OPINION: The case for travel (and why you should go somewhere this summer)

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Ask 100 people how to expand your horizons; get 100 answers. Take up a new hobby. Make a new friend. Find an unusual class with an even more unusual professor. The more crazy-haired, the better. Writing for The New Yorker, Agnes Callard commended the “stay-at-home" method of horizon expansion in her article “The Case Against Travel.” What Callard, a philosophy professor at the University of Chicago, seems to overlook, however, is another, tried-and-true horizon-expanding strategy — walking toward them.  

Walking toward horizons is one simple trick I’ve used to expand 100% of horizons I’ve approached, 100% more than I’ve expanded while sitting on my couch. In fact, humans have utilized this method to astounding results for quite some time. In the last century, we revolutionized chasing horizons in the new airplane method. Whether you’re an old or new soul, bipedal or bi-winged, going abroad expands your horizons, literally. And studying abroad expands your horizons, personally. Luckily, IU is home to many study abroad programs that take students to countries from France to Costa Rica and are still open for applications. 

Going abroad broadens the map you use to navigate life — geographically, but also culturally, emotionally, intellectually, economically and whatever other “–ly" you care to mention. According to the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University, students who study abroad land jobs at a faster rate than those who do not. Within 12 months of graduating, 97% of study abroad alumni were employed compared to 49% of non-study abroad alumni. Coincidentally, 59% of recruiters pointed to experience abroad as an asset in job candidates, and 25% of students who studied abroad started with higher salaries than their peers who did not.  

However, a purely economic expression of these once-in-a-lifetime benefits fails to do them justice. Money may make the world go round, but it certainly doesn’t round out a person. Academic benefits are not what I have in mind, either. Although, the John Martinson Honors College advertises a wealth of those as well. Among applicants to graduate school, 90% of those who studied abroad were accepted into their schools of first or second choice, and 100% of students who studied abroad saw increased GPAs in the semesters following their return. These statistics are nothing to gawk at, but I’m talking about something larger than GPA: You. 

According to a study conducted at the University of San Diego, most students who study abroad consider their experiences “life-changing” and “transformative.” In her article for The New Yorker, Callard invokes the words of English author G.K. Chesterton against such sentiments: “Travel narrows the mind.” Yet, with students, Chesterton considers mind-narrowing a transformative, even positive, experience. In one column for The Illustrated London News, he wrote, “Mouths and minds...were made to open only in order to shut.” Mind-narrowing is a sharpening of the mind’s faculties and perceptions that pulls us out of a blob-existence and puts us into some definitive shape with more honed beliefs. Far from being opposed to travel, Chesterton lets the topic pervade his work. In his novel “Manalive,” the main character goes all the way around the world just to return home and see it with clearer, more narrowed eyes. 

Chesterton’s character isn’t alone. Many students at IU have actually followed in the same footsteps. Nearly 3,000 did so in the 2021-22 academic year, which placed IU fourth among 1,000 U.S. universities and first among Big Ten universities in number of students who studied abroad, according to a news release from November 2023. 

Mia McClellan, a freshman at IU studying linguistics and international law, has traveled abroad to Spain, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and Austria. In a couple of those countries, McClellan taught English. This summer, she is heading off to Mexico through an IU program. 

“In general, it’s made me think of the world as a smaller place,” McClellan said. “It’s made me love people more and be much more sympathetic and taught me not to generalize. Everyone’s very individual.” 

She said travelers should learn the local language to become part of the place they’re staying at. That’s how they can make the most of their time there, she said. In fact, that’s how travelers can avoid the critique that Callard lays against tourists — travelers who change but are not changed. 

“Life is so different,” McClellan said. “And language is really important to understanding how different people understand their way of life.” 

For those interested in studying abroad this summer, applications for the France, Costa Rica and Thailand studies-abroad remain open, among others. If those aren’t for you, most programs re-open their applications in December. Many programs also include opportunities for scholarships and financial aid, including IU’s Education Abroad Scholarships.