Thirty-four Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students ventured off to see the world of East Asia through Saint Mary's "Semester Around the World" program.

"Lots of people in Notre Dame want to go to London or Austria, but his is something a little different," said Chris Casado, a Notre Dame senior majoring in Government and Chinese.

In just one semester, these students experienced a crash course in world cultures, an experience that many of these students will never forget. "I don't think I will ever have so much fun again," said Karen Wiener, a Notre Dame senior majoring in psychology and sociology.

In "Semester around the World," students fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in late August. After a few days in Tokyo, they continue with visits to several other countries in the Orient. This includes South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Mainland China. Students mostly get an overview of each country since their stays in each location are limited to only a few days.

This followed by a nine-week stay in the southern tip of India. Academics are concentrated in Cochin, India, on the campus of Sacred Heart College where students live in apartments with only a ten-minute walk from the campus.

After their extended stay in India, students have the option to return home or continue to Western Europe. Last semester, students were flown to Zurich, Switzerland and if they wished, could continue to other destinations such as Paris and London.

Why go?

Casado was one of the 34 students who went on this program last fall. As a Government and Chinese Language major, Casado is interested in the expanding the influence of East Asia, but Notre Dame did not have a program in China his junior year.

This program was the next best thing and turned out to be an amazing experience. "It's the greatest possible experience. At first, I wasn't sure about India; I was interested in China—Eastern Asia," said Casado, "Now India is my favorite and if I could go back now I'd go back in a second."

The experience began in late August when the group flew from L.A. to Tokyo on Singapore airlines. They arrived in Tokyo at night and experienced jet lag, so they simply walked the streets of the trendy part of Tokyo.

"The women had bleached blonde hair with high platforms and talking on cell phones— kinda like a Times Square atmosphere," said Casado. "It was a packed city as far as you can see. Almost every building seemed to be 5-15 stories."

Later, on their visit to China, many students were surprised at the extent of this country's development, said Casado. "You think communist country, but you do not know the extent that the change is true," said Casado. "All the buildings are futuristic. Every building over six to seven stories was built in the last nine years."

Away from the bustling center of Beijing, students also spent three days in a beach resort in Malaysia.

While jumping from city to city, Casado is apprehensive to say, "You can't jump to conclusions too quickly because when you do, you don't get the whole picture, the accurate picture." He continued, "I don't know the underlying culture of Japan because I was only there for four days and it was a quick exposure."

But in the small amount of time in one semester, Casado was able to experience so many cultures. " People [in the program] just want to see the world and make a difference someday," he said.

Being a tourist

"The very first days we would go through the tourist routine, then we would take it to the next step and meet with government and religious officials," said Casado . These are all-important things to do, but the quick visits would only give a superficial gloss to the culture of the countries. "You travel so much so quickly that it can wear on you," said Casado. But the best part of the trip for Casado was his stay in Vietnam and India. Wiener agrees.

India and Vietnam

Few Americans have been back to Vietnam since the Vietnam War, which made Casado appreciate the experience even more. Just simply to know that they were one of a few Americans to have been there. "Vietnam was a really cool experience — with the war memorial museum. Especially with the history and relationship that it has with the United States," he said.

Although Vietnam was an amazing experience, Casado could not stop talking about India.

"India is a country you learn to love," Casado said. "That's the place that's most unlike the U.S. It's the most different experience."

Even though the United States had an impact in Vietnam, Casado found himself as a minority in East Asia.

"India is the one place you get to learn and live the culture and experience Hinduism, Islam and what [religion] means to people," said Casado . They did not bask in a beach resort as they had done in Malaysia, nor were they traveling as tourists trying to grasp every inch of East Asian knowledge.

"Since we were in a country for such a short period of time, we wanted to see the most exciting parts," said Wiener." In India, we were able to settle down and not be tourists for once."

This time they had to live in the culture and really experience Indian life — and they were the outsiders, the minorities.

Some of the Indians in Southern India had never seen white people before and would just stare at them.

