Thoughts on Studying Abroad During Law School
by Joshua Ash
new cultures – not a bad deal. I can personally at- test that my experiences abroad have had a cru- cial role in developing my interests and understanding of the global community. Staying informed at an international level is becoming more and more important. Travel- ing and studying abroad, I have found, is a way to do this while making life-long connections and memories.
T
here is no shortage of good reasons to study abroad. Students can better their educations while traveling the world, meeting new people, and experiencing
Meanwhile, many of my classmates were gain- ing great experience working at law firms and non-profit organizations.
When picking a useful program, there is always a
temptation to make a decision based on geographic location. Admittedly, I had an interest in Brazil prior to choosing to
I quickly came to view my legal education much differently than my more free-range undergradu- ate experience. Within the first few months of muddling through legal doctrine, I realized the learn- ing process was different than what I had experienced as an undergraduate. Rather, I found that law school is about learning a new level of thoughtful, methodical, and precise reasoning. Instead of learning about the world’s problems, I began to learn legal approaches to fixing these problems. This led me to a thought- provoking question – is studying abroad during law school still a good idea? The answer to this question – not unlike most questions in law school – is “it depends.”
During the summer after my first year of law school, I participated in a summer study abroad program through my law school and Universidade Vila Vehla in Espírito Santo, Brazil. The trip was a three credit course in comparative Brazilian law.
study there. However, I would not have traveled to Brazil to
study an area of law that had no relevance to my interests.
For me, my time in Brazil was well worth any op- portunities I could have had behind a desk. How- ever, that does not insinuate that every law stu- dent should study abroad during law school in my opinion. There were several factors that made my law school study abroad experience worth the time and money. While these factors are by no means all-encompassing, they help highlight some of the benefits law students should look for in picking well-suited study abroad programs.
Encouraging a Classroom Mindset Outside Of The Classroom
During my study in Brazil, I had the opportunity to have multiple structured learning experiences outside of the conventional classroom setting. These experiences were some of the most edu- cational and rewarding parts of the trip. Shortly after arriving in Brazil, my class had the opportu- nity to voyage down the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon River, on a weeklong river boat excursion. As my classmates and I proceeded upstream, we went for educational hikes, visited local villages, and went on jungle excursions. During these hands-on learning events, we had the opportunity to learn about pertinent topics concerning the region – including but not limited the use of local medicinal plants, local land use practices, tribal life, and local flora and fauna.
ILSA Quarterly » volume 22 » issue 2 » December 2013
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