From Brooklyn College to Budapest

by Etienne MARTINEZ

I always felt that studying abroad even if for just a brief period of time, would expose me to new and exiting experiences. After all, wasn’t that the impetuous behind space exploration? I realize that I live in a great country which people from the farthest stretches of the world call home. Surely I could learn about and engage with different cultures right here, but it would not beat going abroad and seeing first hand different cultures in their native environments. The people who come here are usually only a percentage of the people they leave behind and while they may be able to bring language and culture here, they cannot bring their entire country with them. I always felt that countries are as much a part of national identity as culture and language. One can go to a Hawaiian theme party in the Bronx, but it is never the same as a Hawaiian party in Oahu. Every country has its own beauty and appeal. Although I may have a slight inclination towards Caribbean-like environments, I can also find the charm in varied climates. I have a friend who is originally from Siberia and he cannot say enough good things about his homeland. He would probably find the Caribbean unbearably hot.

Before visiting Budapest, I never went outside of this country. I have driven to Georgia, and I have visited southern California and I must say that for being one united country, we enjoy very diverse regions; many would say that New York itself, which is so different from the rest of the United States, is a country in itself. I would say that the fact that this country is so diverse and has stayed united is a testament to the resiliency of our democracy and constitution. There are entire regions of Europe that would fit into the size of the United States many times over, but consists of many small countries that probably do not even have the diversity that we have. I believe that these kinds of issues should be studied and not just by historians and sociologists but as well as by common citizens who contribute to society. I never knew when the opportunity would arise for me to study abroad or to really get hands-on experience learning about different cultures and countries, but I knew that should the opportunity arise I would not be able to say no.

"I was a restless entrepreneur with no money and no real practical ideas."

Before I go into how I got involved in the study abroad program, I must first explain my mindset. The year was 2003 and it became evident that my entrepreneurial aspirations would have to come to a temporary halt. I had dropped out of college because I became disillusioned with my major and I couldn’t find my motivation. I was a restless entrepreneur with no money and no real practical ideas. I thought that I could major in business management and finance in order to get some business ideas or meet the right people, but after two years I realized that that major was not meeting my needs. I felt like I was being herded around with the other cattle in to the direction of the forty-year employment corral. For an entrepreneur, there is little worse than working for someone else for the rest of your life. That is why I left college. I was able to get sponsored by a company to get my life/health insurance licenses and at 20 years old I ventured out in to the world of personal finance. It was not such a difficult transition because I was actually doing it the previous year at the same time that I was a student. I felt that in order for my business to work, I had to dedicate all my time to it and leave college. The entire year of 2003 became the most expensive learning experience of my lifetime. I poured my heart and soul on a business that did not even bother to throw me back a bone. After two years of spending my money and energy in to a business that was not working for me, I had some decisions to make. It was difficult enough to drop out of school against the wishes of my family and friends and now I would have to admit failure in the one thing that I thought would set me up for life. Would I turn into a couch potato or another statistic? I started to entertain the idea of going back to school, but I could not figure out what I wanted to do because I promised myself that if I would ever make a decision of that magnitude again my mind would have to be in the right place and I must have the proper motivation. I made the decision to go back to school in 2004 with the idea of just getting the core classes out of the way because regardless of my major, I would have to take them anyway.

"Where the more you know the more you realize that you don't know..."

