Terri Cearley: Breaking Away from the Norm -- Study Abroad versus Learning Abroad

Study Tour in Greece

I completed my breakaway during the summer of 2018. Before deciding on my program, I looked at many different options until I was told about a very affordable program in Greece that other Lander students had already attended over the years. When it was time to go abroad it felt like I was flying into the unknown. I was told someone would meet me at the airport, but I did not have much information beyond that. Throughout the experience I tried to remain positive and worked at being flexible. When I arrived in Rhodes, I was put into a hotel alone and told I had a little time before I had to be in class. The person who picked me up at the airport told me he would be back to show me where to go for class. 

As I waited in the lobby I kept checking the time and I became nervous with no real way of contacting anyone. Suddenly, a boy about my age came running into the lobby completely out of breath, asking me if I was Terri. I had never met this person before and was expecting someone else to come show me to class. When I told him I was Terri and that I had just arrived in Rhodes for the summer program, he informed me that he would show me to class. At this point I was very concerned being in a foreign country, unsure of my surroundings and tired from a long journey there, and did not know how safe it was believing someone I never met and agreeing to follow him through the streets of Rhodes. 

I did not have much of a choice, so I said okay and followed. Of course, this ended up working out fine and this was someone who was at the end of his study abroad, but it was a worrisome experience and the entire time I thought about all the ways this could go wrong while also trying to remember the directions, so I could later get back to my hotel alone.

While on the study tour throughout Greece I was with a group of students from a college in Boston who were not taking the same class as me, but instead using this program for a class at their own school. This meant that all of the other students already knew each other, did not have to complete any of the same work as I did, and would be leaving me after the study tour which left me completely alone in Rhodes for the remained of my trip. This made the class very lonely and complicated the social aspect of the trip.

During our study tour we visited many beautiful places across Greece. I loved all of the locals we met and all of the sites we explored. The downside was that we were often ushered through beautiful sites so quickly that we were unable to fully appreciate where we were. This rush was understandable because of just how much there was to be done, especially when we were moving hotels almost every night. However, I believe that it would be more beneficial to see less places if given the time to fully appreciate them and learn about them. 

For example, one day when traveling across Greece on the large bus I was awaken to everyone scrambling off the bus. I had to quickly get up, still half asleep, and run to catch up with the professor to ask where we were and why we stopped. It was dark and rainy as we walked onto a nearby bridge. Once I finally caught up to the professor he informed me that this was a famous canal. After standing on the bride for a few minutes he turned back around and began walking once again, so once we noticed he was walking we all rushed to follow. I was assuming that there was more to the stop and that we were going to go out of the rain to talk further; however, instead we all just got back on the bus and kept driving.

I expected a study tour to be thought out and planned to maximize learning, but instead it was focused on going to the most places as possible rather than exploring the places that would lead to the most learning. Rushing through everything left little time to expand on learning and left our brains full of so much information at the end of the day that it was hard to keep it all straight. In addition to the information overload, there were over 20 essays that were to be written on the places we went. These essays led to lots of additional research once returning to the states and is a good indication of studying abroad instead of truly learning abroad.

After my study abroad in Greece, I traveled to Rome, Italy. Rome is where I believe I gained the most experience and learning during my entire breakaway, even though I was there independently. I was able to take the time to fully experience the places I went and to explore further when the moment called for it. On my first day in Rome I decided to go to the Colosseum. The line took a long time and the sun was blaring down on me, but I used the time to find some free guided tours on my phone for the Colosseum. 

I was able to walk around at my own pace and enjoy the beautiful views while also listening to and reading information about the place I was exploring. Having this freedom gave me the ability to learn more information and make a real connection to the information I was learning. As I stood on the second floor and overlooked the Colosseum I could imagine it filled with eager citizens waiting to watch an exciting fight. Leaving the Colosseum, I wandered into the Roman Forum, which is the largest excavated site I’ve ever seen. This basically took up the rest of the day and was the most memorable places I visited in my time abroad. I took the time to stop at all of the informational boards and continued to listen to a few free guided tours on my phone. 

The Colosseum

An excavation of the Roman Forum

I was able to take my time and fully experience the site. I again imagined the way it may have looked and the people that may have lived there. I wondered what else could be hidden under the ground and watched from above as a large team continued excavations in one of the blocked off sections. Watching the excavation is something that would have been overlooked if I was on a study tour, but because I was observant and took the time to take everything in, I was able to learn what a real excavation looks like. I was amazed as I watched the large team working in unison. It was a perfect balance of being forceful and gentle. Some of them had tools to dig deeper faster, while others concentrated and worked carefully to remove dirt from and dust off everything that was found. The amazement, wonder, and thrill that I experienced learning about archaeology and the Roman ruins is exactly what I expected from a breakaway experience. While in Rome I was truly able to learn abroad.

Terri Cearley is an Early Childhood Education major with an emphasis on the Montessori Method. She is originally from Stamford, Connecticut, and moved to South Carolina to attend Lander. Terri is also on the Lander University Equestrian Team and volunteers with therapeutic horsemanship, helping people with special needs through horseback riding. She did her breakaway experience in Greece during the summer and later traveled to France and Italy.