Choosing Travel, Changing Minds

Today it seems students are traveling around the globe with the ease of floating through the “It’s A Small World” ride at Disneyland.

With an increasing number of volunteer, vacation and study abroad programs being offered at an increasing number of schools, students are now attacking America’s image abroad – turning travel time into good will missions.

Students are still backpacking across Europe, searching for their souls and the best deal on grass in Amsterdam. But now they’re more commonly crossing borders to make a difference, experience different cultures and instill a positive impression of Americans – a message countries don’t get from the “USA”-sweatshirt wearing couples complaining about how the restaurants in Beijing don’t make Chinese food the right way.

“Student travel is a big trend right now,” said Troy Peden, founder and editor of goabroad.com, an online yellow pages for international volunteer, work, internship and teaching opportunities. “We [America] have such a history of isolationism and ethnocentricity. It’s the students themselves that are changing how this works.”

With certain negative portrayals of America and Americans overseas, Peden said students are becoming self-appointed ambassadors and breaking down cultural stereotypes.

“A lot of our volunteers are concerned with the image other countries have of Americans,” said Elke Jahns, program manager at WorldTeach, a non-profit organization that sends volunteers overseas to teach English and other subjects in underdeveloped areas. “They want to go not just as tourists but go in and feel like they’re contributing.”

Instead of taking the tourist track, School of Education senior Claire Napoleon spent only about $400 during the two months she taught English in China last summer. The program she went through covered her plane ticket and housing and provided her with a weekly stipend.

“If you want to travel, you can find a way to go and not really spend too much money,” she said. Napoleon studied a semester in England and a summer in France, but she didn’t feel satisfied with her overseas experiences.

“China was good for me,” she said. “I felt boring only having been to Europe a couple of times. It’s weird, I know. Because years ago going to Europe would’ve been exciting, but now it’s like ‘I’ve been to Europe. I’ve gone to Europe.’ But I want to see so much more.”

Napoleon said her dissatisfaction with having crossed the Atlantic a few times seems to be a new complaint, common to the current generation of young travelers.

“Once you start traveling, you don’t want to stop,” said Shaina Tanguay-Colucci, who’s affectionately called “The Japan Girl” in her small hometown in Connecticut.

Tanguay-Colucci, a 2005 College of Communication graduate, won a scholarship to Japan when she was in high school and came back to the states with the curiosity to explore more of the world.

“You get re-acclimated to [American] culture here but in the back of your mind you know it’s not what you really want,” she said. “I just want to have the freedom of not belonging anywhere and being able to adapt wherever.”

She’s adapted to a diverse collection of places. Beyond traveling to Japan, she studied abroad in New Zealand last fall and volunteered on a Catholic mission trip to Tanzania for three weeks last summer, where she encountered a Masai warrior working as a security guard and several men offering their résumés along with marriage proposals. This is an amazing country, if you want to visit, check out this new guide to make the most of your visit to New Zealand.

“In Tanzania, we were part of a globalization debate that was crazy,” she said. “We were in New Zealand during last year’s Presidential elections and everywhere I went there was anti-American sentiment. Even in Fiji and Africa, people knew about America, so it’s really important for us to realize the image we’re giving to the rest of the world.”

Although many students travel overseas with the desire to represent America in a positive light, many are also traveling in a sort of rebellion against the current U.S. government.

“I think there’s a growing trend of travelers to travel as a sort of protest to say ‘I’m not in support of the U.S. government so I’m leaving and I’m here to help,'” Peden said.

Suffolk University senior Garrett Quinn, who traveled around Europe on a religious pilgrimage this August and September, said he wanted to get out of America partly for a break from U.S. politics.

“The Bush Administration isn’t worth sticking around for,” he argued.

Nathan Arnold, a Peace Corps spokesman, said he’s seen applications soar over the past 30 years. He attributes the 13,245 Corps applications last year to President Bush’s call to service during his 2001 State of the Union Address, not because of more people wanting to flee his reign.

Over the last decade, Americans’ heightened awareness of their country’s role in the global community and increased access to world news has fueled many people’s desire to reach out and help people in other countries, Peden said.

“[With news coverage of] each one of these conflicts, starting with Afghanistan, we get to see American volunteers already there and see that we could be there, too,” said the goabroad.com editor. “These international destinations on media make people aware of their existence. You can see the interest in the U.S. with more people studying Arabic and studying Islam.”

Arnold said he believes these news-making conflicts are giving people a jolt.

“I think 9/11 was a wake up call for a lot of Americans wanting to reach out and help other people,” he said. “Life is too short for a nine-to-five job. People want to experience the world.”

School of Management senior Ross Fleck said the allure of learning about other cultures led him overseas. He’s seen Europe and Australia on posh trips with his parents, biked around Germany and Austria with his high school Boy Scout troop, studied abroad in France and New Zealand, toured Eastern Europe over the 2004 spring break and recently returned from a two week trip to Peru where he volunteered with Hope Alliance, a Doctors-Without- Borders type group.

Despite his list, Ross is still figuring out ways to see more.

“I’m trying to get my dad [who’s a Hope Alliance board member] to send me to Africa next summer because this group does work there, but they’re talking about stopping because of political threats because a couple of their groups have come under siege,” he said.

If the group stops going to Africa, Fleck plans on changing his itinerary from building drinking wells to going on a safari with one of his South African friends.

Fleck is among the growing band of students who seek travel along many paths: whether it’s through an abroad program, volunteer projects or their personal whims. Regardless of which road students take, Fleck suggests seizing opportunities before it’s too late.

“When you’re young you think ‘if not now, when?'”