The 19-year-old rising junior at Goucher College was shocked by the conditions she found when she went to South Africa earlier this year to study the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
For several days and nights, Laura Langberg lived with a family in a hut that had no indoor toilet and only one sink with running water.
“We met people who really have so little, and it really put our privilege into a sharp perspective. It was shocking,” the Southern California native said. “But we also met with a lot of doctors, and they have such a strong meaning with their lives. I think it inspired all of us to live with such purpose.”
The trip to Africa was ideal for a sociology and anthropology major such as Langberg. She had taken a class the previous semester to learn about the difficulty the language barrier creates in treating HIV/AIDS and mentally prepared herself to handle possible culture shock during the short time she was there.
But for students studying mathematics, it may be more beneficial to work in a classroom, Langberg said.
“Other majors, it is harder to fit in, and I think that wasn’t given full consideration,” she said.
“It’s really hard for students who study math to study abroad because you just learn things at a different pace.”
Aunaleah Husted, 20, a rising junior from Seattle, also studied HIV/AIDS in South Africa, spending three weeks there last winter. This school year she is headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, for a semester to get real-world experience for her sociology and anthropology major.
But as the U.S. economy and the value of the dollar plummet, Husted has been anxiously considering the cost of flights and is worried about how much the venture will set her back.
“It can be pretty scary,” she said. “I mean, gas prices here, even if you’re not going abroad, our economic situation is not ideal right now. It is stressful.
“But for most of the people coming to Goucher, it is their top priority, and I think they realize that to have that experience now is worth it.”
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