It is the time of the year when people start learning about different study abroad opportunities and applying to programs around the world. Being prepared to experience the culture of another country is important to any study abroad trip, and the CORE seminar program aims to help students with this preparation.
CORE, which stands for Cultural Orientation Reflection Engagement, is a two-credit course that takes place before, during and after students study abroad. Director of CORE, Catarina Krizancic, said the program was created in 2009 because research has shown that only 10 percent of students study abroad with positive experiences.
“If you throw [students] into the deep end of the pool with kind of a facilitator and an instructor who’s going to work with them as they’re trying to figure out how to swim … then a lot more people find ways for it to be meaningful and a positive growing experience rather than a near-drowning experience,” Krizancic said.
Graduate instructors from humanities and social science departments lead the CORE seminars, and all of the instructors have experience living and working abroad. The instructors use their own knowledge and studies to help prepare students.
Anthropology graduate student Dionisios Kavadias, one of the instructors for CORE, leads a seminar titled “What is Globalization” and “An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Miscommunication.”
“Every class that we teach is going to be so different, which of course is great because it adds more perspective and more dimensions,” Kavadias said. “The world isn’t simple, it’s complicated. There’s of course many ways to look at it.”
French graduate student Whitney Bevill is a former instructor for a seminar on culture shock, and she now grades assignments from students who have already been abroad. Bevill believes studying abroad is one of the best ways the University enables students to pursue their desire to learn.
“U.Va. talks about wanting to give you guys a global education and everything, but this is the way they’re actually supporting you, by being a global citizen,” Bevill said. “And with [studying abroad], it’s going from an empty cliché to being something that you’re going to benefit from more fully.”
One of the most important things students need to be prepared for is the unexpected, Krizancic said.
“You need to protect some space for serendipity,” Krizancic said. “The whole point of a different culture is that it’s different, so you don’t really know what to expect. And if everything happens the way you planned and expected, then something’s not right here.”
Students should not only be learning about the country they are in, but they should also be learning more about themselves, Kavadias said.
“The student, him or herself, should realize that they are only one little piece of this bigger thing,” Kavadias said. “That when they go study abroad, it’s not necessarily that they’re looking at some other culture, it’s that they themselves are also in this unfolding process of figuring out their own culture, figuring out their own assumptions about the universe.”
Bevill’s experience living in China, Turkey and France, along with traveling to many other places, completely changed her previously held beliefs. CORE prepares students to face all kinds of culture shocks and moments of learning, such as the ones Bevill experienced herself.
“Know that your way is not the only way,” Bevill said.
Read More
University gym culture uplifts student fitness
By Mia Tan | 12 hours agoFor these students, the most Herculean gym pursuits are less about achieving the build of a Greek god and more about building long-lasting, healthy relationships with the gym.
The triumphant return of Littlejohn’s
By Blaine Hutchens and Kate Johnson | 2 days agoThe revived Littlejohn’s presents a tasty and conveniently located, albeit pricey, food option for those looking for a taste of old and new.
Top 10 things to know before attending the Foxfield Races
By Malone Morchower | 2 days agoEvery year, students arrive in droves to watch the horses, bask in the sun and hang out with friends before finals and summer vacation.
