BY A N D R E W S A N T E L L A
First-year students studying in Liverpool during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic witnessed the unfolding of a global health crisis.
LIVERPOOL, INTERRUPTED Last spring, Chris Perez ’23 was treated to an unexpected crash course in global public health. Perez was one of eight Elmhurst Honors Program students who spent Spring Term studying at Liverpool Hope University in England as part of a new study abroad course primarily for first-year students.
“I wanted to take the first opportunity I could get to study in another country. I’ve lived in the same town my whole life, and I knew it would be good to get out of my comfort zone,” he said. “This just happened to take me 4,000 miles out of my comfort zone.”
The group was a few weeks into their overseas experience when they began tracking news of the relentless creep of COVID-19 across the globe.
So, at a time when most first-year college students are adjusting to life on campus, Perez and his classmates were crossing an ocean to immerse themselves in another culture. The group lived and took classes at Liverpool Hope University, a 5,000-student public institution with three campuses in Liverpool’s metropolitan area, and they completed independent research projects related to their area of study.
“We weren’t panicked about it, but we kept a close eye on the news and talked a lot with other international students about what was happening around the world,” recalled Perez, a double major in English and secondary education from Northlake, Ill. “It was a pretty interesting time to be studying abroad.” EXPAND I N G TH E I R HOR IZ ON S
Perez signed on for the semester in Liverpool, a port city of nearly a half-million people in northwest England, because he liked the idea of expanding his horizons early in college.
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G O ING ABROAD, E ARLY AND O F TE N
Studying abroad may seem like a lot for a first-year student to handle, but educators now are increasingly encouraging students to study abroad as early in their college careers as possible.