#72 Study Abroad
February 22, 2008 by clander
In addition to accumulating sexual partners, binge drinking, drug use and learning, white people consider studying abroad to be one of the most important parts of a well rounded college education.
Study Abroad allows people to leave their current educational institution and spend a semester or a year in Europe or Australia. Though study abroad are offered to other places, these two are the overwhelming favorites.
By attending school in another country, white people are technically living in another country. This is important as it gives them the opportunity to insert that fact into any sentence they please. “When I used to live in [insert country], I would always ride the train to school. The people I’d see were inspiring.”
If you need to make up your own study abroad experience, they all pretty much work the same way. You arrived in Australia not knowing anybody, you went out to the bar the first night and made a lot of friends, you had a short relationship with someone from a foreign country, you didn’t learn anything, and you acquired a taste for something (local food, beer, fruit). This latter point is important because you will need to be able to tell everyone how it is unavailable in your current country.
It is also important that you understand the study abroad ranking system. Europe/Australia form the base level, then Asia, then South America, and finally the trump card of studying abroad in Tibet. Then there is the conversation killer of studying abroad in Africa. If you studied in Africa, it is usually a good idea to keep it quiet, it will remind white people that they were too scared to go and they will feel bad. Use this only in emergencies.
Editors Note: Thanks to everyone who sent this topic in.
When I was studying abroad in China, I acquired a taste for Tsing Tao beer. Much to my annoyance, it was available in the USA.
So I went to Japan.
what happened to the “i pooped my pants guy.”?
Lol this site is bomb.
OMG….If you studied in Africa, it is usually a good idea to keep it quiet, it will remind white people that they were too scared to go and they will feel bad. Use this only in emergencies.
THIS DUDE IS HILARIOUS :dEAD:
Spot on.
Agreed. I had a job sending these people out. Half the time you couldn’t get them to even look at a country that didn’t speak English even if the classes were. Unless their parents were #78’s looking for multilingual children, then they would go to one of the countries mentioned in that entry.
And oh yeah, they were scared to even look at Africa. Of course some of them couldn’t find the place they wanted to go on a globe. (more Miss SC candidates out there…
Learn nothing? Definitely. Some of the worst grades of their college careers (for the guys especially).
White people abroad… not fun to keep tabs on half the time. It paid the bills for a while, and it earned bonus white points.
Another bonus… the overwhelming majority of students were attractive white females.
Guilty as charged.
tell me why my ex ex girlfriend sister went to study in czech republic + rep
Goat here folks.
Your man did some globetrotting back in his days at Brown.
Went to Asia in the early part of this decade. Did some backpacking…well it was mostly bundles of my host family’s shit on my back, whipping me on the way to the market. I am not going back.
Had to wear a SARS mask too.
http://www.colinst.com/whatsnew/006%20WN%20Goat%20Oxymax.jpg
It kind of sucked.
That is funny as hell, well not about the SARS mask, scary to experience but still funny.
I’m trying to live overseas myself in Singapore, wish me luck,
I’m currently living in Singapore but will go back to the US this fall, you’ll like it!
What about studying in Egypt? I’ve known a few of my fellow white folks who boast about that location.
Although, I think if you called Egypt ‘Africa’, it would probably seem overly pretentious. And over you’d get the cold shoulder for attempting to curry excessive guilt… because for the most part, Egypt isn’t as scary to white folks as Ethiopia, Tanzinia or the Ivory Coast.
I studied in Cyprus. Best decision i ever made. we took a trip to egypt, after 1.5 days we had seen everything we needed/wanted. i was not impressed. the greek islands, however, are where i plan to live when i’m a big girl.
I wanted to study abroad, but never got around to it. So now I teach English in Japan where I’m the only white person for miles and hit on Asian girls.
Found this green business site http://www.mygreenelement.com
Also note that most of these study-abroads hang out with fellow American study-abroads for the most part, explore their new surrounds in packs, and rarely make many local friends, but will never mention this in their later recountings.
And the main reason they go on year abroads is not the chance to tell stories, though that’s part of it - the main reason is that they can drink before they turn 21 in most of these countries.
How about the “gap year” or backpacking more generally? In which the white person feels very adventurous and competes with others to live as cheaply as possible while being funded by money from their parents.