My new motivation was to genuinely be interested in learning just so that I could add value to myself. I also stumbled upon Puerto Rican and Latino studies courses that I thought might be interesting because of my love for Puerto Rico. That fall semester of 2004 I came back to college feeling like a freshman again. I was a new person with new experiences and a better understanding of who I was. That semester was great; I got an A in all of my classes. This confirmed for me that having the right motivation in any career is crucial for success. I learned about the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies and Business major that was offered at school. I though that this was a great major for me because I could have the opportunity to learn about people while at the same time learn about the ever-changing dynamics of business in a context that would not necessarily confine me to only working for someone else for the rest of my life. Through this major I took a class with the infamous Prof. Stevens-Arroyo and the rest was history. The class dealt with the economy of Puerto Rico from the 18^th to the 20^th century. What impressed me the most about this class was the Professor’s command of the inner-workings and the political climate for which the economy of Puerto Rico reflected at that time. The professor connected everything to everything without leaving any gaps. We are used to having an education that conveniently compartmentalizes everything so that when we think about economics, we do not think about politics or culture. However, intuitively we know that everything is really connected, but Professors do not always talk about those important connections. For example, when we learn about Pedro Albizu Campos and his vision for Puerto Rico most people do not know that his convictions were religiously based; he was a devout catholic. Professor Stevens–Arroyo is not afraid to make those connections and tell it like it is. It is funny to see that some students actually feel that Prof Stevens is changing the topic when he talks about the larger issues that play a significant role in the issues at hand, when they actually have everything to do with each other. His style of teaching is very complete and answers many questions, but at the same time forces you to ask more questions about the subject so that you are really getting a complete education. I later learned that Prof. Stevens subscribes to a philosophy that education is a process instead of a means to an end, where the more you know the more you realize that you don’t know, so that education is ultimately learning how to formulate focused and intelligent questions so that understanding grows; the most important job of an educator is teach students how to learn. I did not know his philosophy until he shared it with me in Hungary, but I was experiencing it throughout the entire time that I was with him and when I looked back at how he taught us, I realized that it all made sense, he was always consistent and precise with his method. His ability to educate, together with my desire to learn abroad, were the reasons why I immediately said yes to him when he was recruiting students for the trip to Budapest, Hungary.

If I learned anything from my personal experience in starting a business, I learned that when one has the genuine will to do something, the means should never become an obstacle. I did not know how I was going to pay for the trip or how I could actually execute it, but I wanted to go. I knew that if I would do anything, I would have to recruit my girlfriend Irina to the expedition. One day I just told her that we're going to Hungary, and we needed to find a way to do it. Irina was confused at first because the whole idea seemed to come out of nowhere, and she knew that my major was PRLS& Business and she couldn't understand how it had anything to do with Hungary. I explained to her that studying abroad would be the most rewarding experience we might ever have in our college careers so we need to take advantage of it. She could not disagree with me on that point. I also told her about the possibility of visiting her native country, Ukraine, which is just on the border of Hungary. This really opened her eyes; she never thought it would be possible to visit her country again, because of the chaos going on there. I also explained to her that Hungary has many things in common with Latin America in that, like the countries of Latin America, Hungary has been under the rule of one super-power or another so that it has in many ways played a supportive role to other countries. We have come to call this type of relationship, the core-and periphery model. Just like an apple has a core that holds together the meaty part or the periphery together in a tight bond, different superpowers have clung to Hungary and to the countries of Latin America for their resources.

Irina and I had already been to Puerto Rico together in two occasions so she had an idea about the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico. She knew that Puerto Rico is essentially a colony of the United States with its common-wealth status, which is ambiguous in many ways by itself, but at any rate it would be interesting to look at a Central European country in the same light that we look at a Latin-American country. Irina soon realized the value and the incredible opportunity that it would be to go to Hungary. Next thing we knew, we were in the process of getting our passports and were purchasing the tickets. The first thing that we realized was that a roundtrip direct flight to Hungary could almost pay for five roundtrip tickets to Puerto Rico, but this was not the way to look at it; we thought of it as a bargain for a unique educational experience in Budapest.

"...Between Brooklyn College and Hungary..."

The learning experience did not start when we went to Hungary. We had about two weeks worth of intensive instruction in a classroom here at Brooklyn College before we left in order to give us a framework from which to develop our understanding of Hungary. In those two weeks we got to learn from four knowledgeable professors in different fields. First was Professor Stevens-Arroyo whose specialty seemed to be everything underneath the sun. He probably would say that his special interest is religion, even though I might find it hard to believe given that we never spoke in depth about the subject, but because I later did a research paper on Taino religion using one of his authoritative books on the topic as a reference, I can be assured that he is an expert on that too. Then, behind every intellectual man there is an even more intellectual woman. In Professor Stevens’ case, it is his wife, also named Professor Stevens. She is in many ways like her husband when it comes to knowledge and wisdom, but where Professor. Stevens lacked in mathematical know-how; she made up for it ten-fold. Her interest is in women and religion and she is a leading author in that area of study. Not only was she very educated and insightful to the class, she was also a very positive and lovely woman. She was so astute that she immediately picked up on the fact that I had a proclivity towards business merely by reading my journals. Another important professor who we had the real privilege of having was Andras, he is originally from Hungary and has served as our real connection between Brooklyn College and Hungary. At that time, he was actually an aspiring professor who was working as an assistant for Professor Stevens. They made an incredible duo; they were like the answer to each other’s prayers. Professor Stevens longed for a real and meaningful connection to his Hungarian roots, while Andras was moving from one dead end job to the next hoping to rise in the ranks of academia and higher learning.

