{"id":74,"date":"2018-01-22T04:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T04:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-study-away\/immerseyourself\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T21:47:17","slug":"immerseyourself","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/predeparturetoreturn\/immerseyourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Immerse Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn About Your Study Away Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>How much do you know about the place(s) where you will study away? We believe that the more you know before you arrive, the better prepared you will be to understand your study away experience.<\/p>\n\n\n<section class=\"video-embed block-container\" >\n\t    <div class=\"video-embed__container\">\n    \t<div class=\"embed-container\">\n    \t    \t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Learning About Your Study Away Location\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w_6KJqlKiYI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> \n    \t<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"link-group block-container\" >\n        <div class=\"link-group__featured-row\">\n        <div class=\"link-group__featured-inner\">\n            <div class=\"link-group__featured-inner-inner\">\n                <ul class=\"link-group__featured-link\">\n                                            <li class=\"link-group__link-item\">\n                            <a class=\"base-cta-featured\" href=\"https:\/\/travel.state.gov\/content\/travel\/en\/international-travel\/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages.html\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t    Learn More About Your Destination from the U.S. Dept. of State\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t    <svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"base-symbol base-cta-featured__arrow\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t    <use xlink:href=\"\/wp-content\/themes\/macalester-2020\/dist\/svgs\/symbol-arrow.svg#icon\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n                        <\/li>\n                                    <\/ul>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Immerse Yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many students cite immersion \u2013 cultural and\/or linguistic \u2013 as one of their main goals while studying away. Here are some suggestions on how to intentionally immerse yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you play an instrument or a sport? Do you have a hobby?<\/strong>&nbsp;Find an individual or group who shares your interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Working on learning a language?<\/strong>&nbsp;Find a native speaker of the local language who would like to learn English (or another language you speak) and take turns practicing and learning languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Make a meal for friends, classmates, homestay family, professors, etc.<\/strong>&nbsp;Share your favorite recipes from home. This can be used as an entr\u00e9e into discussing cultural differences \u2013 cuisine-\u00adrelated and otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Enrolled at a local university? Join a school club.<\/strong>&nbsp;If you\u2019re in a student organization at Mac, chances are you can find a similar group in your study away destination. If not, pursue a new interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Are you on a group-oriented program and take all your classes with students from the U.S.?<\/strong>&nbsp;Studying on or near a local university\u2019s campus can be a great way to meet local peers, hear about events and get a feel for what it\u2019s like to be a local college student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Spending too much time with other students from the U.S.?<\/strong>&nbsp;Make a conscious decision to take yourself away from the group. This could mean dinner with a local friend or going to an event (lecture, concert, film, etc.) alone. Depending upon the local culture, it can be easier to make connections with locals when alone as compared to being with a large group of U.S. students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you find yourself spending most of your out-\u00adof-\u00adclass time with people who are about the same age as you?<\/strong>&nbsp;Getting to know people older and younger than you can help deepen your understanding of your host culture. If you\u2019re living with a homestay family, hang out with the parents or grandparents as well as the children. If you\u2019re not living with a family, but have made friends with local peers, ask to visit their home. You might hit it off with another member of the family too. People who are older than college students may respond well if you ask them to teach you something. Ask to learn how to prepare a local dish, watch a sports game, play chess, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Just like checking out citypages.com to see what\u2019s going on in Minneapolis-St. Paul, you should try to research and attend local events.<\/strong>&nbsp;Concerts, films, lectures, performances, festivals, etc. Can\u2019t find anything? Ask professors, program staff, and others for suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Looking for something to do after class?<\/strong>&nbsp;In many countries, caf\u00e9s, restaurants, community centers, and other places where people gather post fliers. Join a book club, learn how to tango, join a knitting circle, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interested in knowing how a certain aspect of life works where you\u2019re studying, but find it\u2019s not being explained in your classes?<\/strong>&nbsp;Do some research on your own! It doesn\u2019t have to demand too much of your time and effort, you\u2019ll learn something you didn\u2019t know before, and you\u2019ll connect with locals along the way. You could investigate how fresh produce reaches markets in the city where you\u2019re studying, or find out the story behind a statue that you walk by everyday.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn About Your Study Away Location How much do you know about the place(s) where you will study away? We believe that the more you know before you arrive, the better prepared you will be to understand your study away experience. Immerse Yourself Many students cite immersion \u2013 cultural and\/or linguistic \u2013 as one of [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-74","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6411,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions\/6411"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}