For a group of students who love this college so much, we sure spend a lot of time away from it. Dartmouth has been ranked number one in study abroad participation among the Ivies. I'm going to guess that this is due to the strength of our study abroad programs and the fact that the D-Plan gives us 12 terms to work with instead of eight, not because we are all trying so desperately to get away from Hanover.
The D-Plan has been a blessing for Caitlin Nicholson '12, a varsity swimmer and pre-med student.
"I have to be here for the Fall and Winter," Nicholson told me. "If I went to a semester school, I wouldn't be able to go abroad except in the summer. The D-Plan gives my team the opportunity to go abroad."
Nicholson doubled up on activities during her off term, volunteering at a surf and swim school in South Africa for five weeks and working in a laboratory at Cornell University for the other five. As she described the students she worked with in South Africa, she expressed amazement at the incredible privilege that we, as Dartmouth students, are sometimes unaware we have. Nicholson said that the sense of perspective she received on her term abroad was the most valuable part of the experience.
"We would do exercises on the beach and play in the ocean for an hour or so or until [the kids] got cold," she said. "When we would get out, they would fight over peanut butter sandwiches. I've never seen any kids fight over peanut butter sandwiches like that."
The flexibility of the D-Plan and the plethora of programs available during every term is a unique feature of Dartmouth that semester schools, or even trimester schools, often lack. We have the ability to study abroad two or three times at other schools, three terms would make up nearly half of your time at college.
Amanda Wheelock '13 was in Cholula for the Mexico LSA this Winter. She is considering taking another term away from Hanover next Fall to go to South Africa on the environmental studies FSP, and is considering spending an off term next Winter working in a Latin American country.
"It's a lot easier to study abroad outside your major here," Wheelock said. "If I spent an entire term just doing one thing abroad, I would be screwed for my major."
Wheelock is a geography major, but says she may pick up an environmental studies minor because of her FSP.
But how much do we actually get out of these study abroad programs? Ten weeks isn't a whole lot of time.
Almas said that 10 weeks was "definitely enough time" for a Dartmouth student to spend abroad, but that this was due partially to the way study abroad programs are structured. Many of the universities that host Dartmouth study abroad programs are semester schools, so Dartmouth students are immediately separated from the university's students because they are on different schedules.
"It's like Dartmouth but abroad," Almas said about LSA and FSP programs. "You had to be really active to get to know real French people."
Indeed, most programs' courses are separate from those of the host university, physically isolating students from their local peers.
Wheelock experienced a similar Dartmouth-centric atmosphere in Cholula. She met friends through her two host brothers and joined a local ultimate frisbee team, but said that many of her classmates who did not play a sport or meet others through their host families had a more difficult time integrating themselves into Mexican culture.
"The time we were leaving was right around the time when people were getting really comfortable," she said.
The students on the LSA lacked a forum for meeting other students, both locals and others studying abroad, Wheelock said. While other international students, most of whom operated on a semester schedule, had special events geared toward integrating them into the local student community, Dartmouth students were not invited to those events.
"The program sort of gets in the way of itself," Wheelock said. "[Dartmouth students] only spoke English with each other, and when we did go out of town [on excursions], it was later in the trip, and we just wanted to hang out with our Mexican friends at that point."
Differing D-Plans and the ease of studying abroad can also put a strain on friends who aren't on campus at the same time for several terms in a row, students said.
Steve Avila '11, who went on the Portuguese FSP in Brazil, the French FSP in Paris and spent an off term teaching English in Honduras, said his time abroad helped define his Dartmouth experience.
"I've done two programs and an off term," Avila said. "Because of the way the D-Plan is set up, things like that are possible. It will interfere with relationships, but you'll grow so much."
For Cat Roedel '12, her off terms in London and Barcelona had significant impacts on her friendships.
"Going abroad made me best friends with some of the girls [on my LSA]," she said. "[Being abroad] shows you who your true friends are by who you keep in touch with, but you definitely have to make an effort."
It's not all bad, though. For some, going abroad opens doors to not just a country but an entire continent.
"I didn't look at [the Paris FSP] as I'm going to Paris,'" Avila said. "I looked at it as, I'm going to Europe.'"
Avila said he spent Monday through Thursday in class and spent his weekends elsewhere after buying a EuroRail pass, he frequently traveled to other countries such as Germany and Spain.
"It was like I was based in Paris, but what I took from it was that I was getting acquainted with the Old World," he said.
Wheelock said her experiences in Mexico have changed her perspective on the readings she's been assigned for class. While on a weekend excursion, Wheelock cleaned coffee beans with indigenous women in a village in Puebla.
"I just finished reading a book about fair trade coffee in Mexico, and I was like, I've done that! I've been there!'" she said. "Now I'm probably writing a term paper on the effects of NAFTA on the Mexican economy. It's so much easier to relate what I'm reading about to my life, because I've had the experience."
The D-Plan is always going to be a mixed bag. We can snag that sweet internship at an A-side firm because we can take off for three months pretty much whenever we want, but your best friend will be off for two terms after you return and you won't see each other for four terms straight.
In the end, though, there's got to be a good reason why 61 percent of us will study abroad at some point during our time here. There are so many different D-Plan combinations, and it seems that anyone who wants to go abroad can do so. So thanks, Dartmouth. Even though I personally forgot to submit my D-Plan last Friday (oops), I'm sure I'll be able to work something out so that I can leave our little bubble at least once.