Andras’ interests were very unique, he wanted to research everything that he could about the disenfranchised people that we call “gypsies”, more accurately and respectfully referred to as the Roma. His relationship with the Roma stems from a longtime and deep-rooted friendship that he has had with them in Hungary. He has an understanding for the Roma and a commitment to their cause in his country and throughout the world and that is why he is here studying the one’s who leave Europe. At first it seemed that we were going to mainly focus on core and periphery in Hungary, but to everyone’s awe-inspiring surprise our journey would take an unexpected adjustment to include the first hand experience of the rising up of the Roma in Hungary.

Lastly, the fourth professor whose presence we were graced with was Professor Anneris. Her expertise was on Dominican affairs in New York. Her knowledge about Dominican migration to New York was very insightful because it gave us some ideas as to why Dominicans leave their country to come here. This was her first time in Hungary and I am sure that she learned a lot from this experience. Along with four distinguished academics, a total of five students including myself went on the expedition. We tried to recruit some more students to take advantage of the experience, but no one else had quite the mental preparation for embarking on this type of journey. I understand that some people have other obligations and cannot make it, and I can also understand that some people had no way of funding the trip, but I can not understand the people who have no other major obligations and can afford the trip and see the potential for growth, and do nothing about it. However, I can’t complain about my fellow students, we truly had the crème of the crop in our classroom.

We were fortunate enough to have Irina who was the most beautiful student among us. Her creative eye and fresh perspective on sociology helped to ground our discussions on the elemental but important aspects of sociology. We were also lucky enough to have Adan in our group. He seems to be an outstanding student who flirts with a spirit of rebellion and is characterized by a hatred of injustice. He is also Mr. and Mrs. Stevens’ only child and it seems that the apple did not fall far away from the tree. We also had Stavros on our team who is one of those kinds of people you always invite to parties because he is interested in many topics and has interesting and new perspectives on everything. He is a great conversationalist and is liked by everyone. He is a heavy coffee drinker and is known for always saying “fair enough”. Our final team member was Adam, a relatively quiet and reserved fellow who is the only person that I know who majors in both film and physics. He enlightened our discussions with his incredible ability to remember specific details about Hungarian statues and artwork, almost as if he had a photographic memory. For two weeks we had a crash course on the basic language skills of the country. We quickly found out that the Hungarian language is one of the most difficult languages in the world because it is not even a European language at all; it is more closely related to Asian languages. Andras confirmed that to say only Hungarians speak Hungarian is not too far from the truth. This did not stop me from attempting to learn a few fundamental phrases in case I got lost.

In addition to language, we also learned about Hungary’s most defining historical events. Hungarians trace their roots to Asiatic tribes that came out of the area of the Urals. Once they reached modern day Hungary they killed off half of the existing population and mixed in with the other half. The Mongolians came in 1241 and were stopped dead in their tracks from their ambitious westward expansion. They did a lot of damage but Hungary recovered from the invasion. By 1458- 1490 through the leadership of King Matthias, Hungary went through a process of westernizing itself, in other words, becoming more like the west with everything from architecture to economy and even fashion. In 1526, the Turks occupied the country for over 150 years. From 1703 to 1711 Ference Rakoczi, A Transylvanian prince tried to kick out the Turks but ultimately failed. His people never forgot his efforts and his name became very popular among the Hungarians. The eighteenth-century became a defining century for Hungary; its national anthem was created, a revolution broke out that temporarily dismantled the Hapsburgs, but with help of the Russians the Hapsburgs partially regained their power by sharing it with the Hungarians. By the late eighteenth century, Hungary was finally united. In 1918, Germany and its allies including the Hungarians lost World War I and as a result by 1920 Hungary lost two/thirds of its territory to the surrounding countries. In 1945, Russia liberated Hungary from Nazi occupation and replaced it with Russian communism and we all know what happened to communism in 1990. By 1999 Hungary became a part of NAFTA and in the same summer that we went to Budapest, it joined the European Union. Luckily we were there when they were still using their local currency called forints, which were considerably weaker than the dollar. We loved using our dollars in Hungary because they went a long way, of course not as long as the euro or British pound, but it might have been the last time that I have gotten my dollars worth on anything.

