Senior Rachel Murray and junior Joey Horvath are just two of the students going abroad next semester at St. Edward’s University.

There are a total of 99 students going abroad in the spring semester.

“We’ve definitely seen a lot more traffic in the office,” Laura Ray, exchange and visiting student advisor for the Office of International Education, said.

The number of students who are going abroad is up 45 percent this year from last year, Holly Carter, director of the Office of International Education, said.

However, Ray said that this year’s numbers are not final.

But Carter said that the number of students going abroad is way up for all of the programs; even the summer programs are almost full, but those applications are not due until March 5.

Ray said that she thinks the number of students coming into their office will just keep rising.

St. Edward’s has students going to about 20 different countries in the spring, including five new ones: Bangladesh, Poland, Dominican Republic, Romania and Trinidad, Carter said.

However, the OIE was unsure about whether or not the number of countries students are studying in next semester is up from previous semesters. Although Ray said that they normally have students going to about 20-30 different countries between the spring, fall and summer semesters, she was not sure how this semester compared to others because although they do have the country in which each student has studied abroad in written down, it would be hard to go through all of that information.

To study abroad, students should go through a process.

Students who want to study abroad must:

• Pick out a program
• Make an appointment to see a study abroad advisor
• Fill out an online application
• Pay a $100 deposit to hold their spot for the program

Carter said that they try to help out the student and do what is best for them in terms of academics, location and finance.

Murray’s Journey

“I feel like my personality is good for study abroad,” Murray said.

Murray is a biology/pre-med major who has played all four years for the collegiate women’s soccer team.

She is going abroad through the International Student Exchange program and will depart on Feb. 12 to Palmerston North, New Zealand, and return on June 12.

“(I) definitely have the travel bug,” Murray said.

 Murray isn’t new to travelling abroad and has travelled with the St. Edward’s Alternative Spring Break International Immersion program to Uganda and India.

She also studied abroad in France as a sophomore in high school.

Murray will be living in on-campus apartments at Massey University.

Murray graduates at the end of this semester, but received scholarship money for the entire year so she decided to go abroad. Since she won’t be returning until June, she won’t get to walk; however, she’s not letting that hold her back.

Although she can use her scholarship money to go abroad, she still has to pay for the roughly $2,000 plane ticket and the $2,000 housing. She also has to pay for a visa and will need to save up money for spending and traveling.

Murray plans to travel all around New Zealand to Auckland, Wellington, and the South Island while abroad.

Although she is nervous about the culture shock, she is excited to travel to a new place.

“It’d be like going to school out of state,” Murray said.

Horvath’s Journey

 But Horvath will be going abroad through a different program. She will be going abroad with faculty and students to Angers, France.

 Horvath, a communications major with an emphasis in public relations and a journalism minor, will study at the Universite Catholique de l’Ouest.

 Her trip will begin when she flies out on Jan. 11, but the program doesn’t start till Jan. 14 and it ends on May 10.

“I’ve always wanted to just like get away, kind of,” Horvath said.

Even though Horvath is going to France, she has never taken French before.

She said that going to a country that doesn’t speak English is growing on her, but at least she knows about three or four other students that are going.

While abroad, Horvath will live in an on-campus apartment by herself and is excited to have her own living room, kitchen and even her own bathroom for the first time ever.

The program costs the equivalent of St. Edward’s tuition (about $16,600), but she also has to pay $200 for a visa and for a flight (she was unsure of the exact cost, but flights from Houston, Texas to Paris, France cost roughly $1,000).

Horvath, like Murray, also hopes to travel extensively. Horvath plans on buying a Eurail pass in hopes of traveling to Spain, Italy, Austria and possibly Portugal.

But Horvath doesn’t think she would go abroad if she went to any other university because she said that most universities don’t push their study abroad programs as much as St. Edward’s does.

“I like how they make it very easy for anyone to study abroad,” Horvath said.

For more information about Horvath and Murray’s journeys, check out this map:

View Study Abroad Journey in a larger map