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Students Promote Benefits of Study Abroad Program

Students Promote Benefits of Study Abroad Program

On Wednesday, February 7, TCNJ’s Center for Global Engagement will host the Spring Study Abroad Fair. The event will take place from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in the Brower Student Center. Below, two School of Business students have shared their experience while studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany during the fall semester with Dr. Susan Hume.


My name is Christine Borton and I am a junior with a marketing major with an international studies minor. While studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany the classes that I chose were international marketing, corporate social responsibility, experiential learning, and the refugee crisis class. I decided to study abroad because I have always wanted to see the world and studying abroad gave me an excellent opportunity to do so. I picked the Heidelberg program not only because of how much the TCNJ school of Business encouraged it, but also because my family is originally from Germany and I wanted to learn more about my culture.

Studying abroad forced me to learn how to handle a plethora of situations and taught me how to be an excellent leader and problem solver. The differences between American and German culture were very small but still quite noticeable. Beyond the language barrier simple differences like how much better behaved and polite the German children were and how politicians could not start advertising and campaigning for an election until a month before the event made a huge difference.

Outside of classes, I traveled almost every weekend. In total, I visited 10 countries and 20 cities. My goal was to see as much of Europe as was possible and I feel that I met my goal. One of my favorite memories was paddle boating down the river in Heidelberg with friends.


Karina Pedraza, class of 2019, marketing and psychology double major: One of the main differences between studying in Germany versus the United States is the use of more international and current information in the formal classroom setting. The history, politics, and current movements occurring everyday in Europe complement formal education.

My favorite course that I took this semester was Experiential Learning with Dr. Leibrecht. The format of this class is divided in two parts; background knowledge in a classroom setting followed by a personal tour of the area the following day. The highly informative PowerPoints allowed us to explore an area with a basic knowledge about its history. This course was so fascinating to me because of the personal and first-hand experience that I gained from visiting historical sites in person. Europe has so much history to explore and sometimes even the simplest locations can have great significance. This course immersed me in German history in an engaging way that I will never forget. We can all learn from Dr. Leibrecht’s passionate teaching and our numerous tour guides that history never deserves to be forgotten.


The TCNJ School of Business and the TCNJ School of Humanities and Social Sciences, together with the TCNJ Center for Global Engagement and the European Study Center, have established semester-long and summer study abroad program options for TCNJ students in the financial hub of Germany, the European Union’s most powerful member and the heart of European history and culture. Students – particularly sophomores and juniors – may participate in the fall or spring semesters or one or more of the two summer sessions. Learn more, here.

 

Contact

School of Business

Business Building, Room 114
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628

609.771.3064
business@tcnj.edu