In addition to learning some basic Hungarian and history, we also learned about some of the cultural idiosyncrasies such as their politeness and their delicious food. Hungarians are a multi ethnic people because they are decedents from diverse groups due to their long history of conquest from the Turks, Ottomans, Slavs, and Germanic peoples. The most incredible thing about Hungarians is the fact that they have stuck with their Asiatic language and identity despite the heavy European influences. Despite the positive aspect and great qualities of the Hungarian people, Andras laments to tell us that there is also a long-standing hatred towards the Roma in Hungary. It seems to be counter-cultural for a people who are diverse in nature and have been afflicted by one defeat after another would act so negatively to a minority that has called Hungary home for over a thousand of years.

So far we have learned so much and we haven't even gotten to Hungary yet. By this time in our study, the points of comparisons are striking between Hungary and Latin America. First, we see that both peripheries claim ancestry to an original people. In the case of Hungary it is the Magyars and for Latin Americans it is the various native peoples like the Tainos or Aztecs. We also see that through out history both Hungary and Latin America have been threatened or heavily influenced by major super powers. We also see that both Hungary and Latin America can claim to be a mixture of many different ethnicities and cultures and both have to deal with issues of racism in their countries. These are just a few of many similarities that can be found. I only mention these because they are the ones that immediately jumped out at me. Some ignorant person might question the importance of actually going to Hungary when one can learn so much in the classroom here. I have to refer back to the philosophy that an education is not a means to an end- it is experienced.

As I recall all that we have learned before we went on our journey, I mostly remember the unbearable anxiousness that I experienced in those few days leading up to the trip. I almost could not concentrate on the lecture and discussions going on in the classroom; it was almost as if my mind was already in Hungary. Finally, the last lecture day was over and each of us parted ways with an “I’ll see you at the airport” message. Phase one of the education component was completed and everyone grew more comfortable and knew what to expect from each other. We knew that the second phase of the expedition would enhance our learning experience and bring us even closer. We also knew that we were going to build relationships and take learning to new heights. I believe that at least in the back of our minds we knew that perhaps eight thousand miles away from home we could possibly meet our destinies. Everyone looks forward to a positive life changing experience every now and then.

We woke up bright and early on the morning of our trip even though our flight was at night. Irina’s dad was able to drive us to the airport when he got back from work. When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by all of our professors except Andras who had left a few days earlier in order to prepare all of the necessary transactions to make our stay enjoyable and to catch up with family that he has not seen in a long time. It was a rainy summer day in New York and everything went smoothly, the plane even left on time. For Irina and me, the airplane ride is a very exciting experience, but we were not used to nine-hour flights. Eventually, we fell asleep and that helped the time to go by faster. It was great to see that once we got there, we did not waste too much time because we got there in the afternoon the next day and there was still some day-light left for us to enjoy due to the nature of the different time zones. We had a small bus waiting for us outside of the airport and already one could feel that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. The bus had an entirely different shape from what we were accustomed to. It was small and very efficient with space, but somehow we all fit in comfortably. We drove about forty-five minutes to get into Budapest and on the way there, we noticed many beautiful landscapes of what seemed to be endless fields of wheat. I kept looking back at Andras to see his demeanor while he watched his native country go by and I looked at Irina to see if she could sense that her birthplace was only a five-hour drive away.

When we arrived at the hotel Charles, we were greeted by a friendly staff that all seemed to know English. I later asked one of the hosts about his language abilities and he told me that generally most people in the tourism industry at a minimum speak Hungarian, German and English and perhaps another language from one of the surrounding border lands. In his particular case, he was originally from Romania so he also spoke Romanian. I later realized that a significant number of Romanians live in Hungary which lead me to believe that perhaps the job market was somewhat better in Hungary than in Romania. We got into our rooms and packed our stuff away into closets and drawers. Our room was very basic and different from anything we would see here in the United States. It actually did not feel like a hotel room at all, it looked like a small apartment; it even had a small kitchen. The only way I could describe it would be that it looked like something that would come out of a movie from the Russian Television Network. The room had many green and orange colors. The door that separated the bedroom from the kitchen had decorative stained glass on it and the furniture was made of old tried and true wood. The way the room looked together with the view of a small tree-abundant park outside of our window, Irina could definitely smell the Eastern European flare in the atmosphere.

