IT International
International
and study abroad students share their experiencesjwins@uoregon.edu
How is the Internet age
impacting UO study abroad and international students? Is information
technology making life easier? Relieving homesickness? Helping ease the
transition to a new culture? Are there any academic benefits?
We asked five UO students--two Americans who studied abroad last year,
and three current international students--to answer these questions,
and responses were mixed. All agreed that email, text messaging, podcasting,
chats, and blogs provide a great way to keep in touch with family, friends,
and academic contacts in their home country. But not all e-communications
went smoothly, and unexpected keyboard differences initially caused problems
for some. Despite slight inconveniences here and there, however, no one
would want to go back to relying on snail mail and expensive long-distance
phone calls as their primary mode of contact. High-speed Internet communication,
with its capability to transmit digital photos and videos, is making it
increasingly possible for students to study abroad without feeling entirely
cut off from their homeland, family, or academic mentors.
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Maggie Grega, Study Abroad Program (Angers, France) Maggie Grega's term abroad at the Centre
International Des Études Françaises (CIDEF) in the
historic city of Angers got off to a bumpy start when introductory
emails between her and her host family went astray, causing both
parties to feel a bit estranged at the outset. "To this day,
I think there is something fishy about the Internet connection between
America and my host family's house," Grega
says. |
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Ingrid Ioan (Bucharest, Romania) Ingrid Ioan is so at ease with technology that she can connect
to her dad's PC in Bucharest and troubleshoot his computer
problems from her laptop in Eugene. "I am a person who
loves to make use of technology," she enthuses. It's
a good thing, too, because Romanian families are close-knit and
expect almost daily contact with their relatives abroad. |
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Alissa Nagel, Study Abroad Program (Tokyo, Japan) Studying abroad in one of the world's most wired nations
ensured that web technology would play a big part in Alissa Nagel's
experience. During her year in the Japan Women's University
program, Nagel's technical milestones included launching
an entertaining blog to share her adventures with family and
friends, and getting the hang of cell phone text messaging. |
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Javier Camoriano-Nolasco (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) The
youngest in a family of medical professionals, Javier Camoriano-Nolasco
grew up in the bustling capital city of Honduras. Having
had the benefit of a great deal of exposure to technology
in high school, he is as familiar with the Internet as his
American counterparts, if not more so. (He is also very familiar
with MacDonald's, having grown up not far from
the neighborhood Golden Arches!) |
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Pema Chhophyel (Thimpu, Bhutan) At
the outset of our interview, Pema Chhophyel pauses to check
a silent signal from his cell phone. He glances at the phone
and smiles. "Oh, it's just a reminder I have
this interview with Joyce," he says. |