MONROE - Sleeping with an entire family in one bed in an area of China so remote that residents have never even seen a foreigner may not be the first scenario students envision when thinking about studying abroad.
But be prepared for anything, Sarah Wegmueller urged Monroe High School foreign language students Thursday.
"There will be things you never even thought of," she said.
Wegmueller was one of five panelists who shared insights on studying and working abroad to students in a first-time forum as part of World Languages Week at the high school.
"I always wanted to travel," she said. Growing up on her family's dairy farm, the MHSgraduate didn't have many opportunities until she went to college and began studying Mandarin Chinese.
She studied in China for four months in her sophomore year, then enrolled in a program that involved sailing from Tahiti to Hawaii and "somehow I was able to get college credit for that," she joked.
In her junior year, she returned to China and stayed on to work on her senior thesis. She lived with a farm family in a remote area 40 miles from a town with no running water - and one bed for the whole family.
Wegmueller later backpacked through Europe and then returned to China once again, this time to work for the USDA.
"It's something that changes you," agreed Adam Welander, the husband of MHS Spanish teacher Lynn Welander. Traveling and studying in a foreign country "is something that you will always have and always remember."
Welander's experience was far different than Wegmueller's. He studied in London and now travels to Switzerland to work in the ultra-high tech-field of finding ways to downsize transistors and computer chips.
Other panelists included Katie Krueger, a biology teacher at MHS, who spent a year teaching in Honduras; MHS Woods teacher Kim Cairy, who was stationed in Germany while in the Army National Guard; and MHS grad Dan Wegmueller, who studied in Australia and Switzerland.
All agreed being abroad is a tremendous educational experience for young people. And, "cultural competency," or the understanding of and ability to get along with people of many different ethnic backgrounds, is becoming increasingly desirable in the marketplace.
Cairy said that while he missed his family, his time in Germany was a great experience. Europe has so much culture and history, it put America in perspective.
"It gave me a true appreciation of how young our country is," he said.
Being abroad also builds self-reliance, Dan Wegmueller said.
"I showed up in Australia not knowing anyone. I didn't even know where I was going," he said.
But it paid off.
"It was the single best experience of my life," he said.
But be prepared for anything, Sarah Wegmueller urged Monroe High School foreign language students Thursday.
"There will be things you never even thought of," she said.
Wegmueller was one of five panelists who shared insights on studying and working abroad to students in a first-time forum as part of World Languages Week at the high school.
"I always wanted to travel," she said. Growing up on her family's dairy farm, the MHSgraduate didn't have many opportunities until she went to college and began studying Mandarin Chinese.
She studied in China for four months in her sophomore year, then enrolled in a program that involved sailing from Tahiti to Hawaii and "somehow I was able to get college credit for that," she joked.
In her junior year, she returned to China and stayed on to work on her senior thesis. She lived with a farm family in a remote area 40 miles from a town with no running water - and one bed for the whole family.
Wegmueller later backpacked through Europe and then returned to China once again, this time to work for the USDA.
"It's something that changes you," agreed Adam Welander, the husband of MHS Spanish teacher Lynn Welander. Traveling and studying in a foreign country "is something that you will always have and always remember."
Welander's experience was far different than Wegmueller's. He studied in London and now travels to Switzerland to work in the ultra-high tech-field of finding ways to downsize transistors and computer chips.
Other panelists included Katie Krueger, a biology teacher at MHS, who spent a year teaching in Honduras; MHS Woods teacher Kim Cairy, who was stationed in Germany while in the Army National Guard; and MHS grad Dan Wegmueller, who studied in Australia and Switzerland.
All agreed being abroad is a tremendous educational experience for young people. And, "cultural competency," or the understanding of and ability to get along with people of many different ethnic backgrounds, is becoming increasingly desirable in the marketplace.
Cairy said that while he missed his family, his time in Germany was a great experience. Europe has so much culture and history, it put America in perspective.
"It gave me a true appreciation of how young our country is," he said.
Being abroad also builds self-reliance, Dan Wegmueller said.
"I showed up in Australia not knowing anyone. I didn't even know where I was going," he said.
But it paid off.
"It was the single best experience of my life," he said.