We spent that weekend settling in and slowly examining our nearby area. We found that there was a local store only a block away and that there was a Citibank even closer than that. The great thing about the bank was that it was the absolute best way to change currencies because it would do it at the correct exchange rate without charging extra fees. Dealing in forints took some time to get used too. At that time one dollar would give me 200 forints so it isn’t hard to see how one could easily start dealing in thousands of forints. In fact, one time when I wanted to withdraw money from the bank, I accidentally added a zero to the amount I originally wanted. 5000 forints became 50,000 forints with the accidental addition of a zero and the ATM machine actually honored the transaction. I almost had a heart attack because first, I never had 50,000 of anything in my hands before and because I could not figure out how much money in dollars it was; it could have been 5,000 dollars for all I knew, but thankfully once I was able to gather myself together, I realized that it was only 250 dollars. That lesson alone was worth more to me than any global business class I had taken.

During that same weekend, we walked around with the rest of the guys and found a pub that served local beers and cuisine. We knew that Germany and Austria were right above us so at least I thought that some of their beer tradition would be exhibited here as well and I was right. We soon learned that the beer of the land was called Dreher and it was said to be the best. I ordered a Dreher and a traditional meal called beef goulash and boy were my taste buds glad that I did. I could not have enough of it, it was so delicious, the beef goulash was incredibly tasty; it consisted of shredded pieces of well-seasoned beefsteak on top of a bed of pasta-like noodles. The beer was incredibly rich with flavor. It was so good that even Irina liked it and she is not one to like beer. Budapest is actually two cities next to each other separated by the beautiful Danube River; on one side there is Buda that is known for its hills and on the other side is Pest where we stayed. In between the two cities is an island called Margarita Island, which can be compared to Central park. It is a beautiful park that is surrounded by a long running track where many people spend their time exercising. In the middle of the park, there is a gigantic fountain that shoots out water in synchronization with music. The island also has some medieval ruins of a famous nunnery. I visited this park with Irina on three or four occasions. One can get there by boat or by bridge.

In some instances, we saw a yacht on the Danube that was named the UKRAINA and Irina would get so excited because it was as close to Ukraine she was going to get. We had already decided not to go to Ukraine because of very real safety concerns in that country. The weekend was over and it was back to the classroom on Monday. We were fortunate enough to use the facility at the Central European University in Budapest were we saw students from all over the world. I thought that studying abroad was a rare experience, but I stood corrected when I saw the students at that university; in fact, it seemed that the minority of the students were from the local area. I suspect that many of those students were completing entire degrees in a foreign land to them. This concept was intriguing to me, we make a big deal when we study in a different state, but these students are studying in a different country with different languages and customs. My only regret from the entire trip was that I was not allowed the opportunity to befriend a student so that I could find out more about how it is to live and study there. I say that I was not able to make friends with other students because most, if not all of the other students who looked friendly and could speak some English were women and if Irina were to catch me talking to one of them, she would not buy my story.

Andras’ best friend and Romani activist Oladas who is the main go-to person for all Romani issues and is an advisor to the prime minister of Hungary on Romani affairs gave one of the first class room lectures. He opened our eyes to who the legendary gypsies are and the issues they face. The Roma were originally a nomadic tribe from northern India who left their land over a thousand years ago and made their way into Europe. They were always ostracized and forbidden from staying at any one place so they were never able to settle in a territory that they could call their home. For the most part they have been in Europe for so long that going back to India is not a real option for them. They have been called gypsies because of the stereotype that they have of gypping people. The Roma have been associated with poverty and crime, but these realities result more from the discriminatory and unfair treatment of their host countries than anything else. Many times the Roma are falsely accused of hurting the country and unfortunately become targets for violence. In the 1990s, over 80% of were unemployed. Oladas has been working on desegregating schools and improving the living conditions and education for his people.

One day we went to a Romani graduation ceremony that Oladas had put together to recognize the efforts of some outstanding students. We got to meet many other Roma and see how their side of the world looked like. The eight or so students that were recognized are part of a very small number of Romani students who actually attend college. It is very difficult for people whose main concern is to put food on the table to get a higher education. The entire experience was very uplifting and gratifying. We were lucky enough to peer into an intimate moment with a downtrodden people where neither language nor nationality or race seemed to matter as much as the hope for the future and chance for change represented by each of those educated young men and women standing before us.

