Student Voices

Karin Stefans, '11

Major: Elementary Education
Minor: English and Natural Science
Hometown: Vernon Hills, Ill.
Where she studied: Ireland

Karin Stefans was inspired to study abroad after hearing her mother talk about her own experience during college. Karin wanted to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"I went to talk to Erik Kulke first semester of my freshman year because I knew that scheduling a semester abroad around my education classes might be difficult," Karin says. She worked with her advisor in the Education Department to map out a schedule. She applied to the program the summer before her sophomore year, and traveled that next spring.

She decided to study in Ireland because she had visited the country when she was 15 with her grandparents. She wanted to further experience the culture and explore her own Irish ancestry. She studied at the American Institute for Foreign Study at the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland, from January to May, 2009. While there, she lived in campus housing with seven other students — five Ireland natives, one girl from Germany, and one boy from France.

"Besides the cultural differences and similarities, I learned a lot about myself," she says. "I realized that I can be independent and self-sufficient, and I really have a lot of confidence in myself. I'm not as worried as I was about going out into the 'real world' because I have been there and I was successful.

"I traveled almost every weekend, and I got to see so many different places," she continued. "Ireland is a breathtaking country, so really anywhere we went had beautiful scenery. I also got to travel to the United Kingdom and continental Europe a few times. I got to use some of my French in Paris, which was very exciting since I could understand and be understood, even though I hadn't taken French in a while."

Most memorable experiences: "All of my weekend travels were memorable, but I think the time that my friend and I tried to bake chocolate chip cookies is something that I will never forget. Ireland doesn't really make soft cookies; they mostly just have biscuits that are crunchy. Finding the ingredients was harder than we thought it would be. It was surprisingly difficult to find unsalted butter for the recipe, and the butter did not come in the sticks that we are used to. The chocolate chips came in a small and rather expensive bag, so we had to chop up two giant chocolate bars in order to get the chocolate for the cookies. We also had to convert between metric and U.S. customary units. It was more of a challenge than we thought it would be, but our Irish housemates were very impressed."

Biggest challenges: "I didn't expect there to be a language barrier since English is the main language in Ireland, but there was. There are many different accents in Ireland, and some of them were very difficult to understand. There were also expressions that I had never heard, so sometimes I felt that I was trying to understand a foreign language."

Biggest surprises: "I didn't realize how much American culture reaches Ireland. Some of the favorite shows of my Irish housemates included 'Scrubs,' 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Friends.' It seemed like one of those shows was always playing. It was surprising how much the Irish students knew about American culture, and how little I feel that Americans understand about other cultures."

Advice for other students who are considering studying abroad: "Studying abroad was an amazing opportunity and I am so glad that I was able to do it. If you are interested in studying abroad, talk to Erik Kulke and your advisor, and they will help you make it fit with your schedule so that you can study abroad and still graduate on time. I am so glad that I spent a semester abroad, and I would recommend the experience to everyone."

Student Voices

William Viarnes, '10

William started planning his semester abroad a semester in advance. Read more.

Amber Callender, '10

Amber spent six months teaching in Guatemala. Read more.

Jean Louise Brody, '12

Her advice: "Go for it! Get yourself out there and experience the world." Read more.

Karin Stefans, '11

"I traveled almost every weekend, and I got to see so many different places. Ireland is a breathtaking country." Read more.

Alumni Stories

French major and Fulbright Scholar returns to France after graduation. "I never learned so much in five months," she says of her undergraduate semester abroad. Read more.

J-Term at Carthage

Not ready to spend a full semester abroad? J-Term study tours provide a wonderful introduction to international education. Read more.