{"id":249550,"date":"2026-04-28T12:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249550\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:48:09","slug":"art-and-culture-take-center-stage-in-study-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249550\/","title":{"rendered":"Art and culture take center stage in study abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Critically engaging with other cultures and their art makes us more curious and empathetic \u2013 and USF encourages this through studying abroad and other outlets. ORACLE GRAPHIC\/ISABELLA CRUZ<\/p>\n

When I was a toddler, I was obsessed with the 2004 cartoon Peppa Pig<\/a> \u2014 much to the exhaustion of my parents.<\/p>\n

Of course, my tastes matured as I did, but Peppa Pig stands as my introduction to many aspects of British culture, which I remain interested to this day.<\/p>\n

This summer, I will have the amazing opportunity to experience the United Kingdom firsthand through USF\u2019s Summer in London<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

Summer in London is a month-long, six-credit study abroad program in which students \u201cculturally explore\u201d the titular city, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Offered courses<\/a> \u2014 such as \u201cExploring Graduate School in the U.K.\u201d and \u201cBritish Politics, Culture and Life\u201d \u2014 are designed to educate students on topics directly relevant to the UK\u2019s history and culture.<\/p>\n

Kiki Caruson, the vice president of USF World, said USF Education Abroad<\/a> is dedicated to encouraging \u201ccultural curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

This cultural education is why I\u2019m so excited to study abroad this summer \u2014 more than simply wanting to take fun vacation pictures for Instagram.<\/p>\n

I believe that expanding your cultural horizons is important to developing open-mindedness and empathy. Doing so involves recognizing that other people may hold differing perspectives and value systems from yourself.<\/p>\n

Related: OPINION: USF\u2019s diversity offers connection beyond the classroom<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Art acts as a snapshot into a given culture and the individuals within it, and is a particularly great way to gain an understanding of unfamiliar cultures, according to a 2023 article from Cultivate Arts and Education<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, I fell in love with Chinua Achebe\u2019s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart<\/a> after reading it last summer.<\/p>\n

Many of the novel\u2019s chapters depict traditional Igbo rituals, performance and music in an attempt to counter the dominant colonialist narratives about Africa. It portrays both the beauty and ugliness of pre-colonial Igbo culture up until the arrival of British colonialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the action of Things Fall Apart takes place in a setting with which most Americans are unfamiliar, the characters are normal people and their events are real human events,\u201d Achebe said in a 1991 essay included in the book \u201cApproaches to Teaching Achebe\u2019s Things Fall Apart<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think Achebe\u2019s words perfectly highlight art\u2019s role in fostering common understanding across wildly different cultural lines.<\/p>\n

But while it\u2019s one thing to read a book depicting a different culture from the comfort of your home, it\u2019s another thing entirely to read it in an educational setting.<\/p>\n

The opportunity to connect literature to its real-life inspiration is what I personally find so exciting about the Summer in London program.<\/p>\n

One of the classes I\u2019m taking through the program is \u201cJane Austen in London\u201d \u2014 and part of the class will be visits to neighborhoods that Austen actually wrote about, according to USF World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These educational excursions will allow me to engage with the country\u2019s culture more deeply than if I were simply vacationing there or reading one of Austen\u2019s novels from home.<\/p>\n

And even if you\u2019re not taking literature classes, USF\u2019s study abroad programs are still designed with cultural education in mind \u2014 particularly through art.<\/p>\n

Other Summer in London classes still involve a number of excursions to famous British landmarks \u2014 including Shakespeare\u2019s Globe Theatre<\/a> and The British Museum<\/a>, according to the program\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visiting these landmarks in a classroom setting helps students better appreciate and understand their significance.<\/p>\n

Still, studying abroad \u2014 despite providing immense educational value \u2014 simply isn\u2019t feasible for every student.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with the possibility of receiving scholarships to help offset costs, many students have preexisting responsibilities that prevent them from committing to an extended trip.<\/p>\n

Luckily, immersing yourself in another culture doesn\u2019t begin and end with studying abroad.<\/p>\n

USF\u2019s Tampa campus has a ton of cultural clubs that host frequent events \u2014 such as the Black Student Union<\/a>, Asian Students in America<\/a> and Club De Espa\u00f1ol<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: OPINION: Cultural clubs create connection and belonging at USF<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, ASiA hosted its 9th annual pageant <\/a>earlier this month, and sophomore computer engineering major Yasir Hussain attended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hussain said the pageant was a talent show featuring student performances representative of their country of origin \u2014 including singing, dancing and even art pieces.<\/p>\n

Although I was unable to attend the pageant, my friends and I have been to some of ASiA\u2019s events in the past and really enjoyed them.<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s fall 2024 banquet, which I did attend, was a multi-hour celebration with free food, music and dance performances spanning a variety of Asian countries.<\/p>\n

The countless cultural events hosted on the Tampa campus offer the chance to experience other cultures\u2019 art for free.<\/p>\n

So, although studying abroad offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture, there are many great alternatives right here on campus.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m so incredibly glad I will be studying abroad in London this summer, and I hope to learn about the city\u2019s art and culture in the process.<\/p>\n

My parents are probably just glad I waited until I was an adult to go. If we had gone when I was a kid, I definitely would\u2019ve wanted to spend the entire trip at Peppa Pig World<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critically engaging with other cultures and their art makes us more curious and empathetic \u2013 and USF encourages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-249550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}