For Michael Handley, taking quizzes during his summer zoology classes required him to get in a Jeep and drive to a field in search of the animals.
The zoology junior was on a study abroad trip in Kenya for three weeks this summer and said the experience taught him more than he would have learned in a traditional classroom setting.
"I am a hands-on learner and this helped," Handley said. "We would stop by a lion and have to name its genus and that kind of thing. It was amazing how close we got."
As part of the Behavioral Ecology of African Mammals program, or BEAM, Handley shared his experience about the trip during the Study Abroad Fair at the Union on Thursday.
Handley's program was just one of about 200 programs in more than 60 countries around the world showcased at the event, which was put on by the Office of Study Abroad, said Inge Steglitz, assistant director of the office and coordinator of the event.
"We have data showing that 28 percent (of students) who go on study abroad got their information here," she said, adding that MSU has held two study abroad fairs per year since 1997. "We do this as a one-stop shopping experience. You can get all the information you need in maybe an hour."
Steglitz said students from MSU have been studying abroad since as early as the 1950s and 1960s.
International relations junior Asana Okumoto is currently studying abroad in the United States from her home in Japan.
While at the fair, Okumoto was able to pick up literature about a possible trip next year to France or Senegal, which is a French-speaking country. She said she wants to go on another trip to strengthen her French.
"Right now, I have been in the States for three years and my English is better," Okumoto said. "If I can speak three languages, I can get more opportunities."
Steglitz said students who have experience interacting with people outside of their native countries entice future employers.
"It's no longer a choice or option to work with people from other countries," she said. "What the employers have found in students who have studied abroad is resourcefulness and the ability to deal with different cultures. Increasingly in the 21st century, to be a truly educated person, you have to have some kind of influenced perspective."
Aside from input from students and instructors who attended the programs in the past, representatives from offices such as financial aid were at the event to assist students in planning, Steglitz said.
Okumoto said although the trip was expensive and she missed people from home, now was the right time to study abroad.
"If I get a job in Japan I can see (family and friends) all the time," she said. "Why waste this time to miss them? It can't hurt to have a broad view and learn new cultures."
