As college students, we are always told to take advantage of every opportunity given. One opportunity available through higher education that few of us get the ability to experience is the ability to study abroad. But junior, Alexis Kochel has had the opportunity to study abroad not only once in her life but now a second time!
Alexis is a junior Criminology Major here at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is currently studying abroad in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic for the 2017-2018 school year. As a junior in high school she studied abroad for a year in Germany.
While talking to Alexis she expressed a definite inclination towards foreign languages. Even though her mother is a high school German teacher, she says that she never really pushed the language onto her rather Alexis sought out German as an eighth grader. “I had to pick a language so I picked German just because I thought it was interesting.” Currently, she speaks German fluently but not perfectly. One of the things she is looking forward about her move to Prague is the ability to learn Czech and being able to practice German again, since it is the second language of the country.
The last time she traveled abroad she stayed with a host family. This time she will be staying in an apartment with different exchange students from all over the world.
She is most looking forward to meeting new people, learning about the different cultures of her roommates, touring the Czech Republic and surrounding countries. One of the things she enjoyed the most about her time spent in Germany was participating in the different cultural opportunities such as Oktober Fest, Carnival, learning about the government and experiencing the culinary dishes of the country.
When asked how she chose Prague, Alexis just laughed, “I knew I wanted to study abroad again during college and I heard about this scholarship being offered for students to travel to Prague and I went to the meeting, applied and got it, so why not.”
Best wishes to Alexis and her adventure to Prague!