Study Abroad

Sometimes in our internet age it seems that we don't ever need to leave our own homes to experience the world. Google can let us drive in a virtual way down nearly any street in the world. We can chat at any hour of the day with residents from any continent about any subject. We can even craft online selves that allow us to become more interesting, more educated, and more urbane than are our actual personas.

So why -- given the complexities, unavoidable drudgeries and occasional miseries and sometimes even outright dangers of travel -- should we ever venture any significant distance from our homes? Because there is still -- and surely there will never be -- anything comparable to travel to teach us about the varieties of the world. Without meaning to disparage the wonders of either online information acquisition or reading about other places and...
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