Agreed, study abroads go overseas to party and DRINK!
Classic…
Has anyone ever asked, “So what courses/class did you take while in _________ (country)”? And have it seem that a non-conclusive answer is always given. But I’m sure they can tell you how to roll a joint like the Danish do! (See white people love weed blog).
Study abroad is travel under fake academic passport. What is whiter than being able to skip a quarter of ones expensive education in favor or 18 local beers/night in a Madrid disco. The pinnacle expression is semester abroad in law school. For the ignorant- the legal systems of foreign countries tend not to apply to American jurisprudence. Only a whitepeopleattorny could study “comparative law” in the Alps rather than advanced estate planning in New York and tell a client or potential employer that banging Heidi was the clear choice in the development of his breadth of intellectual character.
semester abroad in law school is one LAST hurrah before that first dreadful job. everyone knows this, and its marketed as such. it will be a good looooong while before we can ever traipse through foriegn cobblestone streets without anything more pressing due the next day then 20 pages of reading.
Not true for the program I went on; I actually worked while taking classes full time (work was actual work) and the classes were so helpful. For example, one class was international contract drafting where we actually had to draft contracts- something never offered at my home institution.
I’ve read every entry on this site. 100% hilarious.
LOL LOL LOL…My white friend just pointed this site out to me today and I have spent a fair share of the day reading the entries. FANTASTIC!! I havent read such an entertaining blog in a while.
NOW THEN re: the use studied in Africa in emergencies…. This scores you MEGA POINTS if you change the ’studied’ to ‘worked’ in a village in (insert African country of choice here…prefarably south of the sahara for more acknowledgement)….have a ladysmithblack mambazo(sp) collection or cd from local artist (who even locals haven’t had of because he/she is up and coming), have a couple of africa-esque shirts/sarongs, the mandatory bracelets with beads, beady colourful earrings for the females (which you can conviniently argue to be from South America, Africa or even Asia) , have an almost unbelievable but near-death medical mishap story, the local woman who treated you as family if not more and for the home run……own a DJEMBE. If you can play the Djembe, then the kingdom of koolness is yours and all that is in it!
I also have a fair share of white friends who are totally hooked on China….I almost think it tops Japan in this context.
Keep the entertainment coming!
If you have an extensive LIBRARY of Lonely Planet and Blue Guide Books (especially the ones that fit an entire continent on a shoestring) you get seven gold stars. BUT… if you own and least two editions from the Culture Shock series (Culture Shock India, Culture Shock Russia) you will be crowned emperor/empress of cool.
haha I just bought my 2nd “on a shoestring book” and Lonely Planets Blue List yesterday for Southeast Asia after doing up Europe the same way last fall for 3 months…these posts are spot on!
TOO FUNNY! Please don’t forget that white people LOVE to go “Backpacking Across Europe” after college.
http://www.mamamatters.wordpress.com
IBT Cranky stuffy snob
stuffblackpeoplelike - eating watermelon! hahaha!!!
stuffarabpeoplelike - pumping oil! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - gang warfare! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - eating beans! hahaha!!!
stuffchinesepeoplelike - shooting heroin! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - welfare! hahaha!!!
stuffjewishpeoplelike - keeping money! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - wearing sombreros! hahaha!!!
stuffchinesepeoplelike - eating rice! hahaha!!!
stuffarabpeoplelike - kissing goats! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - wearing sombreros! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - sniffing glue! hahaha!!!
aren’t i funny and clever!!!
don’t you dare call me a racist!!!
I posted your crap first! Hah hah hah!
We are all racist! Every one of us whether we admit it or not! Lets all chill and have a good laugh!
oh my god again! my friends and i were in Spain and we met some unusual study abroad types of people. Pardon the term, but we had a name for these types of people, particuarly white females studying abroad: SAB’s=study abroad bitaches!
we met white people studying abroad doing the most extreme and yet opposite cultural thing ever.
example #1: a female from California, studying spanish in London, England, we met her in Spain and she couldn’t speak ANY spanish!
Example#2: female student studying African Culture in Sweden….though she could have gone on to Ghana! my bad!
