COLUMBUS, Miss. – This fall Katie Hybnerova, a junior business major at
Mississippi University for Women, will travel to Nagoya, Japan, to take a
semester-long course in Japanese language and culture as part of The W's
study abroad program.
The program offers MUW students a chance to totally engage themselves
in foreign culture.
Hybnerova said, “I will be living with a family so I hope to learn a
lot about the lifestyle of the Japanese people. The study abroad program
gives very strong cultural backgrounds, ones that one could not get by
reading it in a book or on the Internet.”
While in Japan, she will take some electives including calligraphy and
flower arranging classes as part of the program.
Eric Daffron, coordinator of MUW's program, said, “…she will become
immersed in a culture very different from her own and in the process will
learn to appreciate that culture’s economic, educational and social
differences.”
Many MUW students have studied in countries such as France, England,
Italy, Japan and Mexico since the program's official beginning in 1998.
Daffron said, “The W offers a limited number of partial scholarships to
highly qualified, full-time students. The W also assists qualified
students with federal financial aid, which can usually be applied to study
abroad programs.”
He encourages other students to participate in the program in the
future, noting that “studying abroad should become the goal of every MUW
student.”
Hybnerova said, “I would definitely encourage students to study abroad
because it is a wonderful learning and growing experience."
