Working in Student Affairs Abroad

With the start of my second semester here, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the job as I’ve experienced it thus far. Working in a study abroad program is more different than working at a four year college than I had thought.

In this field of student affairs, the clock resets itself frequently. Every August/September a new batch of students arrive, and we go through a pattern that has some routines - we have the same programs or events around the same time (Parents’ Weekend, Monologues, homecoming, study breaks, etc.) and the same issues around the same time (homesickness, exam stress, career stress, etc.) And then May or June arrives and we have a couple months to breathe, plan, and reset for the next year. 

Here, the reset happens in half the time: a vast majority of the students here only stay for the one semester. So in September, 195 of them arrived, we did Opening Tour, some programs and events (cooking classes, calcetto tournament, etc), weekend travel and the end of semester banquet. Then, in December 168 of them got onto airplanes and went home. Instead of two months to breathe, plan, and reset, we had eleven days in China and then 127 new students arrived and we did an abbreviated Opening Tour and we have our first cooking class tomorrow. We’re already scheduling the calcetto tournament, we have completed one out of six weekend trips and we’re starting to think about the end of year banquet. It all is moving at an incredible rate.  

When at Lynn, even though students were there for four years, I usually got to know them only for one or two years (with the RA staff and my VM cast as the major exceptions). Sure, there were some who I would get to see grow up over the years, which was absolutely lovely, but most of them I only knew while they lived on campus, for the year or two.  It was always nice though, to have students return in the fall and stop by to say hello; or to see students at graduation that you knew their first or second year. You got to see growth and development as they matured over the years (well, that was the hope, anyway). 

Here, the students are gone too quickly. It is such a short glimpse into their lives, and they go back to their home campuses and their maturation continues there. I won’t really know who they have become when they graduate - what career path they have decided to pursue, how their study skills have progressed, or whether their partying has become more controlled. Being in Student Affairs means wanting to help students develop into the people they want to become. Most of the time I have had the opportunity to actually witness that happening, or so I hope. 

Now, that I will not be seeing that move towards transformation, what does that mean? I know that studying abroad can really be a developing experience for a student - they are far from their safety net, exposed to new cultures, and learning to be more independent. But when they’re only here for a semester, how much of that do I actually get to see? Not that it should matter, right? Because if they learn from this semester; if they gain a greater sense of self or help to fine tune their goals or purpose, then it doesn’t matter if I get to see it. And it’s true. It doesn’t matter, the development still happens, and I can hope that I have contributed to it in some way. But, I can’t lie, it’s nice to see the changes. 

And who knows, I’ve only seen one group come and go, and hopefully I’ll get to follow the paths of some of them. They may come back here to visit after graduation, or ask for a letter of reference, or advice. And there’s always Facebook, where I can follow what they do or who they become. . . . Things to keep in my mind.