As COVID-19 restraints become less intense, domestic and international travel have resumed and so has studying abroad. But the Education Abroad Office has yet to see pre-COVID-19 applicant numbers.

The Regensburg, Germany, semester study abroad program is one of the longest standing study abroad opportunities offered to students, dating back nearly 30 years. The Education Abroad Office has extended the application deadline for the fall 2023 program to March 1. 

“Historically, our [Regensburg abroad trip] cap has been around 25 students, and we’d normally gotten around 18 to 20 students before,” said Education Abroad Office Coordinator Rebecca Wylie. “Coming after COVID-19 … we’re not surprised that the semester programs are taking a little bit longer to get back up to where we were.”

The study abroad application was extended to give students more time to finish their applications and ensure full class and faculty availability on the Regensburg trip. 

Nine students are still working on their applications, and two more applicants are needed for all of the intended classes to be taught, Wylie said. 

“Students will spend the first six weeks of the program doing intensive language courses, so they’re going to be taking German with a lot of other international students, with your Murray people,” Wylie said.

After the first six weeks, students will have a week-long Fall Break, and then the Murray State faculty will arrive and start teaching classes.

The fall 2023 Regensburg trip will offer University studies and other courses such as art, biology,  engineering, history and honors. 

Beyond the course opportunities, Regensburg, Germany is in close proximity to many central European travel destinations. 

“We encourage students to get out and travel, get a train ticket and go to a different country because … you’re able to travel in Europe so easily,” Wylie said.

Assistant Professor of English Ray Horton was part of the fall 2022 Regensburg study abroad trip. This was Horton’s first time traveling abroad since traveling to Ireland during his senior year as an undergraduate student.

On returning to Europe, Horton says he enjoyed the ability to travel easily.

 “Our schedules are designed to kind of facilitate individual travel, so we had a few students who went to Vienna, a few students who went to Venice, who passed on Prague,” Horton said. “I think one person went to Switzerland at one point and Brussels.  “Everything’s so accessible in Central Europe. It’s pretty easy to get anywhere by train and relatively inexpensive.” 

Along with independent travel for the students and faculty, every Thursday was an excursion day. The 2022 program offered four excursions: Nuremberg, Berlin, Munich and Bamberg, Germany. 

“You could spend 10 weeks exploring Regensburg by itself, but there were so many opportunities for the whole group to get out and around and see more of Germany,” Horton said. 

For students who might be overwhelmed by traveling abroad, Horton says he found Regensburg to be one of the most inviting study abroad programs to  take students out of their comfort zones and help them become accustomed to a different culture and language. 

“I went to Ireland right when I was an undergraduate,” Horton said. ”Everybody speaks English there. I wouldn’t have to worry about adjusting to a new language. I barely spoke and still barely speak any German. If you learn enough German to kind of find your way around the train station or to ask somebody for help, then you are well off.” 

Senior creative writing major Abigail Moore traveled with the fall 2022 Regensburg study abroad group. Moore says she was attracted to the program because she has family who are from Regensburg, Germany.

“There were a lot of other people in the program who had German ancestry,” Moore said. “You can get in touch with your roots, which is fun.”

During her time abroad, Moore went to Venice and Florence, Italy for Fall Break. Similar to Horton, Moore said she enjoyed how easy it was to travel. 

Before setting off for Regensburg, Moore checked what scholarships were offered and the affordability of the program. As a Pell Grant recipient, Moore received the Gilman scholarship and said it made her idea of traveling abroad into a reality. 

“I got $4,000, which is indispensable,” Moore said. “I mean, if you need financial assistance, like studying abroad, then there are great options. If you’re a Pell Grant recipient, and you think, ‘I can never study abroad,’ that’s not true.”

Fall 2022 study abroad students experienced a scholarship delay, which forced some students to set up payment plans instead of being able to rely on their scholarships. The scholarship application process is now part of the overall study abroad application. 

“We have been changing our process,” Wylie said. “So we have moved our scholarship application in house, so it’s in our [racersabroad.via-trm.com] application system, the same place where the students apply for the program. It gives us a little bit more control of when we’re able to review the applications and send them out to our committees.” 

Students interested in having a semester in Regensburg, Germany can learn more about the program at murraystate.edu/studyabroad. The application closes on March 1.

“My time abroad has definitely made me see America in a different way—just differently, you know, not necessarily better or worse,” Moore said. “Getting to experience and live in a different culture for four months is definitely a transformative experience.”