"The city felt both big and small at the same time."

In our first week in Hungary, we realized that it was difficult to really go out late without considering that we would have to wake up at eight in the morning for class. I really enjoyed walking around Budapest because it was almost impossible to get lost because the city felt both big and small at the same time. The city had many things to see and do but the streets were nothing like Manhattan blocks so it was easy to walk from one place to another. As long as I knew where the river was, I could never get lost because I could always go to the river and find certain landmarks that were close to the hotel. Budapest is very easy to get around in because there are more transportation options than we have here in New York. They had an underground metro, they had an aboveground train, they had buses and they even had trolleys. We could get to practically anywhere in the city that we wanted to. Also during that first week in the classroom we had a few professors from the same university visit our class. For the most part it was a pleasant experience except for one snobby professor from Canada who thought she was God’s gift to us. Prof. Stevens-Arroyo asked each of his students to share with the Canadian professor some of their thoughts about Hungary and so we did. Most of us spoke about the beautiful architecture and the rich culture and history. To those comments I also added that I was surprised by the diversity that I saw. The Professor reacted as if I had insulted her. She was puzzled by my comment and she demanded an explanation for it. I told her that sure most Hungarians are “white”, but they fall in to a diverse spectrum of what we call “white” as opposed to what might be found in Switzerland where most people have blond hair and blue eyes, Hungarians look different. My observation is consistent with the history of the country with its many occupations and foreign influences. Hungary is definitely no London, but Hungary has been a center for diversity long before London became what it is today. You can find people who look German, Russian, Turkish, and all the different combinations thereof that have deep roots in Hungary.

By the second week, we learned a lot about Hungary’s most recent core and periphery relationship with The Soviet Union. Hungary was not part of the Union but it might as well have been because of the strong influence that Russia had on the country. Hungary was a full-blown communist country that suppressed its people from the freedoms and opportunities that its western neighbors were enjoying. By following in the footsteps of Russia, it assured its protection and trade with it. Many Hungarians actually speak Russian because they were forced to learn it growing up, but because of their strong resentment of that country, many of them have grown to hate the language and anything that reminds them of it. Today Hungary is a free country and some might say maybe even too free. Pornography is rampant in the country at least for United States standards; it is not unusual to find huge billboards and advertisements with naked women on them. In fact, conveniently located on the corner from our hotel was a strip club that did not hold back from using explicit photographs outside of its doors to let everyone know the kinds of thing that were going on inside. Hungary is known for its great food, great city and beautiful women and I have to say that all three depictions are accurate. I was very impressed with the cuisine in Budapest, an avid Austrian tourist told me that Hungarian cuisine was akin to the more famous French cuisine except that it was less expensive and served in bigger portions. One night, Irina and I visited a restaurant that was on a yacht on the Danube, it was such a beautiful sight. We went inside and ate royally. I had duck in a sweet fruit sauce that was to die for, and like all Hungarian restaurants it is customary to always provide soup and salad with every meal. This restaurant was the most expensive one that we had eaten in while in Hungary; we actually paid the equivalent of 15 dollars for each meal. It would be unthinkable to get a gourmet dinner in New York on a yacht for even three times that price.

Budapest is also famous for its natural mineral baths. Irina and I visited them on the weekend. These baths were housed in an elaborate hall in a hotel. It was a beautiful scene. The hall had more than a dozen baths to choose from and each with its own chemical variation. We also got in to a swimming pool that could fit over two hundred people in it; the entire place looked like an aquatic heaven. Of all the great things that we did in Hungary the one thing that I miss the most was the nightly walks across the bridge over the Danube. The city felt safe and it had a certain charm about it at night. Hungary is a city of many lights and beautiful old architecture such as their Gothic churches and Parliament building and museum. The entire experience was educational, enlightening and fun all at the same time. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place, but I have made a promise to my self to return. I recommend that anyone considering studying abroad should do it, but what really made our experience special was that we had very knowledgeable professors that actually taught us something. I have heard of study abroad programs that are conducted more like vacation travel than anything else. One can always vacation on his own time, but to have a truly educational experience in a foreign country is rewarding and beneficial beyond measure.
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