CENTER FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION - CUERNAVACA, MEXICO

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN LATIN AMERICA

• "I would definitely recommend this program to other people. The one on one attention was great especially in a program that has a lot of cultural immersion. It is very progressive in its academics and opinions so anyone looking for something more conservative might not be comfortable . . . Come with an open mind. Don't expect Mexicans to understand what vegetarianism is." (Alison Smolin '03)

CENTER FOR MARINE RESOURCE STUDIES - TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS, BRITISH WEST INDIES

• "We are almost half-way through our semester here in South Caicos and this island continues to amaze me. A few days ago, we were on a snorkel for Directed Research and just before we got back into the boat, two 5-foot stingrays swam just below us. They were completely undisturbed by our presence even though we were screaming with excitement. Today, in the same location, we saw two black-tipped reef sharks and a sea turtle. Last night, a couple of us walked to an old barge and watched sharks swim by in the moonlight. The TCI logo is "Beautiful By Nature" and all of us here have definitely grown to understand the truth behind this. I think one of the things I will miss most when I go home is waking up and falling asleep to the sound of the waves." (Caitlin Lustic '04)

GLCA BORDERS PROGRAM - CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO & EL PASO, TX

• "I did a field study in an El Paso detention center with a non-profit legal organization, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, working with Central American youth detained for attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally . . . If you care about social justice and change, want to learn more about border issues, learn Spanish, have a great time . . . definitely go on this program." (Kathryn McKee '03)

• "Prepare to be uncomfortable in a good way. Prepare to experience and learn." (Sara Artes '03)

IES - LA PLATA, ARGENTINA

1. Bring along your best friend . . . a credit card.

2. If you can't fit all your items in your suitcases, it means your not trying hard enough.

3. If people can't understand you at first, don't worry. They already know you're a foreigner.

4. I prefer the smell of mosquito repellent over Dengue fever any day.

5. Politics and economics are two subjects that Americans should not actively talk about, unless asked by someone else. Trust me on this one.

6. Wearing the wrong soccer uniform will also lead to being ostracized.

7. In the words of my instructor, "Tango is sensual, not sexual."

8. Dating while abroad isn't necessarily a bad thing.

9. It is very important to call your parents , to give them a sense of security, and to take out as many loans as possible.

10. Carpe Diem. (Amir Beg '03)

ORGANIZATION FOR TROPICAL STUDIES - COSTA RICA

• "I highly recommend this program to any Wooster student looking for a strong biology component and an interest in tropical environments in central America. The professors have an invested interest in the students and a strong passion for country and their fields of work . . . Also, you travel throughout the country, staying at a rain forest, dry forest, beach town, mountain station, wetland area, and botanical garden . . . You will return with a new appreciation for and understanding of the tropical environments and the culture of Costa Rica." (Melissa Reisland '04)

SIT - BRAZIL: AMAZONIAN ECOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• "I would recommend this program to Wooster students. Especially those interested in human ecology (looking at human culture and the environment intertwined and affected by each other). In all three cities of study, I learned more for this program than I have ever learned. I grew emotionally from having to face the hard realities of poverty and environmental destruction, and I grew culturally from the immersion, and I was constantly challenged and able to meet those challenges. But you have to put a lot of heart and soul and thought into this program to get something out of it." (Emily Schadler '03)

SIT - NICARAGUA

• It is a true gift to have a venue to communicate with the College about all that is going on here. Nicaragua is a country that has a long, hard history of suffering as a result of imperialism, namely that of the United States. Somehow, however, the people here are able to separate the United States government from the United States citzens. How happy does this make me when I talk to my Nicaraguan host mother about the War the CIA funded and promoted throughout her country throughout the 80's in response to the Sandanista revolution her son had fought for?
  

While she tells me about the tanks that drove through her neighborhood and the rockets that landed in her neighbors' homes I simultaneously listen to the news about the war in Iraq that must be fought to protect the safety of the American people. The war in Iraq is easily the dumbest use of the wealth that the US has acquired throughout its years of imperialist activities.

A few weeks ago I returned from a week-long academic excursion to Cuba, a country that has stared the US in the face and decided not to depend on us for survival. Not 10 minutes after arriving back in Nicaragua I learned that the US had started a war not fifteen minutes earlier. I was dropped off at my homestay house where my family happily greeted me, despite the pictures of Bagdad on the television in their living room. I talked to my host mother about my trip to Cuba and we talked about the new war as well. While we listened about how George Bush was being sure to protect civilians, my host mother, who has lived through not one but two wars in the streets of her city and her neighborhood, asked how Bush could think that it is possible to protect a civilian population in a war. How does Bush, a man who has hardly left the country, know anything about protecting the lives of a people half way around the world? How does he know what is the best option for them?

It was hard to look at the news channel here in Nicaragua, a place that has seen war amongst its own people, funded by the the United States, and see pictures of Bagdad, pictures not so incredibly different from the those we saw on September 11th. How is anyone supposed to take us seriously with these two juxtaposed pictures? I don't know how my host mother can do it, especially now, under these circumstances, but I am so thankful that she can treat me with such warmth and care, even with the cold and uncaring actions of my country's government. (Katie Harrison '04)

UNIVERSITY STUDIES ABROAD CONSORTIUM - HEREDIA, COSTA RICA

• "The host families go out of their way to make the Americans comfortable and their relaxed family oriented life is very appealing . . . Forgo any feminist notions for the time being - no one wants to hear it, nor can they understand it." (Laura Nesler '03)