What Studying Abroad Did For Me

I always advocate for students and young people to study abroad because of how much I grew as a person, defining my interests in urbanism and international education.

Note: I am traveling this week, so I am leaving you with an excerpt from one of my recent publications. It is a short essay talking about some of the inspirations I took from studying abroad in Italy as an undergraduate, and later in life. It is from the edited book volume entitled Bridging Cultures, Empowering Futures: Global Citizenship and International Education (2024).

Transformed by Study Abroad From Small-Town Oklahoma to International Academia

I wasn’t the most academically focused student growing up in Choctaw, a deep exurb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I certainly wasn’t the most worldly either. It is hard to comprehend that I am now a professor of International and Comparative Education. But studying abroad in Italy as a 20-year-old undergrad changed the trajectory of my life. It opened my eyes to new possibilities and on set me on a path to become a professor with a research agenda that intersects international mobility and urbanism.

My old high school in Choctaw, Oklahoma .

Beginnings in Oklahoma

Everyone at Choctaw High School seemed to be more interested in sports rather than academics, including me. In general, the area was fixated on American football, usually the bitter state rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. We often forgot that these places were universities first, with football as an axillary to learning and scholarship. While I shared these hometown passions during my youth, I always had a longing for something more beyond our little town and football fields.

Growing up, I would hear about my ancestors coming to the US from Italy and Yugoslavia in the early 20th century through Ellis Island. My grandfather, a second-generation Italian American, had been raised as an orphan in the tiny rural town of Krebs, Oklahoma that happened to have an Italian-American community—immigrants attracted to mining in the region. He was also a World War II veteran, winning a Purple Heart for getting wounded in the North African campaign just before he would have made contact with our homeland of Italy. These stories of my familial history always piqued my interest in going to Europe. Studying abroad would be the way to fulfill my curiosity.

My grandfather (left), unloading a milk truck, c. 1930.

Studying Abroad in Italy

Following my less-than-stellar effort in high school, I enrolled at the University of Central Oklahoma. Unfortunately, during this time the university did not have study abroad programs. Instead, I had to organize a trip through a secondary consortium program with the help of my mom, who is also in education. I do not think I could have done this without her (thanks, Mom). The program I chose was CIMBA Italy, located in a tiny town called Paderno del Grappa in northeast Italy. I would stay for an entire semester, going by myself, without classmates, friends, or family. It would truly be an adventure for 20-year-old me with minimal Italian skills; partly because I cheated in my Italian classes (sorry, mom).

The experience in Paderno changed my life. It was the first time I was on my own that far away from home. I truly had to fend for myself in a foreign country where I did not speak the language.

A nearby town from my study abroad dorm. My own photo!

In the US, most places other than a handful of large cities are defined by auto-centric development. This means people need cars to get anywhere—grocery stores, work, school, bars, and restaurants, all need cars (and giant parking lots). In Italy, I found that even small towns had condensed walkable urban cores with amenities all around. There was a little deli right in front of the campus, a town with bars and restaurants just a five-minute walk down the road, and on weekends a short 10-minute bus ride connected to a farmer’s market. Likewise, during our breaks, I traveled across Europe via the robust railways. No cars needed!

I become emboldened. I traveled alone, with occasional mishaps; like being stranded in Barcelona without a hotel and sleeping outside the bus station. I will never forget the other group of travelers from Wroclaw, Poland who adopted me into their clique to stay safe during the night. Another time, when my roommate and I missed our bus, we hitchhiked back to campus. Surprisingly, a kind stranger picked up two clueless Americans and drove us back to our dorm without any trouble.

Returning Home, Leaving Home (again), and Future Inspiration

When I returned from my study abroad, I was a changed person. I started biking around my university and walking around our city, despite being surrounded by a sea of parking, cars, and high-speed roads. People simply didn’t walk in Edmond, Oklahoma. I even once got picked up by the police trying to walk home from a restaurant. I eventually learned that even Oklahoma once had a public transportation network and density like I had experienced in Italy—destroyed with the advent of auto-centric development.

Here’s what I came back to near UCO after studying abroad in Italy. As they say, “what radicalized you?”

The time in Italy inspired future time abroad. I eventually went to teach English in South Korea, where I stayed on to do a full M.A. degree in Seoul at Yonsei University. I would have never had the guts to teach abroad if I hadn’t studied abroad. In Korea, I only expanded on my empathy for international students, along with my reverence for urbanism.

My MA at Yonsei propelled me into a new academic stratosphere, which I parleyed into a Ph.D. at Teachers College, Columbia University. My dissertation took me abroad once again, this time for six months training across Mainland China. After Italy, and Korea, China was easy (plus, it helped I didn’t cheat in my Mandarin classes!).

Today, I am a faculty member at Soka University of America. My research agenda and academic interests can be traced back to studying abroad. I have written articles exploring issues regarding the demonization of international students in the Journal of International Students. I helped found the Study Abroad and International Student SIG. Furthermore, I have stayed abreast of the lessons in urbanism, with work related to walkability or critiques of auto-centric development that have been cited by policy-makers such as United States Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Now, I get to work here. Soka University of America.

But the most rewarding part of my job is working with our international students or domestic students studying abroad. I get to help them find meaning in their lives just like what happened to that young, immature boy from Choctaw who lived his dream of seeing his grandpa’s homeland. I am forever changed and committed to helping others undergo similar transformations.

Source:

Allen, R. M. (2024). Transformed by study abroad: From small-town Oklahoma to international academia. In K. Bista, U. Gaulee, D. M. Whitehead, & B. Zhang (Eds.), Bridging Cultures, Empowering Futures: Global Citizenship and International Education (pp. 73-76). STAR SCHOLARS PRESS. https://doi.org/10.32674/6jf4hp20