Example#3: white student studying Italian in Poland. You can map that one out on mapquest!
overall the funniest thing is when your friend is black and he meets white americans studying abroad, he would get the funniest questions if he is in military, dancing, rapping or got on some affirmative action program to get overseas! that is bad!!!
Bwahaha, I studied abroad in London. TWICE.
I totally agree with #19. I’m black and while in Japan I was constantly asked if I was in the military or was a rapper overseas. There had to be a justified reason for me being there.
I love white people
oh wait! don’t be black and tell your white american patriots that you have european relatives who live in France, Holland, Portugal or Italy and that your relatives are black and not american and they cannot speak english either. Still, they will ask, “why are they living here in Europe instead of South Bronx, Compton or East Saint Louis?” There is only two types of black people, those from the United States, the inner city or the few from the suburbs. that is bad.
that’s messed up. I’ve traveled but not for school overseas, and as a black female, I felt more accepted there ( Paris, London, Spain, etc) than in the United States.
Crazy but true.
Americans unfortunately are still very much behind the times, other countries look at us and laugh.
I’m a Black female who studied in Spain for a year and I loathed it…Want to feel right at home? Try Northeast Brazil (big up to BAHIA!!) I’m actually moving there permanently this year.
I don’t know about the Africa thing, but alot of people I encounter love to talk about volunteering/development/teaching they did in Africa/South Asia-South Asia especially. Maybe it’s just the circles I run in but the more ‘exotic’ locales are easily considered cooler.
Also like it was said, there’s the tons upon tons of MSA students who go on and on about how much they love Cairo(and to a lesser extent Dubai.)
la legione -A lot of North Americans seem to think that there are no non-white people in Europe, or that the US is the only country with minorities, I really have no idea why.
Yeah, like when George Bush was surprised to hear that there are black people in Brasil, the country with a larger black population that any other country besides Nigeria. More sad than funny, I guess.
Even more than Paris?
Paris has a lot of black people. I was surprised. I didn’t feel too much out of place….Now only if I could speak french fluently…
Africa is an acceptable volunteer destination for white people… so long as it is in the Peace Corps. You get extra cred if you tell people you plan on applying to the Peace Corps (which has 35 applicants per 1 slot) after college.
No word yet on if that year of drinking in Prague impresses the Peace Corps screening board.
ALSO, if you do apply for or get accepted into the PC, NEVER tell people you were in theire financial development.banking division! It will NEVER be as cool at parties to tell people you spent two years in Bolivia helping the locals establish banking or other financial concerns.
The best is how when they get back, they will always refer to America as “The States.”
It seems that only Americans and the British refer to the US as “America”.
Actually, the Germans say “America” as well.
I use the term “the states.”
No everyone in Asia says “america”
i think instead of making the white (or any ethnicity) people talking about their study abroad experience feel better about it, always trump them.
even if it’s a lie.
it’s way more fun to make people who think they did something really important feel inadequate than better about themselves.
So true; great blog.
Nadia, I agree w/ you saying, “the more ‘exotic’ locales are easily considered cooler.” Very little, if any, credibility goes toward anyone who goes to Europe, but not true for someone going to more exotic/challenging places. I’m in Delhi right now and I’m all the rage.
one of my old boyfriends lived in a tent in africa for 8 months before he went to medical school. he never talked about it… well, except for emergencies.
I think Semester At Sea is one step below Europe/Australia as the baseline for studying abroad.
When I lived in Italy I made a bunch of Italian friends the first night at the bar, kissed one of them the same night after taking a ride on his Vespa, didn’t learn anything at my joke of a school, and developed a taste for pomodoro mozzarella sandwiches from one particular cafe and the ingredients will never be as fresh over here in America.
Yep, I’m glowing with whiteness.
Sorry Amy, but being a woman in Italy doesn´t count for ” I got to know some locals”.
Especially if you are a white girl, as implied by the blog - cioè con la dieta e la figura giusta - and the locals were males.
A a French guy there, trust me, I never got to kiss an Italian the first night on her vespa
I meant
doesn´t count for glowing with ” I got to know some locals”.
I think the most common theme of students studying abroad is it’s really an excuse to take an extended vacation. Grill someone who’s gone abroad and when you ask them how it was, they never talk about the education. They talk about the field trips and the wine tastings and the bars and clubs. When you press, they’ll admit they took 1 class for 2 units in the summer they were there.
