It is not uncommon for juniors on college campuses around the country to study abroad, leaving behind their Pillow Pets and mac and cheese in search of new, challenging and life-changing experiences. At Connecticut College, however, there is a unique opportunity for study abroad called Study Away, Teach Away program, or SATA. Instead of traveling through an outside program, students venture off with a group of Conn students and a Conn professor, even if that student is not majoring in that professor’s department. Last semester, students went on trips to Cuba and Vietnam, and there is currently a group abroad in Peru.
Many students wonder why they would want to go abroad with their peers and a professor when for many people, the whole point of a study abroad program is to leave your comfort zone to experience new things. The motives, however, range from ones of practicality to ones of comfort.
As Ayla Zuraw-Friedland ’15, currently abroad in Peru, said, the SATA program offers a significant financial benefit, because everything, from flights and housing to food and trips (such as hiking Machu Picchu) is covered in your pre-existing tuition, allowing for study abroad to become less of a stress.
In addition, the program allows for students to count more credits towards their major than typical study abroad programs do so students can come back to Conn with a more confident course load and can have a fuller sense of purpose while abroad.
In addition, studying abroad with SATA allows students to become closer to the leading professor, which, as the director of the program, Shirley Parson, brings up, is especially beneficial if students went to do international research with them.
For Evert Fowle ’14, getting to know the professors on SATA Vietnam was one incredibly unique aspect of his trip. “What really made it different for me was the professors – Professor Fraiser in the Government Department and Professor Peppard,” said Fowle. “We were able to have dinner with them every week and we were able to really interact with them.”
Lastly, the SATA program is wonderful for students who might be more anxious about traveling alone abroad to do so in a safe but also exciting way. Zuraw-Friedland said that the program provides the “security of knowing that you’re traveling with people you know,” as well as giving an “invaluable support group and a professor who genuinely cares about your well-being.”
Besides the practical reasons, there are numerous other benefits to the program. Through SATA, students can travel to a foreign-speaking country without knowing the language, and are able to experience the culture to whatever degree they are comfortable with, such as choosing to live with a Peruvian host family or living in an international students’ dorm.
SATA groups also embark on numerous adventures throughout their program, such as when Fowle traveled to the coast of Vietnam via train.
For English major Zuraw-Friedland, studying abroad in Peru has allowed her to study Latin American Politics, a topic outside of her major, but with the unique benefit of “leav[ing] a class discussion about the city we’re currently living in, and be[ing] able to go and observe some of what we’ve been learning about on the walk home between the classroom and our new Peruvian homes.”
Sound interesting? Here’s some advice from Zuraw-Friedland: if you’re considering SATA, attend the information sessions, especially because it provides the chance to meet the professor you might spend the next four months with. She also encouraged SATA travelers to make an effort to talk to people outside of the group. Fowle agreed, stating that he was able to meet people outside of his comfort zone. Parson similarly reassures that students on the SATA program are “encouraged to meet others outside of the group,” but also points out that SATA is a place for students to meet people whom they may not have had reason to do beforehand, and is therefore an opportunity to create more lasting friendships upon return to campus. She also emphasizes that students do not have to be in the department of the directing faculty to attend the program, even if they lack the pre-requisites for the courses taught by the Conn professor.
Ready to try it? This spring, there will be two SATA trips. One will be in Italy, during which Government and International Relations professor Alex Hybel will be teaching a course called the Mediterranean’s Challenges to Democracy and the European versus the American perspective on IR theory. The second will be another trip to Vietnam, during which Economics professor Rolf Jensen will offer four economics classes, ranging from gender and development to looking at the political economy of post-war Vietnam. Stop by the Office of Study Abroad for even more information on upcoming SATA programs.
