Have you ever spent seventeen hours on a Flixbus at the Port of Dover? Sat under the northern lights after an Icelandic man pulled your car out of a snow patch? Stayed in the apartment of a man named Jose in Barcelona with a cat named Lucky and a dog named Candela? Hi, I’m Kersey and I had the privilege of traveling to twenty-two countries over the past twelve months, all thanks to the beauty of study abroad.

My Lovely Leiden Loves

While attending Universiteit Leiden, the oldest university in the Netherlands, I studied in classrooms where brilliant minds like Einstein and Oppenheimer once taught. Navigating the Dutch education system proved challenging, yet I soon became accustomed to the art of field trips to naval bases and cheese cities. With a major in Political Science and my GLI theme being Culture & Politics, I took courses like Europe’s Armed Forces & Societies and Dutch Topical Debates to truly dig deeper into the European identity. My life became a routine of bike riding, canal sitting, and stroopwafel eating. I celebrated an array of holidays from Leiden Ontzet, a three day festival where the entire town was converted into an amusement park, and King’s Day, a weekend getaway to Amsterdam canal chaos. As the months passed and I adapted to my newfound Dutch identity, I began to take note of the lessons I could bring back to Montana — such as the ban of plastic bags, the intricate bike lanes, the constant availability of public transportation, the encouragement of youth to live with the elderly, the allowances towards child care, the joy of leaving work at work, the intensive welfare state, and the outward tolerance of other cultures.

My 21st Birthday & Leiden Ontzet with the Dutch

My Korean roommate and I spent our weekends using Skyscanner to locate our next destination, from Belgium, Germany, to the UK. I traveled to Palermo to watch a marathon, Basel to view Swiss architecture, Paris to reunite with my mom’s host family, Rome to take a gander at the Sistine Chapel, and Athens to pet the cats. I skied in the Alps with my parents, took night Flixbuses across Central Europe, toured Copenhagen and Lund under the guide of my Swedish mate, got annihilated by the surf in Spain, ventured all the way over to Taiwan (for free), roadtripped across Wales and Scotland, and painted like Monet in Normandie. I enjoyed Hungarian baths solo, moved from hostel to hostel in Interlaken, ate perogies in Krakow, and fully embraced the art of delayed or lost transportation.

The MOSAIC Taiwan Fellows

I discovered the simple reality that humans are humans and we tend to overcomplicate it. Developing close relations with individuals from all across the globe challenged my preconceived notions and stereotypes, leading to intensive dialogues about who we are as people at our very core. Strangers became my friends who became my family. My heart aches knowing that we may never see each other again, but I am grateful that our paths crossed. As I sat in my last course, I looked around with nothing but appreciation that we all ended up together in the same place at the same time.

The Scottish Jolly In the Background | Bella Reunion in Barcelona | Lost on the London Tub w/ Eun Song

I will forever remember the nights spent at cold train stations with Eun Song, the late runs to Wong Kei’s for authentic Chinese food, the smell of Kibbling on a Saturday morning, the feeling of riding down Leeghwatertunnel on rainy afternoons, the rush of my Flixbus arriving at Station Victoria, the Remi situation that seemingly never ended, and the nerves of saying goodbye. I encourage all to go abroad, not only for the places and sights you’ll see, but for the people who will alter the course of your lives. Cheers to the last twelve months and all of the lessons it gave me, even the endless backache from lugging around my Ryanair-friendly backpack across half of Europe.

The Infamous Ryanair Bag | Mid-Term Getaway to London | Icelandic Natural Spring Shivers

Hi! I am Holly Mahon, a senior at the University of Montana studying Political Science and Public Health. During the Spring of 2023, I had the opportunity to study abroad at the University College Cork (UCC) in Cork, Ireland for my Beyond the Classroom Experience. 

The course that I took that related to my Global Theme of Global and Public Health was Introduction to Health Information Systems. I chose this course because I am interested in the collection of data surrounding health outcomes. I really enjoyed a guest lecture from the Director of Mental Health Services in County Cork about community building cooking programs for men to build strong social networks to support mental health. The class taught very valuable lessons about validity and context when looking at data pertaining to global health. The amount of data surrounding health and the methods to collecting health data is extremely complex. I was glad to gain more knowledge and understanding surrounding information and health while at UCC.

Being and studying in Ireland helped me develop a lot of confidence in my future as I look forward to having a career in Public Health and just having a future being an adult. I developed a new level of independence. I traveled to Ireland and traveled around on Ireland’s public transportation on my own. I also made new friends and traveled to other areas of Europe with them like Edinburgh, Scotland and Paris, France. Growing up in Western Montana and having Ireland as my first experience out of the country was an extremely empowering adventure for me.

