 "Photo: Courtesy of Colin Cowley")
 "Photo: Courtesy of Colin Cowley")
Before Madrid, Spain changed Hilary Hartley's life last summer, she was set on attending law school to become a civil rights attorney.
But after experiencing Spanish culture, she decided not to go to law school once she completed her undergraduate studies. Instead, she chose to pursue a career in international relations. She said she enjoyed spending time with her host family in Spain, and because of that experience, said she wanted a career that would allow her to travel and learn more about herself and other cultures.
"It was really nice to come home at the end of the day and have a place that was my own, and it wasn't a hotel," Hartley said. "(The family) did everything they could to incorporate me. They took me out to concerts and showed me parts of Madrid. They would sit with me literally for hours after dinner, and we would talk about anything from Spanish politics, world issues and just life in general."
Hartley, a Spanish and political science senior, spent a month studying at La Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, a private university in Madrid, as part of the Spanish Language Immersion Program with the College of Extended Studies at San Diego State.
She was one of about 300 SDSU students who studied abroad last year through the College of Extended Studies.
The college provided study abroad programs for about 20 percent of the estimated 1,200 SDSU students who studied abroad last year - a number that continues to grow, according to William Byxbee, the dean of Extended Studies.
Because of the large number of students who studied abroad during the 2003 academic year, SDSU is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation for its study abroad programs, according to the latest "Open Doors" report by the Institute for International Education.
"I think it goes back to when Provost Nancy Marlin came and made (studying abroad) one of her strongest priorities," Byxbee said. "When you have the provost telling everybody that it's important to internationalize (the curriculum), people stop and listen."
Marlin, who is the vice president of Academic Affairs, has informed the deans that she wants them to make more options available for students to travel overseas and learn a language, cultural skills and historical facts in order to grow in another part of their education, Byxbee said.
The Commission on Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, a federal organization that established the study of international education, is trying to increase the number of college students who have the opportunity to go overseas by providing awareness, access and financial support.
"This is how SDSU is responding to (the commission's call to increase abroad opportunities for students)," said Byxbee, who has lived overseas for 15 years and traveled overseas for 38 years. "We are doing it faster and, to some extent, better than many of the other colleges and universities."
SDSU has also improved its study abroad programs because certain majors require students to study abroad, and the outreach of the College of Extended Studies and the International Student Center make students aware of these opportunities through information sessions, education fairs and classroom presentations.
"Departments have realized that, particularly with languages, if students are going to get a degree in Spanish, then (they) need to spend some time in a country where Spanish is the first language," said Kevin Carter, coordinator of travel studies in Extended Studies. "They are exposed to the other country, (and) they're exposed to the language, the culture and the customs."
Students choose to study in countries as diverse as Spain, Costa Rica, Thailand and Russia. Depending on the location, the average summer program costs about $1,000 to $2,500, while the semester program can cost more than $5,000.
But studying abroad isn't as financially impossible as some may think, given the financial aid and options available to students, Carter said.
"As with anything, it's an investment in your future, to think beyond just your four years at SDSU," said Carter, who has lived and worked in several countries. "If you've lived in another country, it shows you're adventurous, it shows you're a risk-taker and it shows you have the adaptability to think in a different way.
"That's an asset, (and) that's what employers are looking for nowadays - it's not just having a degree. You need some other skills to complement that."
SDSU has about 100 different international programs that allow students to participate in internships abroad, alternative Spring Breaks, short-term summer programs or full-semester programs.
Hartley said that without studying abroad, students miss the opportunity to discover that people who don't live in the United States are so similar and have so much in common.
"Do everything in your power to go abroad while you can," Hartley said. "You're not going to have this opportunity probably again in your life to have time off.
"Life is what you put into it; make the best out of the experience that you have."
Elizabeth Oropallo