Is studying abroad safe?
My dream in life is to travel to some of the most wonderful places in the world. I want to see what the Eiffel Tower looks like up close. I want to see the Louvre Museum, explore all the monuments and mountains and eat the best food in all the best places. I have always wanted to study abroad and learn about cultures different from my own.
Although this would be an expensive thing to do, recently there have been other problems that have kept me from even considering traveling overseas.
If you have read the news lately, you probably have seen the story about how IU student Luke Gates was in Cairo with a few of his friends during the riots. Gates and his friends were arrested by officers who were not in uniform and taken into custody over an accusation that they were throwing “firebombs” into the riot.
From the perspective of Gates and his friends, the whole thing was a setup. They said the officials planted evidence on them and said that they were the culprits of the firebomb situation. In the end, Gates returned home to Bloomington with his family and was cleared of all charges.
After reading about this and seeing it in the news over the past few weeks, I have had second thoughts about traveling, or even studying abroad for that matter. What if this happened in Greece while UIndy students were studying there, or during an international Spring Term travel course in any of the various areas to which students travel? Would we have a plan to handle it?
As for the case with Gates’ situation, I wasn’t there. But he wasn’t just traveling to Egypt for fun; he was studying abroad at The American University in Cairo. This has made me nervous for the people who are studying abroad through UIndy and their safety. Some of them are close friends of mine. How can we ensure that our students are safe to travel and maintain a positive learning environment? Sadly, we can’t.
If the issue with Gates has taught me anything, it’s this: don’t get involved in a problem that has nothing to do with you. Being curious about something is one thing, but actually getting in the middle of the problem is another. The riots in Cairo had nothing to do with Gates or his friends, so they should not have been in that general area. A lot of college students have strong feelings towards politics and what is going on in the world, and that is great, but this incident Gates and his friends were involved in could have been prevented in a number of ways.
Educating them beforehand about how to handle a situation like this, or how not to get involved with the matter to begin with would have been a good start. It’s great to be taught the cultures, arts and the languages each culture has, but we also need to be aware of what dangers could happen.
My dreams of traveling hopefully will happen soon. But this incident involving Gates really has me wondering whether it is safe enough to travel just yet. Situations like this have made me think twice about Spring Term.
I don’t ever want to be in a similar position wondering what I could have done to change everything or take back what happened. So I’m not sold on traveling just yet. Still, I can always dream.