I am so grateful for my time in Ireland and I am very thankful for all of the memories and experience I have from my Beyond the Classroom Experience!

Imagine the birds are chirping, sounding like musical notes, cascading all around you. Above you, the trees are a vivacious green and insects hum from their trunks. Up ahead rises a column of smoke and a wave of flames bites at its heel. There is a trail of fire leading up to where you’re standing. You started the fire. And you watch as it burns through the blackberry bushes, palmetto, oaks, and pines. 

Hi! My name is Jaiden Stansberry and this was my Beyond the Classroom experience. I traveled to Baxley, Georgia with the University of Montana’s Prescribed Fire Practicum. The class was led by three UM professors and one Montana Forester, in addition to six University of Montana students from varying backgrounds. We traveled to the Moody Forest owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The purpose of the prescribed burning was to regenerate longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) stands, which need fire to develop. This tree was once the predominant species of the south, creating many essential habitats, but has since deteriorated due to reduction of fire to eliminate its competition. This experience offered a unique and hands-on opportunity to aid in the restoration of these species through prescribed fire. In addition, I was also able to build my own knowledge and leadership in wildland fire, a career that I have worked for the last two years. 

The class and I hit the ground running when we arrived in Georgia, waking up early the first day to burn 100 acres in 90 degree weather and suffocating humidity. Upon arriving to breifing, it was very apparent that this forest ecosystem was unlike any that I had burned in. The grass and shrubbery seemed green and unburnable and the relative humidity (RH) was in the 70’s (for comparison, the RH is commonly in the 20’s in Yosemite). A rattlesnake slithered its way from the unit and settled beneath the handtools laid on the road, welcoming the traveler’s from Montana. Once we were briefed, we began firing operations and to my surprise the greenery caught flame like it had been soaked in kerosene. This was just the start of many prescribed burns we would complete in Georgia. 

Most days, the division of firing was operated by students, which allowed me to explore leadership roles in fire. Being relatively new to the fire world, I tend to listen to others with more experience and inquire to learn more, but in this environment, I was able to test my knowledge when telling others with less experience what to do. I felt that I got to use the techniques of leadership I learned in GLI last year when teaching others. I enjoyed sharing the world of fire to those that had yet to experience and share my knowledge.

The trip was not only compiled with amazing fire experience, but also the opportunity to explore the ecosystems of Georgia. There were a few days that the thunderstorms or wind direction prohibited us from burning. But these days were of no loss to our learning. One day we spent exploring the Moody Forest’s ecosystem of cypress forests and nests of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. This species is directly affected by the decline of longleaf pine forests in the south as their resinous wood is preferred to build nests within. We also found the endangered species of Gopher Tortoise and explored the Okefenokee Swamp, one of the few Wilderness areas in the south, near the Florida-Georgia line. Other days, we assisted in preparing future burn units for TNC, which led to additional chainsaw and line-cutting experience. 

Burning in the south was informative from a wildfire perspective compared to burning in the west. Wildlfire is given a very negative connotation in the west, because it is often associated with destruction of property and forests. Prescribed fire is also difficult to initiate, because there are many hoops that need to be navigated, like burn plans, smoke permits, and personnel to operate the burn. And many communities tend to be fearful of fire as they may have lost homes or property in severe wildfires. However, in the south, prescribed burning was openly accepted by communities. Oftentimes, if we arrived in an area to burn, the neighboring houses would ask us to burn their property or join us in burning. This perspective was wildly different than what I was acclimated to seeing. The support seemed to aid in the implementation of prescribed burning and allowed burning to happen more often than I have seen anywhere in the west. The lack of prescribed burning is an issue on a global scale, because as wildfires spread severely all over the world there is more of a need for fuel mitigation, like prescribed burns, to reduce severity. My Beyond the Classroom experience gave me a new perspective of how difficult prescribed burning can be to implement without the support of the community. This helped me to connect my theme of Resources and Sustainability to my Beyond the Classroom experience and see this issue on a local and global scale.

This experience has been one of my favorite opportunities at the University of Montana. The connections I made with my professors, peers, and coworkers are unforgettable. I developed myself in a career that I pursue and participated as a leader, strengthening that skillset. 

Hello friends,

My name is Diana Urry. I used my scholarship to go to Cuenca, Ecuador for spring semester 2023, and I combined it with my social work practicum. Cuenca is in the mountains at 8,400 feet above sea level and roads over the mountains that take you to other cities can get as high as 14,500 feet above sea level. Cuenca is known for its very old and beautiful architecture, especially Catholic churches. The oldest church was built by the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500’s. The church with the domes in this picture took a hundred years to build. The population in Cuenca is 445,000.

