{"id":1622,"date":"2015-01-23T13:55:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2015-01-23T13:55:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:55:04","slug":"students-return-from-semester-abroad-friends-not-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/students-return-from-semester-abroad-friends-not-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Return from Semester Abroad; Friends Not Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By GRAY WHITSETT<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 OPINIONS SECTION EDITOR<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Centre College has long set the standard across the country for study abroad programs. From China to England, students who attend the small liberal arts college in central Kentucky can choose between eight different semester abroad programs that provide travelers with a university experience like no other in a foreign country. Some programs are led by Centre faculty while others directly enroll students in their university of choice, but the end result is always the same: a study abroad experience that participants won\u2019t stop talking about, no matter how much family and friends desperately want them to. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that the semester is over and students are returning, not everyone is happy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have to hear about how they do things in England one more time I\u2019m going to request a new roommate,\u201d sophomore Larry Bowels said. After his good high school friend came to Centre with him, they roomed together freshman year, joining the same fraternity and continuing their living arrangements during their second year. But after Bowels\u2019s friend, sophomore Trevor Johnson, spent a semester studying at England\u2019s bucolic and Oxford-wanna-be University of Reading, Bowels has grown disenchanted.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the guy, I really do, but Jesus Christ if he \u2018accidentally\u2019 says cheers instead of \u2018thank you\u2019 again, I\u2019m going to lose my mind. And no, you can\u2019t order a pint with a meal at age 19. You didn\u2019t forget that. You were gone for less than three months.\u201d
\nAnd apparently Bowels isn\u2019t alone.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was so happy for my friend, Mary, when she got accepted into the Strasbourg program,\u201d junior Terry Powers said. \u201cBut now that she\u2019s back all she does is complain about everything and Skype her friends from France.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For Powers, the worst part of it is losing the traditions she had with her friend before leaving. \u201cWe always used to go get ice cream together. So I texted her seeing if she wanted to go grab some. She asked if we could have \u00e9clairs instead. I asked her \u2018Who\u2019s Clair?\u2019 All she replied with was \u2018haha\u2019 and a series of French flag emojis. I cried for over an hour.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Concerned that this effect was isolated to the endemic arrogance of European culture, students with experiences from other programs were contacted.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe came back so tan,\u201d senior Will Myers said. Having started a relationship with fellow senior Vivian Randolph before her departure, Myers was ecstatic to have her back stateside after her time abroad. But soon the relationship began to unravel.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe craved Mexican food all the time. The woman was insatiable. I brought her Guadies by the bucket load but it was never enough. Eventually the smell got so bad we just couldn\u2019t be together anymore.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking into tears, Myers elaborated. \u201cI know the climate here isn\u2019t as good and I know Petron was cheaper there but I just miss her so much, you know?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It seems then that many students who go abroad come back changed, and maybe not for the better, at least according to their friends. But what did the students who went abroad have to say?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because I constantly belittle my home or integrate inauthentic lingo into my vocabulary but my friends don\u2019t seem to want to worship my abroad stories,\u201d the previously introduced Johnson said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Through a disingenuous British accent, Johnson was confused about why he\u2019s having trouble fitting back in. \u201cMy mates back at Uni were much cooler.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Others seemed to have an even stronger connection to their place of study. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in Strasbourg I fell in love,\u201d sophomore Mary Hopkins said. \u201cI had a boyfriend back home, but for some reason I thought three months would last a lifetime. You\u2019d be amazed at how quickly it fell apart. Having an actual workload, schedule, and generally living in the real world was really difficult on our relationship.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that I think just because I went to Merida I\u2019m better than those who haven\u2019t gone abroad,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cIt\u2019s just that in every interaction I have with people I give that impression and consistently say how much I\u2019d rather be there. You wouldn\u2019t think the people that love you would be so sensitive.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Study abroad has long been a staple of the Centre experience. A chance to see the world, meet new people, and escape real life problems awaits anyone who journeys to one of the school\u2019s eight semester programs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI permanently damaged relationships back home,\u201d Johnson said of his experience, \u201cbut I gained relationships that will last at least until March.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: The previous article is from the CentOnion series, a satirical publication focused on parodying various subjects unique to Centre College\u2019s campus. <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As such, all content within this article is purely fictional and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Cento or Centre College.<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition all quotations used in this article are purely fictional and do not necessarily reflect the views of the individuals quoted. <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By GRAY WHITSETT \u2013 OPINIONS SECTION EDITOR Centre College has long set the standard across the country for study abroad programs. From China to England, students who attend the small liberal arts college in central Kentucky can choose between eight different semester abroad programs that provide travelers with a university experience like no other in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,10],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-leisure","category-centonion","category-opinions","tag-centonion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}