![\"CL_Emily_Pate2\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernjournal\/files\/2015\/11\/CL_Emily_Pate2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By: Emily Pate\r\nStaff Writer<\/pre>\nInternational Education Week is Nov. 16-20, 2015; the theme is \u201cAccess for All,\u201d and the goal is to bring different cultural perspectives, diversity, and experience to students.<\/p>\n
I have studied abroad three times during the course of my studies at Western, and each time has been more beneficial than the last.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a scary thing to tear out your own roots and see what you can learn from travel, but exposure to other cultures has made me look at my own life in a new way, and made me a better person as a result.<\/p>\n
Amanda Summers, senior International Studies major, is the new Global Ambassador for Western\u2019s study abroad office, and spent the last academic year studying at the University of Roehampton in England.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was phenomenal, magical […] all those good words you can use,\u201d Summers said about her time abroad. She also said that even though we went to a country that spoke the same language, \u201cit was culturally enlightening,\u201d and encourages everyone to try to study abroad.<\/p>\n
Sawsan Alismail, a graduate student from Saudi Arabia who is majoring in MS Ed English\/Language Arts, has been studying at Western for ten months. She believes that international study helps a person to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt adds to my personality a lot by being open-minded, flexible, and accepting variety of people and introduces me to different cultures and costumes,\u201d Alismail said. \u201cAlso, it adds more for my family, especially my children where they are exposed to different cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alismail continued, \u201cIt also gives you the opportunity to examine the culture more deeply and have a fair judgment about it. This also may help you adapting some good manners, attitudes, and lifestyles or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
For various reasons, not all Western students can study abroad, but they can still get the benefits from multicultural exposure here on campus during International Education Week.<\/p>\n
Sarah Nagel, Study Abroad and J Visa Advisor, said, \u201cThe purpose of International Ed. Week is a celebration of the fact that we are a global society, a global campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nagel said that through participating in International Ed. Week, \u201cstudents gain a greater cultural competence, meaning they have a better understanding of the different cultures that are out in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n