Where should I study abroad?
May 20, 2011 7:38 AM Subscribe
I have a scholarship to study anywhere in the world. Help me decide! Details inside.
In a lucky turn of events, I received a scholarship to study pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm overwhelmed, as you may imagine. Please help me decide.
Here are the restrictions:
1. It needs to be a place where the language of instruction in the university is English. I can take language classes, but the scholarship cannot be used to go to say, China, to learn Chinese. I have about one year to take language classes here to prepare myself for travel, but essentially the classes themselves must be in English.
2. I am a graduate student in English, with a focus on contemporary world-literature from a places of long-term conflict. So a university with classes on that or resources that I could use would be helpful.
3. The scholarship is for quite a bit of money, but I have to pay travel, tuition, and living expenses.
4. I am a woman. I'm 32. I'm fairly well-traveled.
Bonus points for:
1. Somewhere that is easily accessible to other cool places to visit. I speak enough Spanish to travel, read enough French to travel and can converse in the most basic way in Arabic.
2. A university that is less expensive than say, Oxford, so that I can save money.
3. A place that doesn't have a grain-based diet (I have celiac and don't want to continually be miserable and/or hungry).
In a lucky turn of events, I received a scholarship to study pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm overwhelmed, as you may imagine. Please help me decide.
Here are the restrictions:
1. It needs to be a place where the language of instruction in the university is English. I can take language classes, but the scholarship cannot be used to go to say, China, to learn Chinese. I have about one year to take language classes here to prepare myself for travel, but essentially the classes themselves must be in English.
2. I am a graduate student in English, with a focus on contemporary world-literature from a places of long-term conflict. So a university with classes on that or resources that I could use would be helpful.
3. The scholarship is for quite a bit of money, but I have to pay travel, tuition, and living expenses.
4. I am a woman. I'm 32. I'm fairly well-traveled.
Bonus points for:
1. Somewhere that is easily accessible to other cool places to visit. I speak enough Spanish to travel, read enough French to travel and can converse in the most basic way in Arabic.
2. A university that is less expensive than say, Oxford, so that I can save money.
3. A place that doesn't have a grain-based diet (I have celiac and don't want to continually be miserable and/or hungry).
Turku, Finland?
The city is home to not one but two major research universities that offer programmes in English, including several very relevant to your area of study, since Finland itself has a turbulent history.
Finland is an excellent place to be if you want someplace that has both a great academic culture and a history of conflict and the study of conflict, from an angle that will be very different from the standard US English department. Turku is very convenient to Tampere and Helsinki by rail, Stockholm by ferry, and everyplace else in Europe via discount air from close by. Other than your concurrent enrollment fee at your home university, if you come in as an exchange student, you should have little or no tuition costs. Plus, Turku is a really nice place to be.
posted by Wylla at 8:26 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
The city is home to not one but two major research universities that offer programmes in English, including several very relevant to your area of study, since Finland itself has a turbulent history.
Finland is an excellent place to be if you want someplace that has both a great academic culture and a history of conflict and the study of conflict, from an angle that will be very different from the standard US English department. Turku is very convenient to Tampere and Helsinki by rail, Stockholm by ferry, and everyplace else in Europe via discount air from close by. Other than your concurrent enrollment fee at your home university, if you come in as an exchange student, you should have little or no tuition costs. Plus, Turku is a really nice place to be.
posted by Wylla at 8:26 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: So it would, mareli. I'm currently a second-year (just finished my second year) doctoral student at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
posted by mrfuga0 at 9:06 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by mrfuga0 at 9:06 AM on May 20, 2011
You should study at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa.
It's a bit of a hike from the US but it a highly respected, established university that almost can't escape its proximity to conflict. I studied abroad there as a media student and several larger case studies were on how Zimbabwean riots were portrayed, the legacy of apartheid, etc. Friends in politics classes got even more of that. And one student in my program was in a Literature class that focused solely on conflict & war literature.
Classes are all taught in English - though do be prepared for some professors with heavy, HEAVY African accents :)
The tuition itself is actually really cheap and so is cost of living. Right now the rand is worth just under 7 US dollars and I found that even without the conversion, housing and food was way cheaper than the American equivalents.
Diet-wise there's a lot of variety. Cape Town is a very metropolitan city so you can get almost anything you'd like. Oddly, they actually have pretty decent Mexican food.
If I were you and got the chance to go anywhere I would go somewhere you're most likely not gonna get to if not for this scholarship. Just think about it!
Good luck!
posted by jay.eye.elle.elle. at 9:34 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's a bit of a hike from the US but it a highly respected, established university that almost can't escape its proximity to conflict. I studied abroad there as a media student and several larger case studies were on how Zimbabwean riots were portrayed, the legacy of apartheid, etc. Friends in politics classes got even more of that. And one student in my program was in a Literature class that focused solely on conflict & war literature.
Classes are all taught in English - though do be prepared for some professors with heavy, HEAVY African accents :)
The tuition itself is actually really cheap and so is cost of living. Right now the rand is worth just under 7 US dollars and I found that even without the conversion, housing and food was way cheaper than the American equivalents.
Diet-wise there's a lot of variety. Cape Town is a very metropolitan city so you can get almost anything you'd like. Oddly, they actually have pretty decent Mexican food.
If I were you and got the chance to go anywhere I would go somewhere you're most likely not gonna get to if not for this scholarship. Just think about it!
Good luck!
posted by jay.eye.elle.elle. at 9:34 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
Various places in Africa might fit the bill. A friend did research at, I think, U. of Kwa-Zulu Natal several years ago and had an amazing time.
posted by mareli at 9:37 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by mareli at 9:37 AM on May 20, 2011
Do you know what your thesis project is/will be? That would be my main concern if I were in your position - using this as an opprotunity to prepare for my thesis project. So if I were, for example, planning to work on ethnic idenity in South African literature, I would go somewhere good in South Africa; if I wanted to work on literature of colonialism/post-colonalism in India, I would go somewhere else.
Or are you thinking that this trip may lead you towards a thesis project? I ended up picking my own topic based on the fact that I was spending summers in a certain region for family reasons.
posted by jb at 10:33 AM on May 20, 2011
Or are you thinking that this trip may lead you towards a thesis project? I ended up picking my own topic based on the fact that I was spending summers in a certain region for family reasons.
posted by jb at 10:33 AM on May 20, 2011
Response by poster: I already have my dissertation project in the works. It is, roughly, focused on the citizenship of the child and how long-term conflict interrupts the traditional transitions from childhood to adulthood. So, someplace like South Africa would fit perfectly. Or, really, lots of places.
posted by mrfuga0 at 11:41 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by mrfuga0 at 11:41 AM on May 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
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posted by brianogilvie at 7:45 AM on May 20, 2011 [3 favorites]