For many Furman students, this campus feels like a home away from home. We take pleasure in our campus lives, becoming more and more comfortable the longer we are here.

Yet there are many other students who do not succumb to the magnetism of campus life. These students decide to get away in a fashion that allows them to continue in the tradition of “engaged learning” without being on campus. In short, they study away.

Out of the 12 programs that Furman offers this year through various departments, exactly half of them take place in the fall.

Departments choose the timing of their program based on a number of different reasons. Often if the students will be studying at a foreign university, the two schools must coordinate. Also, Furman tries to balance the number of programs going in the fall and spring to even out the number of students and faculty that will be away.

There are also many factors that go into a students’ choice of what semester they wish to travel. Many of those center on campus involvement. Students will often schedule their semester abroad around a sports season, or certain events they don’t want to miss, like Homecoming or Greek recruitment.

Some students choose to travel in the spring because it’s easier to manage rooming arrangements. Students traveling in the fall must reserve their rooms by paying a small fee. Students traveling in the spring don’t need to reserve their room. They can live in their housing assignments in the fall and then leave in the spring.

Students who don’t want to leave for an entire semester also have the option of going abroad for the May Experience.

Studying abroad has become increasingly more popular over the last decade. Approximately 45 percent of Furman students study abroad in one or more programs during their time at Furman.

Students must think abour study abroad programs early because application processes often start about a year in advance. Study Abroad Program Assistant Chrissy McCrary recommends attending a Study Abroad 101 session as a freshman, and looking into specific programs as a sophomore. Most students who study abroad do so during their junior year.

“I think that [studying abroad] gives students the opportunity to get out of their comfort zone and experience other parts of the world. It’s a totally different learning style when students are not just learning about history but are seeing where it took place,” said McCrary. “Students come back with a better world perspective.”