I wish you had done backpacking in Europe before you hit traveling or study abroad. Its so damn important.
Does studying abroad in Iraq count amongst White Friends. I certainly hope so.
Re: Matt:
Yeah, I’m not going to feel fully white until I go to Egypt and, like, get SCUBA certified on the Red Sea and whatevs. I’ve been around the world and ya, ya, ya (I learned how to Roll My Own Cigarettes in New Zealand and I like stayed in a rural Nepali teahouse where the vision of Everest made the tea just so mind-clearing), but I think that going to Egypt will really round out my experience. Besides, my white Manhattan-WASP-raised dad taught me that the more Black People I surround myself with (or Brown or whatevs), the better I will feel. Cairo ‘09.
Haha, I went to a private college prep high school and the majority of class were upper-middle class to wealthy white students. And I know for a fact that more than half of them have studied abroad, or are planning to within the next year.
That being said…absolutely nothing wrong with studying abroad! I would say anybody who has the chance to do it should definitely go for it. (And you don’t have to be wealthy)
So very true. The pressure to do this is insane. The head of the French department at my university spent about 30 minutes trying to force me to study in France, and wouldn’t accept the fact that I WASN”T supported by my parents and had things like real bills to pay as a damn good reason why I couldn’t play in France for a semester.
This is of course on top of the once a semester presentation in every French class (and majors and minors often take more than one at a time) to go on study abroad.
Ponzi- I don’t think you’re a racist. I think you’re a trite, uninspired douche.
Don’t white people like to say racism doesn’t exist, too? Or that minorities should just “get over it”? Yeah.
I think the next entry should be “Dating Foreign Exchange Students.”
From your blog: “In addition to accumulating sexual partners, binge drinking, drug use…”
Actually, this sounds like stuff that black people like, too. I’m not sure what the point of this blog is, but it’s very entertaining!
The funny thing is that many whites really do not understand the fact that they are the minorities in the world. POCs are generally the world’s majority - no matter the color (brown, black, red, or yellow).
I think I have one for you. TV shows people cook food on
“I wish you had done backpacking in Europe before you hit traveling or study abroad. Its so damn important.”
Teaching English in Korea is the new backpacking in Europe!
Rock on, but when I studied abroad in Egypt I think I landed the trump card. I still get the “OMG that’s so cool!!” look everytime I say it and then the “OMG how did you survive??” comments follow. White people are shocked Arabs don’t all want to kill them.
fuck yo - I trump that with SYRIA!!
orientalista.blogspot.com
Hysterical.
I definitely studied abroad (in South America) and annoyed the shit out of people when I came back and kept saying, “IN SOUTH AMERICA…!”
Julia, Nina,
Yes, I’ve come to the opinion that the super-bowl of studying abroad is Egypt. Its technically on the African continent, which is cool, its technically part of the Middle-East which is adventurous!…
but alas, its less forlorn then say.. Azjerbaijan or Modovia (more or less because most folks couldn’t find them on a map), but Egypt works well…
Our former white conquerors, the British made sure everyone their shaped up and speaks English as their second language, there’s no shortage of Starbucks, people enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (it was filmed in Tunisia BTW) and if you get to the point where you just can’t hack the austere cultural influences, you can take a 20 minute plane ride to Israel, hangout at a Disco, watch a Reggae concert, hit the Tel Aviv Mall and shop at the Gap… How great is that!!!
sorry… “… everyone THERE shaped up…”, obviously my lily-white college education failed me grammar wise..
I love cute white people that like other white and non-white people.
I think the “white” guy in the photo doing the headstand is cute.
I studied in Australia last semester and this is phenomenal. I think this paragraph illustrates my experience:
“If you need to make up your own study abroad experience, they all pretty much work the same way. You arrived in Australia not knowing anybody, you went out to the bar the first night and made a lot of friends, you had a short relationship with someone from a foreign country, you didn’t learn anything, and you acquired a taste for something (local food, beer, fruit). This latter point is important because you will need to be able to tell everyone how it is unavailable in your current country.”
Every single part of it! Unbelievable