Marquette University | Study Abroad

Student Testimonials

Don't just take our word for it - hear what students like you have said about their study abroad experiences.

True Swiss Experience

It’s one thing to learn about another country from a book or a classroom, but it is quite another to learn about it through personal experience. I arrived in Switzerland with images of banks, chocolate, and Heidi-esque mountain landscapes in my head. A year later, I left with an understanding of Swiss culture, politics, and lifestyle. A year-long commitment allowed me to live the life of an average Swiss student : I took regular university classes and exams, lived in university housing, and hung out with my Swiss friends. The biggest challenge of all was having to leave at the end!

— Dorota Pruski, Switzerland 2004-2005

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A Poetic Irish Bus Ride

This is a little reflection poem that I wrote on a long bus ride home from Dublin to Galway in Ireland. I had just come back from traveling around Europe and was contemplating all sorts of thoughts about my experience of studying abroad. With that came to mind feelings I had in the beginning of my journey and feelings I was having at that moment, knowing the end of my trip was coming closer than I could control. I wouldn't change my experience for anything!

— Megan McReynolds, Ireland 2005

Here I am.
with endless opportunity, yet the world becomes smaller everyday.
finding a purpose, struggling with individuality yet increasingly insignificant I become.
separated by oceans, cities, countries, and mountains, yet relationships feel closer and more alive.
yearning for the perfect fit, a place to call home.
realizing my time is almost up, the end is near.
grasping onto all I can.
finding happiness in the struggle to come.
filled with hope, growing and believing in something great.
realizing I am not strong enough
fast enough
wise enough.

My eyes can only see so much
My ears can only hear so much
My nose can only smell so much
My heart can only take so much.

Where do I go from here?
Trust, breathe, believe, reach, appreciate.
Why do I always seem to get all caught up?

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Intellectual and Spritual Growth in Guatemela

The cliché phrase that studying abroad will be the best experience of your life is absolutely true and an understatement. My time in Guatemala has been the part of my life where I have grown the most spiritually and intellectually. Initially I couldn’t understand how I would be able to see the world from a new perspective and experience new things daily, but it always happened. God has opened up my eyes to his world. I began to understand a little more about how huge his power and love is. Constantly being in contact with people who have a significantly different world view than I have and working daily as an English teacher in an incredibly impoverished community has absolutely cahnged my perspective and priorities in life.

— Bonnie Arendt, Guatemala 2005


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