Abroad without study

Why I took flight in the middle of a semster 

Elizabeth Suggs | Staff Writer | [email protected]

If someone gave you the option to go anywhere in the world, but you had to miss a week and a half of class to take the trip, would you do it? In a world where life is based on technology, where most homework is done online, why couldn’t this trip be done?

I asked myself that same question before this semester. Only, that someone giving me the option to go anywhere was me. Was it smart? The question has a divided answer and depends solely on how it’s carried out.

For me, I knew the trip would happen before I registered for classes. This gave me the opportunity to email professors before and plan accordingly.

Yet emailing my professors wasn’t enough. During classes prior to my trip, the stress to get ahead was so great that it overtook my life.

Students, like Kelsie Dekarver, a freshman at UVU, don’t think the stress is worth it.

“Even if I asked my teachers before, I wouldn’t,” Dekarver said. “It would be too easy to fall behind.”

Fellow UVU student Abby Kent agreed with Dekarver.

“Once I just missed three days from a class,” Kent said. “I fell behind. (It) really messed things up.”

Unlike most students, I didn’t care if I fell behind. There were certain assignments I couldn’t finish, and I either fell behind on those or had to work on them during my trip. So, was it worth it?

“I’m paying for my classes,” said Emily Wilson, a UVU student. “If I want to go to class it should be my choice.”

Is it wise to choose to take a trip during class when the university gives you time off? Surely, there would have to be a specific reason for taking the risk of failing all classes.

“My family lives in Maryland,” Wilson said. “I go there for about a week, sometimes during school.”

Some of the best trips are taken during a time when real life isn’t stressful. This is why many travel during summer or winter vacation. It makes sense, but what happens after school when all that’s left is work? In order to take a trip, one has to take time off from work.

There will always be something else that has to be done. There will always be something your boss needs fixed or worked on. What makes taking a trip during class so much different?

Stress is always involved in a vacation, at least for those planning it. Leaving on a trip to meet people you never would have met before or see places you would have never seen is worth all the stress and the money.

“The best trip I had was to Hawaii,” Wilson said. “But it made me miss the last day of finals.”

Traveling takes risk, whether the risk is a foreign country or it’s missing school. Risk builds character. Gaining character to see the world is an unbeatable experience, and isn’t that what life is all about?

Coming back to class and making things up has been difficult. Things from previous semesters – like skipping on an assignment or on class – now don’t fly, but I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I’m willing to do for the things I love. What are you willing to do?