsburg, Mich.\nA speaker came to her school and spoke to the student body about the experience of studying abroad. The bug bit her and Lacey spent a year studying in Vikersund, Norway, a town near Oslo.\n"It stood out to me, because I didn't know a thing about it," Gillotte said.\nWhile Norway comes across as a cold and forbidding place to some, Gillotte enjoyed her time there. \n"Europe is the most popular region (to study abroad), however, students are studying in other regions of the world and numbers are increasing around the world," said Paige Weting, the overseas study adviser who makes certain students can maintain successful academic courseloads while studying abroad.\nThe seemingly cold of Norway can be contrasted with many programs in other, more exotic and distance places of the world.\n"There are great benefits for Spanish speaking students to study in Latin America, and business majors to study in Asia, where the business world is focused," Weting said.\nGillotte loved studying abroad so much, she wants to do it again. But this time she's traveling to the "Land Down Under" -- Australia.\nGillotte has applied for acceptance to Australia's Wollongong University. Wollongong boasts a full range of university courses in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and Australian studies. The university is situated within 100 miles of Sydney in Australia's state of Queensland. Also studying at Wollongong is her boyfriend, sophomore Peter Huff.\nHuff said he's burnt out with the traditional education system of the U.S. and is looking for change.\n"I think going to school (in Australia) will help refresh my interest and passion," Gillotte said. \nHuff said he picked Wollongong for a number of reasons, including its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, and a nearby national park that some rank as one of Australia's best. Huff, an avid outdoorsman, calls Wollongong "very environmentally situated."\nUOW is between the slopes of a rain forest and the Pacific Ocean and was established in 1961 as part of the University of New South Wales until it became a separate institution in 1975. The university now boasts about 13,000 students with 1,200 faculty/administrators, and support staff. The campus was designed to provide a "tranquil environment for getting to know fellow students," said a handbook published on the web by the Office of Overseas Study.\nAt UOW, the seminar classes will enroll from 20 to 25 students, while lecture style courses will enroll up to 100. Lecture classes include discussion and tutorial sessions composed of lesser students. And the Australian faculty, according to the Office of Overseas Study, find Americans are very strong in contributing to the tutorial sessions. Because of the small discussion groups, it seems the environment is less formal than at many U.S. institutions. Essays are a large part of the academic nature of Australian universities.\nMost classes tend to require large numbers of essays and include a final exam with an essay style. But in Australia, essays are scholarly works requiring footnotes and references and are not the "opinion pieces" many U.S. students think of when they write an essay. In the U.S., college students expect multiple choice tests -- this is not the case in Australia. These tests are few and far between. Still, some similarties are found in academic work. The course load required is equivalent to 12 credit hours. According to the Office of Overseas Study, the cost of this Australian program runs roughly $6,500 and all IU administered financial aid, grants, and scholarships can be applied.\nStudents can learn more about studying abroad during an informational meeting held at 7 p.m. tonight at the Fine Arts Building, Room 015. Tonight's meeting will give students information on how to get the most for their money studying abroad, like discounted airline tickets and international ID cards.