For Nora Solomon one trip helped decide what to do for the rest of her life.

Solomon became the Coordinator of Education Abroad in the Center for International Programs in June and has been employed in the program since 2005.

“I could definitely see myself working with study abroad for the rest of my life,” Solomon said. “It is just so rewarding to help students get that kind of experience.”

She studied near Madrid, Spain, in 2005 as part of the Academic Year Abroad in Spain Program, which was initially established in 1962.

“I was a Spanish major, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at all,” Solomon said. “I just knew that when I came back … it had to involve Spanish and Spanish culture, travel, seeing the world … and helping other people to have the kind of experience that I did.”

The program offers programs that typically allow students to study abroad for a summer, semester or full academic year, and students often take 9-15 credits of classes on the trip, several which are taken directly through the University campus.

Sami Ralston, an International Studies major at the University, returned June 25 from a six-week trip to Rome, Italy, this summer and said studying abroad was a requirement for her major.

“I really enjoy traveling and I just thought it would be a great major to see the world and learn more about current globalization,” Ralston said.

While utilizing the program can be mandatory for various majors such as foreign language education majors, Solomon said the international exposure is useful for students of any major, especially on resumes.

Art majors, communication majors, music majors, education majors and business majors often utilize the program for international exposure.

“The study abroad experience says a lot about your character,” Solomon said. “As an employer, I know that I can put you in a situation that you’re maybe not going to be comfortable in, and you’re going to do fine because you’ve had this sort of study abroad experience.

“Going abroad really allows students to learn a lot more about themselves,” she continued. “You’re in a place where maybe you don’t speak the language, and you don’t necessarily have family and friends close by, and you really have to depend on yourself … You learn a lot about yourself and what you can handle.”

While abroad, Ralston had an unfamiliar experience with Italy’s public transportation, as her group was provided with public transportation passes for the trip, and her study abroad group took buses and trains around the country.

“You were packed in there like a sardine,” Ralston said about the buses. “You had no room to move and it was really hot.”

Solomon said some of the biggest trials travelers face include culture shock and homesickness, and it can happen to anyone regardless of whether or not they are studying.

She said that research has been done about “The U Curve of Cultural Adaptation” to show the emotions students go through, with initial excitement slowly turning into apprehension about the challenges of adapting to a new culture. Eventually the student will reach culture shock at the bottom of the curve before confidence begins to increase.

“That’s one of the challenges,” Solomon said. “The good news is that almost everybody comes right back up from that, which is excellent.”

Ralston avoided getting homesick by using Skype to communicate with family members and said that her apprehensions began to go away by the third week when her group began to talk to local citizens, whom she said were not very different from people she was used to seeing in the United States.

Some people may end up getting used to the country just before they leave, but others end up deciding to stay longer, Solomon said.

“It happens all the time,” Solomon said. “We have students that go abroad just because they want to add a minor and a foreign language … and then they end up finding opportunities to live and work there.”

Solomon said one student ended up moving to Africa and co-founding a school after spending time in France and Burkina Faso. Other students have pursued teaching careers by teaching English in different schools and cities throughout Europe. Solomon and Ralston said being immersed in a culture helps people to pick up a language faster, and Ralston took an Italian course to help out.

Ralston also said taking some of the other classes made it difficult to squeeze in free time to go sightseeing. Her favorite place to visit was Pompeii, which was buried under ash when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, preserving the condition of the city for visitors to see.

“Everywhere you went, you definitely saw something worthwhile,” Ralston said. “America is so new compared to Italy. [We] saw things that were thousands of years old, which was really cool.”