Anticipation mounts as Taylor students studying abroad look forward to the rest of their semesters.
Senior English major Hanna Fritz is studying in Oxford, U.K., this semester, where she has wanted to study since she was 14.
“I visited the university when I was very young with my family, and I realized from the second I was there that it was a place of immense historical significance, literary significance, and I just absolutely fell in love with it,” Fritz said.
Returning to visit the school in 2024 on the Literary London J-term trip, she remembers turning to Carie King, department chair and associate professor of English, and saying with tears in her eyes, “I have to come here; I have to study here.”
The tutorial system at Oxford operates differently from the way most American universities do. Depending on her classes, Fritz will attend some regular class discussions but will also meet one-on-one with a tutor who will provide a prompt or question to answer, and then Fritz will read books and write papers about that.
Excited for the rigor of her work, Fritz will study Tolkien and Lewis as her primary and secondary tutorials. She will also study British culture and likely complete an independent research project on children's literature.
“Essentially, I'll be reading a ton of books and writing a ton of papers, which to me is extremely exciting; to some people, that's death on a stick, but I'm immensely looking forward to that. It really gives you a chance to get specialized dives, almost collective style, into topics that you're interested in,” Fritz said.
Going into this new culture and secular academic setting, Fritz hopes to be a representation of Christ. While blessed and thankful for her Christian schooling history, being built up by Taylor and other communities, she looks forward to conversations about the goodness of the gospel, of the goodness of Christ, in a place often cynical about the gospel.
Fritz will be going and staying with Scholarship and Christianity In Oxford (SCIO), an organization that partners with international Christian schools. Though an introvert, Fritz describes herself as effusive and is curious to see how that will translate in a more reserved culture as opposed to Taylor, where people are fairly outgoing.
Sophomores Layne Hoeflinger, Zoe Moser and Halle St John are all studying in Cuenca, Ecuador, for the semester at Universidad del Azuay.
All living with Christian host families, they attend the same church in Cuenca, though at different campuses.
Excited for day trips, student activities and immersing themselves in the cultures of their host families, they have already experienced and learned a lot in their month in the country.
“I've always wanted to study abroad,” Hoeflinger said. “My mom studied abroad in Lithuania at Taylor, and like literally almost all of her college stories are from that. She had so much fun, and she learned a lot from it.”
A travel lover, Hoeflinger is also excited because the Ecuador program has several trips planned.
This trip has already been an opportunity for Hoeflinger to hear from God. Having a difficult time at first, she felt spoken to through the first church service, knowing all the songs despite them being sung in Spanish. She saw it as confirmation that she was in the right place.
“Something that I have really been convicted of since I've been here is being obedient to God,” Hoeflinger said. “Listening to him, surrendering, actually actively listening and then actually acting on it, (even) if it's not what you want to hear, it’s still what you have to do. That's something that I want to work on while I'm here, because there's so much more out of my control here than back at home, and there's so much more trust that goes into God.”
Looking forward to the creation she would see, Moser was still surprised by how mountainous the area is. Another thing she’s getting used to is greeting and saying goodbye to everybody with a hug and kiss, even in a group of 20.
Connecting with her host family, Moser says her Spanish is getting better, but it still gets a laugh out of her host siblings.
Moser has also seen the theme of giving God control of her life. Though it’s planned, things are scattered, and relinquishing that control has been a learning experience.
Looking forward to her amazing experience, St. John said she is waiting for the Lord to reveal to her why she is in Ecuador. She loved seeing Cotopaxi and is excited to visit places like Machu Picchu.
Keeping an open mind, she is working to learn more language skills but said it can be difficult adjusting.
“I knew little to no Spanish before coming, and just living with a family who speaks very little English is really hard,” St. John said.
However, the language barrier has also been an area of growth for her. Something St. John hopes to learn through her time in the country is to understand people beyond verbal communication and to speak through actions.
While wanting to have deep conversations, with the language barrier, speaking through actions has already caused her to reflect on what kind of person she hopes to be, moving upon action more than words.
