Senior Daniel Eisenbeis had no intention of returning to Macalester when he requested a yearlong leave of absence following his freshman year. Unsatisfied with campus life, and unsure what, and even whether, he wanted to study, he decided to head home to Salem, Ore., with only vague plans for his future.

“Originally I wanted to work on a farm or stay at a monastery,” Eisenbeis said. “I was sort of freaking out because I had no definite plans.”

In the end, Eisenbeis fed off his indecision. After three semesters of rather spontaneous travel to areas of the U.S., Mexico, Central America and England, he returned to Macalester to pursue a geography major with a healthier outlook on his education.

According to Dean of Students Laurie Hamre, each year dozens of Macalester students—usually sophomores—request leaves of absence for one or two semesters. Thirty-five students are currently on leave, though this number is comparatively low after a few years of steady decline. Approximately half those students leave with definite plans for their time off according to Hamre.

Eisenbeis’s hiatus began with an internship at a small organic farm in the mountains outside Los Angeles. The farm was run by a Vedic cult, and Eisenbeis lived mainly with monks and a few other interns and grew eggplant. This atmosphere proved slightly “too cultish,” however, and after a month he returned to Salem and worked for a few months.

Ready to return to school, Eisenbeis then hitchhiked to Prescott, Ariz., to check out Prescott College. Ultimately he was unable to attend, but while in Prescott he met some students who were heading to the WTO protests in Seattle. Eisenbeis was invited along, and days later found himself in the middle of the melee, “in a support role for a group that was [blocking off] an intersection.” His group was bombed with tear gas from riot police twice.

Eisenbeis next hitchhiked to Minnesota to visit friends, and then attended Antioch College for one trimester in the summer of 2000. He took Spanish for the first time at Antioch and, eager for an experience in the culture, decided to fly to Mexico.

“I flew into Cancun,” he said, “and quickly wanted to leave. I had just started studying Spanish, and I barely knew enough to buy a bus ticket.”

Eisenbeis spent the next two months backpacking in Mexico and also traveled briefly through Guatemala and Belize. He then flew via the U.S. to England to visit a friend and finally returned to Macalester in January 2001, in time to start the spring semester.

“There were a lot of things that I wanted to do that I couldn’t envision myself doing while I was in school,” Eisenbeis said. “I can’t imagine getting out of school what I do now without having taken the time off.”

Hamre estimates that 85% of students who take a leave do end up returning to Macalester.

“You only get one chance to go to undergraduate school; we try to make it easy to step out and come back,” Hamre said.

To facilitate a less-stressful return, however, students have to meet with several campus officials and complete paperwork before they leave. Though the forms are intentionally short and easy, the required meetings with Residential Life, the Cashiers Office, the Academic Advisor and Hamre herself are more time-consuming.

“Its definitely better if students decide to take leave before the semester starts, though that isn’t always possible,” HamreHanin Beidas, a junior from Palestine, recalls feeling overwhelmed by the leave of absence process. A few days into the 2002 spring semester, Beidas had to take an abrupt, semester-long leave when her mother was hospitalized.

“It was much more stressful than school would have been,” Beidas said. “I had one week to prepare to leave.”

Two weeks after arriving home, the February Israeli incursion of Palestine began. While her mother recovered, Beidas took a temporary job at the United Nations for Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a refugee-assistance organization in Jerusalem in need of help. Beidas did clerical work, which often involved translating vivid reports of Palestinian casualties from Arabic to English. “I felt like I knew the people,” she said.

As a result of her experience at the UNRWA, Beidas has decided to return home to Jerusalem following her graduation.

“[Working at the UNRWA] was weird because at Macalester I was always so focused on myself—on improving myself,” Beidas said. “Working there was such a good experience. Now I want to go back and help.”

Hamre prefers to meet with students who request leaves to encourage them to make plans for the time “because it goes fast.” She also tries to inform students of the services that will no longer be available to them, such as their Macalester email, or their parents’ health or car insurance.

Although exceptions are made, as in Eisenbeis’ case, students are normally limited to two semesters of leave of absence. While financial aid is generally unaffected, grace periods on student loans do expire, and students can be taken aback when payments suddenly come due.

Eisenbeis would recommend taking a leave, rather than withdrawing completely, to anyone who is unsatisfied with the Macalester experience.

“Every place is a trade-off,” Eisenbeis said. “My perspective on dealing with that is you need to decide which trade-offs you can handle, which are best for you.”

More convinced of the value of experiential learning, he now tends to “explore more of the independent study and 90’s level courses, like internships. I have a better idea why I am in school.”