This picture was taken on January 14^th of this year. It captures the culture in Cuenca. This is the downtown area and people from all over come to sell fruits, vegetables, and all sorts of crazy things, such as fresh goat’s milk. They line the sidewalks every day to sell, and their prices are very low. In the background is the typical store. You won’t find a Walmart here; most stores are very small, and most people are very poor, with the average income being $450 a month.

I took four years of Spanish at the UM, but I felt like I was starting from scratch when I got to Cuenca because they don’t teach slang and dialect in school. I learned quickly though, and I felt fluent by the time I left. I’m the one in the front and behind me is my social work supervisor. She’s about 4’11 feet tall and that’s typical of Ecuadorians. We worked at a cancer treatment hospital. My job was to give emotional support to patients having surgery or doing chemo treatments. This experience was invaluable to me now that I’m graduated and working as a social worker in Salt Lake City. Spanish comes in very handy here with 22% of the population being Hispanic. I am so grateful for this opportunity that changed me for the better in many ways.

Hi, my name is Ethan Lowe, and I am senior studying Mathematics and Japanese, and I have spent the last year studying at Tohoku University in Japan. The experience as a whole was extremely valuable in the social connections and friends I made, the challenging coursework I participated in to improve my Mathematics skills and Japanese language skills, and the traveling around the country I was able to do to expand my worldview. The classes I took for my Mathematics Major focused around doing research on various aspects of Applied Mathematics and culminated in the spring semester doing a research project on Numerical Analysis of Partial Differential Equations. In addition, the entire year I continued my study of the Japanese Language and I greatly improved as being forced to use the language in all of my daily interactions makes one improve quickly, and in addition, the coursework I took was also difficult but invaluable as it provided a different style of Japanese Language teaching that I was used to.

In addition to the coursework, I also spent a lot of time in my spring break traveling around the various parts of the country, from all the way in the north in Hokkaido, to the cultural center that is Kyoto. Because the culture of Japan is so unique compared to Western culture, it was some the best things I have ever experienced. The temples, architecture, food, people, all of it was so unique and makes me very thankful I had the opportunity to travel around Japan to expand my worldview and make myself a more informed person. I look forward to using all that I learned and experienced in the GLI program and at University of Montana to enhance my senior year.

Hello everyone!

My name is Carli Cebulla and for my Beyond the Classroom experience, I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain for the Spring 2023 semester. This experience has influenced my outlook on life and helped me grow into a much more understanding person of the world. Although my actual project was based in Barcelona, I was able to go on so many adventures throughout Europe and Africa, that affected me just as much. 

Growing up in a small farm town, and then moving to Missoula was like I entered a whole new world. I never could have imagined how much I would thrive in a city consisting of 2 million people, having only grown up in a town maybe consisting of 1,000 people on a good day. There was so much I had to learn the first month I was there, but luckily my roommates were from Spain and helped me out a lot my first couple weeks. Without them, I would have not had as great of an experience and put myself out there as much. 

There are so many wild adventures that I could put in here, but that would make this post into a whole book. However, my favorite memories of my time abroad mostly have to do with the insane nightlife scene, and all the new stores that I could shop in. It still has not sunk in that I am no longer there and probably will not be back for many years. But as for right now, I still feel like all my adventures were just last week. 

My time abroad really showcased how different lifestyles can be. It was a little bit of an adjustment that first week, but after that I learned to love the work to live mindset. This experience opened my eyes to a whole new side of people that I did not see when I first moved by myself several years ago. I created great friendships with people all over the world and learned even more about other countries because of that.

Throughout my time there, I had a couple visitors. Everyone that came mentioned how much happier everyone is over there within the first day or two of being there. And I have to agree. The way of life is much simpler, and even though Spain is less developed than the United States, everyone seems content and not overly stressed. It was refreshing to see a world that has more to life after college than just working.

Overall, my experience in Barcelona still feels like a fever dream. And I keep reliving all the little moments, which I hope to continue to do. I will never forget the impact this experience has had on my life and how I view the world!

My name is Collin Baker, and my Beyond the Classroom Experience took me to Atlanta, Georgia for a ten week long internship. As a Management Information Systems major in the College of Business, an internship relevant to information systems, which aligns perfectly with finding a BtC Experience related to my theme of Technology and Society.

