Ella Kitchens, Features Editor–
With deadlines for off-campus study approaching this fall semester, many first year and sophomore students are looking into studying abroad. Two students who have studied away from the Hill will give them this advice: go for it.
Unlike most students who spend a semester or summer abroad, Azalea Biteau ‘26 was off campus for a year.
During her junior year, Biteau studied in Nantes, France, during the fall semester and Madrid, Spain, during the spring semester. Both were with the program IES Abroad.
“I got all of the credits to line up, major and minor classes too, and I even took some GEs,” said Biteau. “So it didn’t set me back in any manner.”
Born in France, Biteau moved to the U.S. when she was a child and visited family in France many times.
“Although I had been to France a lot, I never really got that academic experience in France when I was older,” said Biteau. “I felt like since I had a little bit of foundation in France, I decided that it was time to go back when I was older and get this compare and contrast opportunity.”
As a French and global commerce major and Spanish minor, Biteau also chose to study in Madrid for a variety of reasons.
“I wanted a little bit of a bigger city my second semester in Madrid, where I hadn’t gone to ever,” said Biteau. “I wanted the exposure and the cultural integration, I wanted to be with the host family, and I wanted to practice my language and use it daily.”
Living in homestays with host families, Biteau was able to speak French and Spanish on a daily basis both semesters.
“It’s kind of weird for me to be back and be speaking English all the time,” said Biteau. “I got used to speaking other languages. I’m left dumbfounded in a sense when I’m searching for the words in English and I start thinking in French or Spanish.”
Before going to France, Biteau did not know anyone in her program. During her semester in Spain, there were two students from Denison in her program, but she still made many new connections there.
“It was scary, having to get out there and meet people again for the first time and have to talk to people for the first time again,” said Biteau. “But then I realized that maybe getting to experience making friends again is not such a bad idea. And this would allow me to form new connections that could carry on forever, and have memories attached to cities and places and things that I would not have expected otherwise.”
Robyn Taylor ‘26 was another student with an unconventional experience. As a theater and psychology major from a small town in Scotland, she lived in New York City for a semester to focus on theater. She attended classes and an internship at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute through the New York Arts Program.
After spending two-and-a-half years in the U.S., Taylor did not expect to feel culture shock in New York City. But she did, even through small things like boarding the subway each day.
“I realized if you want to get on, you have to push yourself on and push other people out of the way,” said Taylor. “Being from this little tiny school and a little tiny town in Scotland, I felt horrible pushing people. In New York City, there is a culture of completely putting yourself first.”
She found this to be relevant in other parts of her life in New York City.
“As a metaphor, if you don’t put yourself on that train you’re not getting on that train,” said Taylor. “I feel like that was a shock to the system to be like ‘OK, I really gotta be more confident in my decisions and push myself forward in simple things like getting on a train, and push myself forward in the theater realm.’”
Both Taylor and Biteau encouraged students to study off campus if they are able to.
“I would tell students to not be scared, to just go for it,” said Biteau. “You might only get this experience once, and it’ll reveal things to you about yourself, about how you are in different places that you didn’t know beforehand. That might sound scary and nerve-racking, but that’s the point of growing and maturing as a person, you get to do all these things and you won’t regret it in the end.”
Taylor also advises students to step out of their comfort zone.
“Just because your friends are not doing the same thing as you doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing,” said Taylor. “I wish I had given myself the expectation that my experience is gonna be completely different because I’m doing things for myself.”
“The way that you relate to the world after studying abroad is just so different,” said Biteau. “The world is your oyster and it opens up infinitely when you study abroad.”