As February and March approach, so do the application deadlines for many study abroad opportunities organized by Ohio State and administered through the Office of International Education.

The Lantern strongly encourages students to seriously consider adding an international perspective to the education they earn at OSU. Planning is an integral aspect of a successful study abroad experience and it is difficult to organize as a last-minute decision. Students should immediately begin considering the benefits and costs of such an experience.

Airfare, housing commitments in Columbus, clothing, program fees and other expenses add up, but alleviating these costs require significant time and effort while working and applying for scholarships. The process for attaining a passport is also an extensive one, often taking months to complete.

OIE boasts that it offers more than 100 programs in more than 40 countries, including Argentina, China, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Tanzania and others. Of course, foreign language study comprises a high number of the opportunities available in the non-English-speaking countries, such as the Intensive Czech Language Program in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

For those studying foreign languages, there is simply no better way to acquire a language than by immersion in it. Immersion in a foreign language environment requires that students attempt to express their needs and ideas in every aspect of life, a situation the classroom cannot replicate.

OIE also offers a number of programs in other fields, such as a program in Prague studying agricultural economics, rural sociology and Czech culture. There is also a summer business program in Nantes and a program in Cuernavaca, Mexico studying social change in Mesoamerica, with an emphasis on gender issues.

The Lantern believes that studying these and other subjects while abroad will help students gain an understanding of the methods and principles by which people from other countries solve problems that face their nations. Gaining this perspective will allow students to employ those methods in their own careers and to better meet the needs of their fields in as cultures and countries come closer together.

We believe that students can no longer afford to allow themselves to be isolated from the perspectives and concerns of other people, people our country needs to engage and to understand.