I spent the summer as a Digital Assurance and Transparency Intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC (PwC). The position essentially boils down to IT audit. My client was a financial technology company that acts as an intermediary between financial institutions and advertisers to place ads into banking apps. Basically, if you bank through most major companies like Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and others, the coupons you find in your bank’s app were placed there not by the bank, but my client. My job involved making sure that all of the controls the company had in place covering financial information and data security were operating the way they ought to, and that they properly protected and guaranteed the accuracy of all of the information the company handles. This meant gathering evidence, analyzing reports, and talking to people working for the client (data engineers, compliance managers, even the Chief Information Security Officer) to make sure I properly understood the systems they had in place and could confirm they were appropriate.

Doing this gave me an incredible understanding of the use of information systems in business to a degree that my major could never provide. The pervasiveness of technology in all aspects of life, including business, is well known, but few people truly understand how essential it is to the proper operation of a company. Even more critically, the extent of attention paid to controls and security measures is far more substantial than I thought. Everything is taken into account, to the point that what we considered “data security” controls included not only firewalls, VPNs, and password requirements, but organization charts, succession plans, and vendor contracts. The value this opportunity added to my understanding of the field I intend to work in, as well as my general understanding of technology as it’s used in business, can not be understated.

The summer wasn’t just about work, of course. I had a fantastic team to spend my time with, and each day, whether in the office, at the client site, or at a bar for happy hour, was fantastic. Throughout the summer, we did everything from minigolf to Beat the Bomb (basically a bunch of minigames with everything from memory challenges to dodging lasers) and it was a great way to get to know my associates, managers, and even firm partners (all on the company’s budget, of course).

This was a great experience, and I am excited to start my full-time position with the company after graduating in the fall.

Hi, my name is Kate and I am a junior at the University of Montana studying human biology and psychology. I am hoping to pursue a career in medicine and for my beyond-the-classroom experience, I participated in a 3 month medical and teaching internship in Nepal. Over my time in Nepal, I had the opportunity to shadow doctors and nurses in 3 different hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley as well as teach health and hygiene classes to students across 3 different schools. My internship was very self-led so most days I was the only intern/student that was observing in the hospital, although I often had between 4-7 housemates at any given time who were also doing separate projects. I became very familiar with using the chaotic public transportation in Kathmandu and each morning I would have breakfast, head to the hospital, and start my day doing rounds or observing appointments and procedures in the outpatient department.

I was lucky to be surrounded by Nepali nurses and doctors, so during slow times they would help me practice my Nepali language skills and they would tell me more about their lives outside of healthcare. Because of this, I was able to communicate more with locals and patients in their language which really made me feel connected more to the people and their culture. Moreover, I taught first aid, public health, and sexual/reproductive health classes to students ranging in age from 9-14 years old. Public and global health is my global theme for GLI so I really gained a broader perspective about healthcare in a developing country through my internship. Moreover, my teaching experience was greatly informed by the things I learned and observed in the hospitals. I was able to focus the curriculum on subjects like first aid and hygiene because I observed that many people had limited education on these topics and would end up in the emergency room because of it.

I am so grateful to have had this experience and I learned so much about medicine, culture, and education in a country so different from the United States. On top of it all, I was able to explore all around Nepal including trekking, seeing tigers and rhinos in the jungle, and visiting many cultural sites. It was an amazing experience and such a unique way to learn and immerse myself in a new culture!

  My Beyond the Classroom Experience took me to Cork, Ireland. I chose Cork largely based on the fact that I could take upper-division film courses that transfer to my BFA in Digital Filmmaking. The film program at the University College Cork is extremely different from the program at the University of Montana. The UCC program is a theory-based learning program while UMT is much more practical. Not only was I thrown into a different style of learning, but it almost felt like a different subject. At UMT, the program has us constantly producing artwork for our portfolios and engaging in hands-on learning. UCC on the other hand has us look deeper into the history and philosophy of film. While the programs are different in engagement in film, I found that learning from both schools benefited me and how I examined the subject

The classes at UCC had us dive into many experimental and bizarre styles of filmmaking. I was exposed to types of films that I would have never seen if I stayed in the States. I benefited from the fact that I stayed for a whole year so I could explore more thought-provoking films and theory articles. Irish Cinema does not often see a lot of global engagement because many of the filmmakers lean away from Hollywood’s crisp style and focus on avant-garde styles. Being exposed to such deep levels of thought and understanding of film as well as the shock of never seeing films of this nature completely rearranged my thought process. I tackle cinema completely differently and as my final semester in school begins, I can’t wait to combine both of my skillsets from UMT and UCC to propel me forward into new projects.