Wearing brightly colored, squishy clogs in Paris might be fashion suicide, but it's a gambit Cassandra Thill is willing to take to polish her French, forge global alliances and learn the ropes of international marketing.
For the next year, the University of Colorado at Boulder junior will study at L'Institut d'脡tudes Politiques de Paris, better known as Sciences Po. Outside the realm of France's public universities, Sciences Po and other Grande 脡coles or "great schools" are said to produce most of the country's business and political leaders.
"It'll be great," Thill said. "Just trying to explain Crocs and Nalgene water bottles - I just don't know if they'll quite understand it. If I see someone wearing Crocs, I might have to run up and hug them."
Thill, a business administration and marketing major, will leave for Paris on Aug. 28, one of 220 CU-Boulder Study Abroad scholars embarking this year and next on academic sojourns to Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere. Eleven of the students received national competitive scholarships and the rest will travel with help from need- and merit-based scholarships from CU.
In the past, American students traveled to strengthen international ties, learn another language, broaden their perspectives or visit ancestral homelands. Today, however, faced with an increasingly global economy, many students also see study abroad as a way to internationalize their r茅sum茅s before graduation.
"Our students get to immerse themselves in other languages and cultures and work toward degrees at the same time," said Cindy Bosley, the university's Study Abroad administrator. "This kind of real-world experience not only provides immeasurable personal growth opportunities, but can give students a leg up when it's time to enter a highly competitive job market."
CU-Boulder's Office of International Education administers nearly 200 Study Abroad programs with destinations on every continent.
Bosley said 209 students received need- and merit-based scholarships from CU ranging from $400 to $4,000 to study in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania or at sea during the 2007-08 academic year.
Among the 11 who won national competitive scholarships, two garnered prestigious National Security Education Program Boren Scholarships, which are primarily granted to students who study Arabic, Chinese, Russian and other critical non-Western languages. Seven Pell Grant recipients with high financial needs received Gilman Scholarships and two others received Freeman-Asia scholarships available to students who study in Asia.
Later this month, Thill will fulfill a Francophile dream she's nurtured since the sixth grade. Sciences Po is located within walking distance from the Louvre and Notre Dame, and she plans to explore the cherished French icons. She also will work toward a CU Leeds School of Business international business certificate, relying on Study Abroad and Rotary Club scholarships to fund her year of study. She is preparing for the experience by reading another American student's blog at Sciences Po.
No matter what course her career takes, she believes Study Abroad will give her better tools to map out her future.
"The world is getting smaller," Thill said. "To grow, and acknowledge the changes, and embrace everything, you need to understand other people and other cultures. It's all about relationships."
For more information, go to studyabroad.colorado.edu/ and .