International Education
Semester Program in Heidelberg, Germany

How to Apply

Academics
Expenses and Financial Aid

Student Life

The City of Heidelberg
Preparing for Life Abroad
Admitted Students
Returning Students
Parents

Welcome Back!

We look forward to seeing you and hearing about your adventures abroad! We hope that the resources on this page will help you in your next transition -- the one back to campus.

Although students often spend weeks or months preparing to go abroad, less time is usually dedicated to returning home. (Afterall, it should be easy because you know it so well! Right?) You may be surprised about the feelings you experience as you return to life at home and life at St. Mary's. To support you, we offer information about:

1. Preparing to Return Home;
2. An Invitation for You;
3. Sharing Your Story;
4. Foundations for Global Engagement -- a pilot course for students returning from study abroad;
5. SMCM's International Ambassador Program; and
6. Ways to Continue Your International Education.

Preparing to Return Home: What's Up with Culture? For returning students too!

This final section in the What's Up with Culture? online course is about capturing memories and saying a "good" Good-bye. As one's overseas journey begins to draw to a close there are a number of simple but important things you can, and should, do to make sure you bring proper closure to your adventure. These range from taking last minute photos and getting addresses of overseas friends and program classmates to being sure to say your goodbyes in a culturally appropriate manner. Read more...

You're Invited to our IE Welcome, Welcome Back Reception

Our Welcome, Welcome Back reception at the beginning of each semester is one of our favorite times throughout the year. It's our opportunity to welcome the students who've been abroad back to campus and to hear about their successes and challenges around the globe. It's also an opportunity to welcome our visiting exchange students and scholars to campus. Our students who've just been abroad know exactly what the international students and scholars who are new to campus are experiencing, and we hope these introductions are just the first step in forging new friendships...

Student Advocate for Global Engagement (SAGE) Program

The Student Advocates for Global Engagement program (SAGE) cultivates the academic, personal, social, and leadership potential of students committed to linking global communities at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Through supporting students of diverse backgrounds in academic and multicultural activities and leadership opportunities, the program aims to develop a community of international scholars who will guide the College’s efforts to:

• deepen understandings of cultural perspectives;
• expand knowledge about the interconnections among local, international, and global communities;
• create a campus community climate that is inquisitive and dedicated to appreciating global diversity;
• build skills in self-reflection, personally and culturally; and
• promote global engagement and opportunities to serve local and global communities.

Qualifications

• Must be a current undergraduate student at SMCM.
• Have a strong interest in sharing and learning about culture.
• Have a grade point average of 2.5 or better.

Interested?  Learn more.

Sharing Your Story

Future study-abroad students want to hear from you! Think back to all the questions you had before studying abroad. Didn't it seem like the more you learned, the more questions you started to think of? That's how students preparing to go abroad are feeling now.

We hope to share your story with your St. Mary's peers through:

• Student-to-Student discussions and Q&A forums (see International Ambassador Program below)
• Program evaluation forms (sign into Bb and go to the Test section...don't worry, you won't be graded!)
• Publishing your photos on St. Mary's web and in SMCM publications such as The Mulberry Tree, River Gazette, and IE brochures (sign into Bb for login info to upload to our IE Flickr account)
• Updates to the program-specific Blackboard courses based on your first-hand experiences (send your feedback to ie@smcm.edu)
• Your responses to these questions (send to ie@smcm.edu):
  • Why Heidelberg? was it your major, a language preference, a place you'd always wanted to visit......any reason is a good reason!
  • What did you experience there that you might not experience elsewhere? did you understand your major from a cross-cultural perspective, did you see something you never imagined....what's unforgettable about your experience?
  • Why should other students study abroad?
  • Why should other students choose Heidelberg University and study in Thailand?

Foundations for Global Engagement

St. Mary's has designed a credit-bearing course for returning study-abroad students. This course supports the college's strategic objective to promote global engagement, social responsibility, and diversity in all forms. Students will consider a number of topics that will provide them with conceptual tools to optimize the transformative experience of study abroad. The course provides a forum for students to deepen their understandings of other cultures, the global community, and their place as individuals within an increasingly interdependent world.

Course Goals:

• Encourage students to reflect on their recent semester abroad through reading, discussion and writing;
• Encourage student peer review to produce more insightful, interesting and informative writing;
• Encourage students to compare and contrast their written experiences about a common set of topics with their peers to identify broader similarities in study abroad;
• Encourage students to contextualize their recent semester abroad in their educational and even post-graduation plans; and
• Encourage students to assess and relate their semester abroad experience for students considering future study abroad.

Students would enroll in this two-credit pilot course during the first half of the first semester back on campus.

Ways to Continue Your International Education...
Some Ideas!