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Study-aboard programs satisfy the appetites of students for travel and more.

Students in Normandy at the Caen Memorial		Guinness tour proves palatable on all levels.

Twenty-six students took in the sites, the sights, and the flavors of Europe on two recent study-abroad programs—one to Spain from May 3-22, 2007, and one to Ireland and France from August 13-23, 2007. Randall Martin, faculty director of the study-abroad programs and a member of the Department of Management and International Business in the College of Business Administration, led the trips—which include coursework and interaction with local businesses and which the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) organizes.

Sixth study-abroad program to Spain continues popular tradition.

“This was my first study-abroad program, but it won’t be my last,” said August graduate Allan Gusmao (BBA ’07), one of thirteen students to participate in the Spain trip. “I love to see for myself how other countries do things. I’d read that everything closes in Spain from 2:00-5:00 p.m. but I wasn’t prepared for it be like a ghost town or a holiday.”

Students enjoy time in France.		A view of the countryside in Ireland

The business tour—an annual visit to an Iberian ham factory—impressed Gusmao, who has traveled to Amsterdam, South America, and the Caribbean and who now sees an international trip as one criterion for selecting a graduate program.

“I don’t know a business executive in the United States who would take two hours on a weekday and walk around his factory with you with no return, but that’s what the CEO/owner of the ham factory did,” he said. “He gave us all his attention, answered our questions, and presented us with a packet of food, just for the good will. I really liked that.”

The students spent part of the time living with families, and while in Madrid stayed in a hotel amid the city’s fanciest shops and a short distance from some of the most famous art museums in the world.

Although he didn’t know any of the students before the trip, according to Gusmao, “Everyone got to be friends by the second day.”

Undergraduate study-abroad program participants on the bridge over the River Tormes in Toledo, with original medieval tower behind		Students on class break in Salamanca

Newest destinations make strong entry into study-abroad program menu.

Seasoned traveler Paola Osorio, a senior international business major with a minor in French who expects to graduate in May, 2008, was one of thirteen students to take advantage of the college’s first-ever trip to Ireland and Normandy. She has been to France twice before—once on an internship—and took an art history tour of Italy with a friend, but she “always wanted to do a study-abroad program in  business.”

Not only did the trip provide the opportunity for her to visit a new country, but also it gave her the coursework she needed. The business visit to the Guinness brewery, she said, was a highlight.

“It wasn’t just an introduction to how they make beer,” she said. “It was an explanation of the business—its founding in 1759, its survival and evolution, and its marketing efforts to establish a brand known throughout the world.”

View of Segovia from Ferdinand and Isabella's castle, the Alcázar		Study-abroad group enjoys dinner in the world's oldest restaurant—from the 18th century—in Madrid.

The students immersed themselves in history during their time in Normandy, viewing the Bayeux Tapestry, a 200-foot-long, 800-year-old record of the invasion by William the Conqueror; visiting the Normandy American Cemetery, with its more than 9,000 crosses; and exploring Mont Saint-Michel, a monastery that becomes an island when the tide comes in.

Learn more.

Study-abroad programs: http://www.fiu.edu/~ciber/