“I just feel like there will be so many other opportunities for me to go to London or Paris,” Heiller said. “I want to really experience what it’s like to live there, and I feel like I did that a lot. Much more so in Morocco.”

In Morocco she lived with a family that didn’t speak English. Instead they spoke Arabic, which gave her a chance to practice her Arabic skills.

Gustavus student Erin Luhmann visited Thailand recently. It was a J-term that almost didn’t happen for her.

She was on a waiting list for the Thailand trip. And when there was a non-violent coup, a handful of students pulled out of the trip. A space was then open for Luhmann.

The political strife there didn’t bother her.

“I wanted to go somewhere where we were really out of our element,” she said. “I don’t know if I’d do something this extreme on my own.”

Luhmann said she’s not surprised more students are heading overseas for more nontraditional study abroad experiences.

“I think my generation is more adventurous and outgoing,” she said.

For now, she’s done with overseas travel. She wants to spend her senior year on campus with her friends. After graduation, however, she plans to head far away again. Like Heiller, Luhmann plans to join the Peace Corps. Why?

Partly to postpone having to get a real job, she says. But it’s also about helping other people. Plus, “It’s a good time to find yourself,” she said.

Quade says there may be several factors pushing students to more non-traditional study abroad locales.

Current events, of course, is one. With the 24-hour news cycle and with 9/11 prompting more coverage of issues in the Middle East, more students are aware that life exists in parts of the world previously untouched, for the most part, by the study abroad experience.

Also, Quade says students are showing up to Gustavus having been exposed to more diversity in literature during high school, and civics classes are doing a better job of teaching students about world events, and the students’ place in the world.

“They realize more than ever that they don’t live in an isolated world,” Quade said. “Some come back and say it transformed their life.”

And some students, Quade said, return from a study abroad experience saying they’d like to devote their lives and careers to service.