Written by: Celeste Brooks
Lisa Diller, chair and professor of the History and Political Science Department, spent her Spring break in Spain visiting some family and a few of the students from Southern who are in the Adventist Colleges Abroad (ACA) program.
“We have three students from our department who are currently there,” Diller said, “one history minor, Meg Ermer, and then two history majors, Xavier Snyder, who’s graduating in May, and Amy Van Arsdale, who’s a sophomore.”
Diller said students are able to study in towns that are both rich in history and set in beautiful locations.
“We often refer to the Adventist school there as ‘Sagunto’ because the town that it’s near is called Sagunto,” Diller said. “This town has been through every bit of history in Spain. And I think it’s one of our only language schools that’s that close to the ocean; you can see the Mediterranean Sea from the dorm rooms.”
Meg Ermer, a double major in computer science and Spanish, is doing her year abroad in Sagunto.
“There are so many palm trees and orange trees, and the weather is perfect,” said Ermer.
As an advisor, Diller encourages students from Southern to attend ACA their sophomore year of college so they can complete their general education requirements.
Studying abroad also allows students experience in taking other classes and may even give them a chance to change majors or add minors, according to Diller.
“If you study abroad an entire year, you basically have three or four extra classes you have to take and you have a second major,” Diller said. “Studying abroad makes it very easy to get a minor with nothing extra, and you can easily get a second major in that language or international studies emphasis in that country’s language.”
Ermer talks highly of her experience in Spain.
“The classes and teachers are amazing, and being able to immerse myself in Spanish culture while studying the language has helped me so much with my fluency and understanding,” Ermer said.
But a year abroad does not only consist of studying.
“I have loved being able to make friends with people that I otherwise wouldn’t have met. We have gotten so close, especially through travel,” Ermer said.
Studying abroad also allows for students to see life in other countries.
“Since flights in Europe are so cheap, we flew to London for $8, and were able to see cities like Budapest, Munich and Paris on the weekends,” Ermer said.
Diller described a year in Spain as a “transformative experience.” She said students are able to go and experience something new and make changes in their majors if they want to.
“Studying abroad has made me a much more confident person, and I have learned so much about myself,” Ermer said.
“When you go as a student, you say, ‘I am submitting myself to being transformed by this culture, and I am learning from them, and I’m getting actual skills that are useful in the world,’” Diller said.
Ermer said her year abroad is an “amazing experience” that she will “always look back on as the best year of her life.”