Gwendolyn Sobkowiak | staff writer

When we talk about studying abroad at Duquesne, a lot of people immediately think about Rome or Dublin, and those are lovely programs, and I’ve heard such great stories from friends who went. But what I really want you to know is that there is quite literally a world of opportunities for you to pursue. If you have the chance, take it, look up scholarships and grants, pinch your pennies, and go.

I studied abroad for the first time the summer before my sophomore year, visiting Portugal for World Youth Day. For those of you who don’t know, as I didn’t, WYD is a major international gathering of Catholic youth, hosting millions of worshippers, and headlined by the Pope that only happens every four years. I’m not Catholic, I don’t speak Portuguese, and I’m an open hater of big crowds. Following a great deal of gentle persuasion, I was convinced to go on the grounds that I wouldn’t have to take communion and that no one would be insulted by my presence.

It was my first trip outside of the country without my family, and by the time we touched down at the airport I was overwhelmed and hooked. I found myself standing in a crowd of millions listening to Pope Francis speak. I was anxious before I went, but that experience gave me so much confidence in traveling.

I have Type 1 diabetes, a genetic condition that requires that I manage my blood sugar and insulin levels manually. When my blood sugar plummeted after a day-long pilgrimage I was met with the hands of my classmates, instructors and new-found friends offering juice and granola bars. Before the trip I had been terrified of something going wrong. I was worried I’d lose my passport, take a wrong turn and lose the group, or pass out and die from a medical crisis surrounded by people who had never heard of Type 1. Luckily for me I didn’t lose anything more than a pair of flip flops, I never got lost and I got offered a pack of gummies every time my hand started shaking. Even in a brand-new, foreign environment, I was supported.

After that first taste of international travel, when the chance came to spend a semester abroad, I jumped at it. I ended up in Japan, because I really wanted to be taken out of my element. I knew very little about Japanese culture — outside of movies — and it wasn’t a place I had dreamed of visiting. But it turned out to be incredible. I did a lot of the stereotypical stuff that you can imagine. I went to a sumo match, saw the cherry blossoms bloom across Tokyo, ate more ramen bowls than I care to admit, but more than that, I got to engage deeply with the culture. While I didn’t get up at 8 a.m. and study Japanese, I still practiced a handful of phrases. Still, my professors and classmates welcomed me in, people at restaurants and museums were excited to share their country’s history and very personal stories about their feelings about studying abroad. I even had a bakery owner give me a book about traditional Japanese sweets just because we had struck up a conversation. Those little moments taught me a lot about humility, about listening and about how every country can become the center of a person’s world with enough time spent there.

Building on that experience, I traveled to Cuba for clinical observations, which was a completely different kind of experience. As a 4th year in the Speech-Language Pathology program I knew that this would be one of my last chances to study abroad with upcoming clinicals. The Maymester option perfectly fulfilled my needs. It was amazing to have a program that fit into my school and summer work schedule. Since it was two weeks it allowed me to deeply engage with my fellow students and the people we met in Cuba. At the same time I was able to still secure a full-time summer job despite the initial time off I had to request. I learned so much about the Cuban healthcare system and how it works, why it succeeds or fails in different contexts. I also met students and artists who were so open in sharing their perspectives on both Cuba and the United States. It gave me insight I couldn’t have gotten from a textbook, and it reminded me why these opportunities matter.

Some of the most impactful parts of the experience were the discussions I had with both medical students from Cuba and Duquesne students as we compared our experiences with schooling, freedom of expression on campus, and our life goals. It felt incredibly eye opening to understand the unique position we held in history in these informal conversations, a group of people from distinctly opposed nations, united by their shared goals of learning more about the world and helping create change.

Studying abroad is a sensory overwhelm. There are points that are overwhelming and exhausting. You get homesick, you miss your friends, but you come back with memories that last a lifetime. My room is covered in trinkets, postcards, and photos of my travels. I still keep in contact with plenty of the kids I studied abroad with. Once a month, I send a picture of a street sign to my friends from Japan. It’s a dumb inside joke. Traveling bonds people and ironically still gave me a new sense of connection to my home and family. They help me look for street signs whenever they have the chance. I wouldn’t be the person I am now without these experiences, and I wouldn’t have nearly as many fun stories to tell my kids one day.

Gwendolyn Sobkowiak can be reached at sobkowiakg@duq.edu