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For the past few months, we've been featuring study abroad alumni on our social media. We've enjoyed hearing their many and varied experiences! For this month's newsletter, we have decided to share some of these with you. We hope you will take this time to read them, follow us on social media (if you don't already), and that you will be encouraged to share your study abroad story with us.
We believe that studying abroad is a powerful experience that can profoundly affect your life. Did studying abroad expand your worldview, influence your career, help you develop new hobbies/interests/skills, or meet new people (friends, mentors, spouse, etc.)? Did you have a truly unique experience while studying abroad, like meeting a celebrity in the Louvre? Whether you went to HUF in the fall of 1980 or HULA in the spring of 2013, we want to hear and share these stories!
Please email your story and photos to international@harding.edu. Include your name and Instagram handle (if you have one), and indicate the program, semester and year you attended. Because this will be on social media, please keep your stories to a paragraph or two, if possible.
Please share this with your friends, family and study abroad group!
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Alumni Stories – Leighton Teague: I attended HUHA (Harding University Honors Abroad) on a 2 week trip to Greece and Turkey in the summer of 2011, before I started at Harding with my friends from Honors Symposium. I grew up in church my whole life, but I remember thinking the Bible had never felt SO real standing in Ephesus, standing in Corinth, standing at Mars Hill and having our professor read Paul's sermon aloud. I craved MORE...
...SO, I traveled to HUA (Harding University Australia) Fall 2012. Experiencing life in Queenstown, New Zealand-- the "Adventure Capital of the World"-- was an absolute thrill. From skydiving to bungee jumping, white water rafting, ziplining, jetboating, horseback riding where Lord of the Rings was filmed and the luge down the mountain – every moment was an adrenaline rush. We had an amazing group of students traveling together who all became best friends. And I craved MORE...
...SO, I traveled to HUF (Harding University Florence) Summer 2014 after I had "graduated" in May. I took Italian language class, Bible, and an online graduate school class and enjoyed the summer of a lifetime in the Tuscan hills and backpacking across Europe. You think you've known independence, but when you are 21 and planning a weekend vacation hopping from country to country where folks do not speak your language and all your belongings have to fit into one bag, you REALLY learn independence. I fell in love with Italian culture and dream of going back all the time.
Not only did I keep craving more travel, more exposure to different cultures, more exposure to history, I craved the experience the Harding way. The deepening of godly friendships on a trip of this nature is inevitable! You leave knowing you have all have shared experiences exploring Creation together that bond you in an unexplainable way. The Harding staff and faculty at each location absolutely made the experience. There was not a doubt in our minds that they loved their jobs and loved creating lifelong memories for the students at their site. They poured their heart and souls into providing life-enriching experiences, and for that, I am forever grateful!
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Alumni Stories | Caroline Gammill (@sistercaroline9), HUG Summer 2013: My name is Caroline Gammill (maiden name Wallace), and I went to HUG in Summer 2013. I had worked and saved up for YEARS for this trip and it came at the perfect time in my life and I'm thankful every single day I did it! And, two of the most important people to me (my husband and my best friend) are in my life because of HUG! I grew up 30 minutes away from Savannah Richardson (@savak25) and we were even in the same social club, but we didn't become BFF until we were the only two in our group whose suitcases were over the weight limit and our dads paid the extra baggage fee! :)
And, my husband went to HUG Summer 2012 with many of our mutual friends, so we met later that year through them. It's fun that we've had so many of the same experiences and he gets it when I say about once a week, "I miss HUG!" #HUintl #HUintltbt #tbt #StudyAbroad @hardinguniversity @hugreece
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Alumni Stories – Marley Cole (@marleycole11), HUG Summer 2016: My HUG summer of '16 was the best summer of my life. I went into my travel abroad experience only knowing a few people on my trip but by the time I came back to the States I had made some of my very best friends. Every travel group has an amazing time, but our group was something special. It was a group of people so different – from our personalities to our perspectives to our preferences, we were from all different walks of life. I think it was because of our differences that we all bonded so quickly. We became a tight-knit group that encouraged each person’s strengths and celebrated the fact that we all brought something different to the table, whether it was leadership when planning our independent travel trips, positive encouragement when walking through Ireland in the cold rain, or some comic relief when our worries became even heavier than the bags on our backs. It’s been 4 years since I traveled with my Greece group but I’ve thought about our summer just about every day since because of the impact it’s left on my life. Some of us have gone on and are married now, working full-time jobs, or have moved far away, but I’ll always be thankful for that specific group of people and our HUG Summer of ’16. #HUintl #HUintltbt #tbt #StudyAbroad @hardinguniversity @hugreece
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Alumni Stories – Britain Bossier (@britainbossier), HUG/HUF Fall 2019: I studied abroad at HUG/HUF Fall 2019. It has been the most amazing experience so far in my college career and in my life. I got the opportunity to experience so many different cultures through this program. I got to meet so many different people in both Greece and Italy They were loving and welcoming. We became a part of their culture and it was so special. I found that culture is my favorite part about traveling. Each culture is unique but beautiful! The people in every place we visited were kind and loving. I think that is what study abroad has taught me: The importance of relationships. I got to meet so many people. People on my trip that I now consider my best friends. People who help run the programs that made the Artemis and Villa feel like a home away from home. And people that I met in passing in a coffee shop or grocery store. I have so many memories from my time abroad and I’m thankful that I had so many people to experience them with. #HUintl #HUintltbt #tbt #StudyAbroad @HardingUniversity @HUGreece @HUinFlorence
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Alumni Stories | Jessica Norman, HUF Fall 2006: My name is Jessica Norman and I attended HUF Fall 2006. Italy is beautiful and that is an understatement. Not only did I fall in love with the beauty, but the culture, the people, and the food. The semester in Italy changed my whole world and opened up my eyes to a different, sometimes better way of living. I definitely had a newfound appreciation for public transportation, walking, and an amazing train system throughout the European continent. I learned that beauty can be found everywhere (yes, even in all the pigeons in the city squares) if we are willing to open our eyes and hearts to see it. HUF Fall 2006 changed my life for the better and I would repeat that experience over and over again if the opportunity was there. #HUintl #huintltbt #tbt #StudyAbroad @hardinguniversity @huinflorence @ Italy
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