Getting away

By Laura Rico
Daily Bruin Contributor

This summer fourth-year physiological sciences student Alayna
Scruggs is trading the beaches of Santa Monica for the crystal blue
waters of the Caribbean island of Barbados.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, fourth-year theater student Valerie
Morrell is spending her days strolling through the courtyards and
gardens of the University of Cambridge and enjoying her nights and
early mornings in Britain’s pub scene.

Morrell and Scruggs are participating in Education Abroad
Programs offered by UC Irvine and UCLA, respectively. These
programs offer students units toward their degrees and can fulfill
major requirements as well.

Through UCLA’s EAP alone, about 300 students a year study
abroad in 34 countries around the world. The UCLA EXPO Internships
and Study Abroad service center provides additional study abroad
options as well as internship opportunities abroad.

In England, Morrell has visited sites that complement her
theater studies at UCLA.

Substituting for UCLA’s Royce Hall is London’s Globe
Theatre. The theater is a faithful replica of the original
Elizabethan theater, partly built from the ruins of the original
venue where Shakespeare’s productions were held during the
17th century.

While at the Globe Theatre, Morrell watched a performance of
“King Lear,” a rare treat for a student who has spent
years studying Shakespeare’s dramas in the classroom. It was
an event that couldn’t be duplicated on a Los Angeles
stage.

“The production was excellent and was quite an experience,
considering the historical value of being in a place where many of
his plays were first put on,” Morrell said.

Besides cultural attractions, students studying abroad get to
experience the international party scene. Both Morrell and Scruggs
agreed that the nightlife abroad never sleeps.

“People here in the Caribbean party a lot. In America,
(whereas) most people only go out on the weekends, people here have
parties every night of the week, including the weekend,”
Scruggs said.

Britain’s night scene revolves around pubs instead of
parties.

“People here go pubbing which is equivalent to going to a
bar,” Morrell said. However, pubbing is different in that it
consists of hopping from pub to pub in one night.

“The party never stops here, whereas at home everything
shuts down at two and you end up at Jerry’s or
Denny’s,” Morrell continued, noting that the fraternity
and sorority scene is replaced by “drinking
societies”.

“Here there is always somewhere open … so you can get
your groove on. My feet were killing me but I would not trade that
experience for the world,” Morrell said. “One night in
London, we literally clubbed until it was time for
breakfast.”

Partying aside, spending the summer abroad exposes students to
various education experiences and cultural attractions.

Morrell is studying at Pembroke College, a campus of the
University of Cambridge, for five weeks through UC Irvine’s
EAP.

“The city of Cambridge is very charming, but it also rains
and is cold, which is something I am not used to at home,”
Morrell said. The program is open to students who are at least 18
years old and enrolled full-time at any university with good
academic standing.

Morrell’s courses include comparative literature, with an
emphasis on magical-realism and post modernism. Morrell is also
taking a course on the works of William Shakespeare.

Scruggs, who is studying at the University of West Indies at
Barbados through UCLA’s EAP, is finding out on her trip that
life in Barbados isn’t about lying leisurely on the beach
sipping drinks from a coconut.

Instead, she is taking an African American history course, as
well as a Barbados history course, with an emphasis on their
British Commonwealth system. While the classes are not directly
affiliated with Scruggs’ major course of study, she will
receive 10.5 upper division units from the courses.

Students in the programs find they must balance academics and
travel in a short period of time.

Luckily, Scruggs found that her professors, who are from UC
Berkeley and UWI-Barbados, were sympathetic to the experience.

“The professors are lenient as far as our readings are
concerned, and we have tutorials for each of our classes one day a
week,” Scruggs said.

“They even cut out the whole last week of class because of
the annual Bajan celebration called the Crop Over Festival,”
she continued.

Weeks of dancing, dramatic productions upon floats and Calypso
music lead up to the coronation of the king and queen of the
Calypso.

The vacation-like atmosphere experienced by many students abroad
during the summer doesn’t diminish the competitive instincts
of some college students, as Morrell found out.

“I haven’t studied with British students, but the
Americans in my program are competitive enough for me,” she
said.

Students accustomed to the U.S. diet must also assimilate to
their new culinary environments.

While meals prepared in dorm cafeterias are dreaded by many
students, Morrell found out that the international dining scene can
be equally unappetizing.

“In Scotland, they deep fry everything, I’ve seen
deep fried sausages, deep fried hamburger meat patties ““
it’s totally gross,” Morrell said. Apart from the
requisite fish and chips, which Morrell highly recommends, students
studying in Britain can sample delicacies such as baked potatoes
filled with baked beans.

Concern for cholesterol aside, mayonnaise is an extremely
popular condiment, topping everything from bread to potato
chips.

But Morrell did enjoy other British dining habits.

“You can drink tea any time of the day with any meal, and
nobody thinks you are strange,” said Morrell, who appreciated
the fact that British cafes and restaurants serve both white and
brown sugar at their tables.

For Scruggs, the high cost of food in Barbados makes it
difficult to enjoy snacks and treats, despite an exchange rate of 2
Bajan dollars for every one U.S. dollar.

“A bag of Skittles may cost $.60 in the U.S., but it costs
$4.50 to buy two bags here in Bajan dollars,”.

Students who do not like the dorm food in Barbados can expect to
spend up 100 U.S. dollars on groceries for what would cost $45 in
the states, Scruggs said.

Although some students may not like the food, room and board
accommodations abroad are much more popular.

UCLA’s dormitories often pack up to three people in a
room, but in Cambridge, Morrell experienced the luxury of having
her own room.

“We all live in single dormitories ““ there are no
shared rooms. My room is absolutely huge, larger than any UCLA dorm
could ever dream to be,” Morrell said.

Students studying abroad might encounter anti-American
feelings.

“I was told that in L.A. all we do is gang-bang and
drive-by shootings,” Morrell said. “I’ve been
told that American women are silly, and that we’re
sluts.”

Living and studying in Barbados has also opened Scruggs’
eyes to the societal differences between the island and the United
States.

As far as interaction between men and women is concerned, Bajan
attitudes differ greatly from their American counterparts. Scruggs
observed that men tend to be more direct with their flirting than
Americans, while many residents tend to be wary of foreigners.

“I’m pretty noticeably American here, even though my
skin color is about the same as the Bajan people,” Scruggs
said. “We get smiled at, whistled at and approached by the
men, but women give us nasty stares and bad attitudes.”

Despite cultural differences and the lack of certain comforts of
home, studying abroad can be an unforgettable experience.

“It has been great to see how another side of the world
lives, and it can really change your perspective on life,”
Morrell said.