JEREMY WECHSLER Fayerweather Gymnasium was filled with prospective study abroad students at the Study Abroad Fair on Thursday.

Students Explore Options Abroad By Leah Nelson Contributing Writer Students considering studying abroad filled Fayerweather Gymnasium on Thursday at the Study Abroad Fair, collecting armfuls of colorful brochures and questioning seasoned travelers.

"I’ve never traveled outside of the United States, and I think that now is the perfect time. Wesleyan can be a very small school and I think I’m looking to get away," said Amy Prisco ’01, who attended the fair.

According to Jane Edwards, director of international studies, a total of 312 Wesleyan students studied abroad last year, most in the spring. Popular destinations included England, France and Spain, although many students went to Asia and a record-breaking 40 traveled to Africa.

"I think that Wesleyan students are an adventurous collection of people who are interested in taking advantage of opportunities when they are presented to them," Edwards said. "Why wouldn’t they [go abroad]?"

The fair is hosted each year by the office of International Studies. Representatives from other universities and independent study abroad programs manned booths in the gym from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. The spokesman for the programs in Australia and several other tables ran out of brochures for students.

According to the Admissions office, 40 percent of Wesleyan students study abroad as undergraduates.

"I think that you get a better sense of the world and a better education when you leave the confines of Wesleyan. No matter how good an education you can get here, you’re still in Middletown, Connecticut, " said Nick Suplina ’00, who is planning to go abroad. "Europe or Asia or Africa will give you a better idea of what the world is like than a textbook ever will."

Although the University has been sending students abroad for decades, the program got a major facelift in 1992, when a committee was appointed to reorganize and restructure it. Today, advisors have a system for insuring that students make the best possible decision about studying abroad.

"We ask them a lot of questions about their major, because we want to be sure that any student who studies abroad does it within the context of their Wesleyan education," Edwards said. "What we look at is the undergraduate education as a whole."

Students leaving the fair chatted excitedly about the possibility of studying in a different country, expressing their desire to explore the unknown.

"One of the wonderful things about the period of undergraduate education is the possibility of discovering new things that you never knew you were interested in," she said. "I mean, how cool is that?"