"When the bus would stop during a tour, people would literally line up on both sides and watch us," he said. But most of all, the group found that the Indians didn't have much and were willing to give them anything to make them feel welcomed and loved.

They spent two weekends with families, but spent the rest of the time in their own apartments. Even though they could not speak English, language was not a barrier. "They didn't speak English, but we could communicate just fine— smiling and gestures," he said.

The natives were much more welcoming than they expected. "They didn't have anything, but would give you anything to make you feel welcomed and loved," said Casado.

Casado and some other Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students would make the ten-minute walk from their apartments to the Sacred Heart College in the morning. "When we walked to school every day, we knew pretty much everyone on our way," he said.

However, since women were not allowed to walk on the streets after sundown, many of the female students stayed indoors at night. "It was hard for the girls. But it's just the way India is. You abide by the way they live," he said. "Girls don't wear tank tops either."

But Wiener herself felt uneasy after being harassed at a movie theatre.

"Only occasionally, I had a feeling of uneasiness, just walking around alone. We would walk in groups instead," she said.

This program, like many other study abroad programs, brings us closer to another world in order to embrace and question our cultural differences.

The whole experience makes both groups think of their own cultures and recognize the strong points. And in a way, question you as a person, and can question the way you live your life and question the way they live their life," said Casado.

"[This program] was absolutely phenomenal," said Wiener." I can't imagine anyone going on this program and not enjoying it."

Other options

So what if you still want to experience something amazing, but you don't think riding an elephant or seeing the Great Wall of China or even climbing the Himalayas is something you would really enjoy? Does a corner café in a piazza sound better? Or perhaps you would rather intern with the Members of Parliament in London?

There are vast opportunities for international experience in Notre Dame. Notre Dame has a semester-long program in its own campus in Freemantle, Australia where students live in a hotel-like facility, with rectors, resident assistants and all.

Or maybe a junior year semester in London seems more like it. Classes are located near Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London. Students reside in flats located near Marble Arch, just north Oxford Street. Like Australia, the London program has a residence staff.

Okay, so maybe you're tired of speaking English and "oui, oui" is more like it. Angers is the program for you then. Angers is a medium-sized town west of Paris and in just a two hour train ride; you can travel between these two cities.

The university in Angers is for international students learning French, so you have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

Or perhaps you enjoy Spanish more. You can either go to Chile, Mexico or Spain for a year or a semester. In Mexico, Notre Dame has programs in Monterrey, Xalapa and Puebla. Although the programs in Puebla and Monterrey are well established, the Xalapa program is still in development.

The Puebla program is open to students of all colleges regardless of their level of proficiency in Spanish, but if the student lacks experience, an intensive summer language session is required.

The program in Spain is located in Toledo, a smaller town just 40 miles south of Madrid.

And what would the Fighting Irish be without an Ireland program? Most students in the Dublin program live in dormitories, with Irish and international students and can make their own meals. Students can take courses at Keough-Notre Dame Study Center in Dublin and at the Republic of Ireland' s best universities — either University College Dublin or Trinity College Dublin.

For those who speak Japanese, there is a program in Nagoya. Students live with a family and have dinner and breakfast with them, but the University provides lunch.

The university overlooks Nagoya, which is known as "the home of Toyota Corporation, Noritake China, and the castle that Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa built in 1610 for his ninth son," according to the Nagoya study abroad Web site.

For those interested in German, Notre Dame also has a program in Innsbruck, Austria. Students live in dormitories either in the University of Innsbruck campus or adjacent to it. Where possible, the University rooms Notre Dame students with German-speaking students.

As for the Israel program, the University has cancelled it because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Notre Dame is also in the process of finalizing the housing situation for the program in Rome.

In the past, Notre Dame only offered Rome for architecture students, and other students would need to go via the Saint Mary's Rome program.

"Going abroad might be a good way of escaping the ND bubble," said Wiener.

And through a semester abroad program, different cultures and languages are in your reach.

"You learn a lot about yourself. More than you can ever qualify in academic standards," said Casado.

• Around the world in a semester
  
• More than meets the eye