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Cartwheel


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Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Created: 09/18/13

Replies: 15

Posted Sep. 18, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert

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Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Have you, or someone you know, studied abroad? Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?


Posted Sep. 30, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Suzanne

Join Date: 04/21/11

Posts: 281

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I have always thought college abroad was the ideal situation for a student but if the example of Lily's pure lackadaisical experience is the norm with education overseas, there is obviously no benefit. Lily was ready for a new experience and she certainly got it!


Posted Sep. 30, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
janeh

Join Date: 06/15/11

Posts: 222

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Yes -- it is a wonderful time to visit other countries. I do think students should be screened for maturity before being accepted into these programs. It appears that the only prerequisite now is "do you have the cash to pay for it?" Lily wanted this just to be free to spread her wings. She felt constricted by her family and her community. No one appreciated her as she was. I think the longer she was there, the more she realized what she had at home and appreciated what she had left behind. It is my belief that every student should leave home for a period of time to get outside their comfort zone and see how that changes their outlook. Then, if they want to come back and help their community expand their thoughts, I think they can do so with some empathy and understanding rather than a feeling of superiority and a need to force your ideas on others. Lily did get a crash course in this, unfortunately.


Posted Sep. 30, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
bonnieb

Join Date: 09/11/11

Posts: 132

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I think travel abroad is a wonderful experience for college students. However, a lot can go wrong if you are not familiar with the language or culture. You are placed in situations that you are not familiar with and there is a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong. What happened in Argentina or Brazil recently, with the rape of the American abroad is a good example.


Posted Sep. 30, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dorothyt

Join Date: 04/10/11

Posts: 102

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I spent a semester in Madrid, Spain, when I was a junior in college (how long ago? Well, Franco was still alive!), and I loved it! It was a great experience on many levels! I think it is of benefit to students if they are responsible enough. We were looked after by the professor and his wife who traveled with us, which is important, and we were required to attend classes. As Lily mentioned a few times, she was looking for excitement and new experiences, and was not really interested in learning anything.


Posted Sep. 30, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Erin G

Join Date: 05/24/12

Posts: 41

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Yes, and it was an eye-opening, life-changing experience for me (in a good way, as opposed to what happened to Lily.) I think Lily was hoping to absorb the atmosphere of an exotic place, go home with flawless Spanish and great stories to tell. It's unfortunate that she had such a bad relationship with her host family. That can make a big difference, and in her case the fact that Beatriz Carillo couldn't stand her may have sent her to prison.


Posted Oct. 01, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
malindan

Join Date: 05/10/12

Posts: 48

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I think it is a wonderful thing to visit other countries and I feel the travel abroad programs are, in general a great opportunity. As with college in general some students will treat it as a big party while others will be more academic about the experience. Really there has only been one terrible story about things going tragically wrong....that of Amanda Knox. Could I be the only person to see the obvious correlation between the Amanda Knox story and this book?


Posted Oct. 01, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
johnw

Join Date: 03/11/12

Posts: 102

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

We have become a global society and as such our children need to view situations from the viewpoint of individuals outside of the US. Two of my children chose to study abroad and they returned more mature and open minded about life after viewing things from other's perspective. They both began to understand how culture, religion, historical events shape how people view the same situation very differently.

Tthroughout the book Lily indicated she wanted to study in another country for the adventure of new experiences and excitement. While these should be part of the reason this showed her lack of maturity as learning was not mentioned as a factor in her desire to study abroad.


Posted Oct. 01, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
mariannes

Join Date: 12/17/12

Posts: 206

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I think traveling to a foreign country is a good experience for pretty much anybody. I know in my own case, I didn't travel overseas until this year. It made the rest of the world seem more real to me and I wish I'd had the money to go sooner. My granddaughter spent two months in China with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins when she was seven. She spoke no Chinese and they spoke no English. She came back much more mature than when she left. It was pretty amazing, actually.


Posted Oct. 02, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
pennyp

Join Date: 03/22/12

Posts: 353

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I think travel abroad is good for one at any age but I do agree with others that it takes a good amount of maturity. We all need to know as much as possible about the world that surrounds us and it is good to know that our little town in Anyplace, America is not the only place in the world. Young people of today will need to be prepared to deal with the global economy, respect other cultures and in general expand their awareness of the world.


Posted Oct. 02, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lynnr

Join Date: 07/31/11

Posts: 12

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Both of my sons spent their senior year of high school abroad...a much more controlled situation but life-changing for both of them. All of the college students that I know have been motivated to use the time to learn as much as possible.
Lily's experience was not believable to me for many reasons but the biggest being that she wouldn't have been able to work in Argentina with a student visa.


Posted Oct. 03, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Retired Reader, NE

Join Date: 09/16/11

Posts: 165

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

going abroad, especially to study, is an enriching experience. Going to college overseas is not an excuse to party. What a waste of potentia.l


Posted Oct. 03, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
iread49

Join Date: 04/10/13

Posts: 54

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

My Niece spent a semester abroad in England. She also visited France, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. It was an extended vacation with studying involved. I was jealous ! How many of us have such an opportunity? Lilly went to Buenes Aries for freedom from her parents, sister and everyone's expectations.


Posted Oct. 05, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
beverlyj

Join Date: 12/22/11

Posts: 138

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I think that visiting other countries benefits college students but in this case it does not seem like it was well-planned out by Lily or her parents and Lily quickly found that she was in over her head in a culture and place that it seemed that she did not much about.
I have known college students that have done summers abroad and their parents in all cases knew more about the programs/residences/what their children would be doing than Lily's parents.


Posted Oct. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
alisonf

Join Date: 01/31/13

Posts: 110

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

Study abroad is great. Not sure how realistic her lack of interest in studying was since she was a high performing student at a strong liberal arts college. My own experience was that in my study abroad I had to work hard but study outside of the United States was different and required more independence and initiative. Students were generally more mature. I think the author used Lily's study habits to contrast to her roommates. I think Lily 's goal of experiencing the culture got her in over her head when she took the job (illegally) and gained unrealistic confidence. It is the non student life that she struggled with and maybe living with a family wasn't the best situation for her.


Posted Nov. 02, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kellyj

Join Date: 11/02/13

Posts: 1

RE: Do you think it benefits college students to visit other countries? Why do you think Lily wanted to study abroad? What was she looking for?

I definitely think college study abroad can be an enriching and rewarding experience and hopefully one that brings a new level of world awareness to the traveler. I do think it is very important that the student be mature and ideally have had some international travel experience already otherwise depending on where they head off to it could be very challenging.
in this case I think Lily was not a very good candidate as she had unrealistic expectations or ideas and I always say that doing anything illegally overseas is just asking to get in trouble and that is exactly what happened


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