Department of Criminal Justice Sciences student Richard Bey shared his thoughts on studying abroad:
My desire to go global comes from my adventurous personality. Even as a kid I always loved to travel and thought that studying abroad would be perfect. I don’t think there is another opportunity that’s as beneficial as studying abroad. Students receive credits towards their degree and also experience different cultures while networking.
I chose Dubrovnik, Croatia, because coming into Illinois State my freshman year I met a guy name Vance. Vance was a criminal justice major and he also completed his masters in criminal justice at ISU. Vance told me about the trip, and I decided to look into it myself. That’s when I met Dr. Beichner. From the beginning she has always told me great things about Croatia. Every year she tried to convince me to go, but there was always something on my end that kept me from going. Not this time!
In Croatia, I attended IUC- Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, where I took an international post-graduate course on victimology, victim assistance and criminal justice. I had never taken a victims course, so I was looking forward to it. On the first day of class, I was not sure what to expect. I soon realized that I was surrounded by students who were pursuing their Ph.D.’s and master’s degrees, as well as current and former researchers. The majority of the class consisted of presentations by professors and researchers from various universities. This way the students could get different opinions and views about ways victims could be better assisted.
We visited several islands with our class group, and one island name Lokrum with a few friends from the group. Also, we took an excursion to Montenegro. Montenegro was my favorite because during this bus ride I felt like I was exploring the world. We drove a coach bus up and through the mountains, and the view was phenomenal. This was the moment I felt like I was doing something great!
Outside the classroom was very relaxing, and I went to the beach where the water was very clear. The scenery in this part of the world is very beautiful. One of my favorite extracurricular activities that I participated in was driving a dune buggy. I always wanted to drive a dune buggy and this time we drove them on a trail on top of a mountain. We soon realized that this was where Napoleon built some of his forts during the war. While having fun, I obtained some rich history from Dubrovnik.
Life always has its ups and downs, and this trip indeed had both. About three days in, I caught a cold from another student. That cold was soon passed on to my three roommates. Despite that, Croatia was indeed worth the money and long flight. I have already recommended to two close friends that they take the trip to Croatia next summer!
