Want to study abroad? Planning to study abroad? Then you should come to the Journalism Study Abroad Fair.
 
Friday, September 2nd 
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 
Palmer Reception Room (Reynolds Journalism Institute, 100)

At the fair you will have the opportunity to speak to past program participants in each program and to meet the illustrious International Programs staff who can answer any and all questions you may have about studying abroad. 

As if that weren't enough motivation, we will also be holding a drawing for the following prizes:

• Two Amazon Kindles
• One $1,000 study abroad scholarship 
• Two $500 study abroad scholarships

For more information please visit the brand new MU Journalism Abroad website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. 

Hope to see you there!

This article by the Independent Traveler breaks down the best way to carry your cash, use credit cards and debit/ATM cards while abroad:

The Best Way to Carry Money Overseas

In July, the German Embassy invited 13 students from top journalism schools around the United States for a 10-day tour of the country’s media, political and industrial landscape. The Missouri School of Journalism chose Camille Phillips, Branson, Mo., and Stefan Bellm, Nixa, Mo., to represent the school in Germany.

The tour highlighted the importance of U.S.-German relations and offered the students the opportunity to meet with German politicians, tour German media outlets and develop professional contacts with both young American and German journalists.

The tour began in Munich, where students met with the international editor of Germany’s largest newspaper the Suddeutsche Zeitung. They also visited the Bavarian State Chancellery and the BMW factory, as well as touring the studios of a public youth radio station On3.

“The trip allowed us to see differences between German and American media and politics,” Bellm said. “We also learned about Germany’s commitment to renewable energy and its plan to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022.”

Phillips appreciated the differences but questioned whether American practices might better facilitate the development of online media.

“A desire to keep private news agencies competitive has led to limiting public broadcasting to using no more than one percent of their budget on online content, and prevents public broadcasting websites from archiving their work past seven days,” Phillips said. “While I can appreciate the viewpoint of private news agencies that don't have the benefit of steady funding, I'm not sure it would be worth the trade-off of limiting what my organization could do online.”

In Berlin the students visited the German Bundestag, the national parliament, where they met with a representative from the foreign affairs council. They also visited the German Federal Chancellery, the Federal Foreign Office and several media outlets. The students also visited the headquarters of Solon, a global leader in solar panel technology.

“We really wanted to give participants the opportunity to mix and mingle with like-minded people in Germany in order to let them create a network they can use after the short trip is over and that may be helpful later in their career,” said Kristina Jonek, deputy spokesperson for the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. “We therefore organized get-togethers with German journalism students and leading journalists of major news organizations.”

By Stefan Bellm

After a dozen or so trips back and forth between Europe and heaps of travel within Europe, I am a true hunter when it comes to finding the most economical or most convenient way to travel.

I say hunt because it is no game: it’s more of an obsession.

So here are my suggestions for booking both air and train travel abroad.

Transatlantic/International Airfare
So you need to buy the ticket that will get you abroad. This is generally the biggest expense and should always be booked in advance. Here’s how I go about that search

1.    Kayak - I always start my search here because Kayak is a search aggregator. So it searches all the major airlines’ sites, as well as myriad other search engines to try and help find the best price. This gives me a gauge of what I can expect to pay.

2.    Student Universe - Next, I check Student Universe. This is a site that offers specific fares for students (and educators) with a verifiable university email address. Generally, not as many airlines offer student fares, and they may or may not be any cheaper than what you find on Kayak. Also, Student Universe is run by Orbitz, so you may also want to check there if you feel the prices aren’t that good.

3.    STA Travel - This is another student-fare site. Instead of needing a university email for verification, you need an ISIC (International Student Identity Card), which costs $22. Any person under 26 can get one of these cards and qualify for the discounted airfares.

The benefit to using STA Travel is their “Exclusive Tickets,” which allow greater flexibility than most tickets. This is great if you are studying abroad and/or are unsure of your return date. Personally, I have purchased one of these tickets and only had to pay $100 to change the return date.

4.    Bing Travel - This is a great site to check if you think you might be jumping the gun on getting the best price. They estimate based on previous fare histories whether the fare will go up or down. Generally though, international travel is best booked at least a month in advance.

Generally, you will have a good idea of what the best price is after conducting searches at these four sites. However, remember traveling on Tuesday-Thursday does usually save a bit. Also, if you have flexibility with airports, check those other options.

I have also had luck on Shermans Travel, Orbitz, and Travelocity—and I may search a dozen other, but I can’t say I’ve purchased much outside of those I’ve just listed.

European Travel

I can’t speak to Asia or South America because I don’t know the system there, but if you are traveling in Europe, you will almost certainly be taking a train or plane to see another city in Europe.

Planes - Low-cost airlines are popping up all over Europe and offer insanely low fares to and from many of the great “must-see” cities. Ryanair is probably the most well known of these airlines. I have booked a round-trip ticket for €20 from Brussels to Milan. Now, I wanted to buy some Belgian beer at duty-free to bring to my friend. This was a dilemma because the beer did not fit in my duffle bag that they made me stuff into one of those tiny frames. I had to either go return the beer or pay an additional €25 to check my bag.

I am a pretty savvy traveler and easy-going when it comes to the rigmarole of the whole process, but Ryanair seems to keep adding ways to trick its customers into having to shell out extra euros here and there. Not to mention, Ryanair operates out of airports that are generally not extremely close to the cities to which you’re traveling. For example, in Belgium you fly out of Brussels-Charleroi (Charleroi is one hour from Brussels), and in Milan, you arrive in Bergamo (one hour from Milan). So you pay another €10-15 to go to and from these remote airports.

EasyJet is Ryanair’s main competitor and often operates out of the main airports. This seems to be more convenient and economical. To see a more comprehensive list of low-cost travel in Europe, check out Wikitravel's list of airlines and destinations.

Trains - Trains are a great way to get around Europe. In many cases they are also more comfortable than planes. The huge bonus with trains is that they put you right in the heart of the city. No need to bus or taxi long distances to be right in the middle of the action.

I recently did some big train travel in Europe. Milan to Venice (2.5 hours), Venice to Munich (7 hours), and Berlin to Brussels (7 hours). With these trips, I contemplated whether to book online or just purchase them at a ticket kiosk or counter once I’m there.

I ended up booking the tickets online, but with my last leg—Berlin to Brussels—I booked the day before and ended up paying much more than had I done it several days or weeks earlier. Also, if you book at the counter, you will pay something like €5 more than if you do it yourself at a Kiosk or online.

Also, if you are a super planner and need to have the tickets in your hand before you leave for Europe, Rail Europe allows you to book your tickets and sends them to your door. They do not, however, do e-tickets, so be aware of this when you book. Also, all the major rail companies allow you to book online and issue e-tickets, like SNCF in France, Deutsche Bahn in Germany, Trenitalia in Italy, etc. It’s worth comparing the prices on the different countries’ websites if you are traveling from Italy to France for example by train.

These are just a few suggestions for booking travel in Europe. There are of course, many many options for traveling. If you have any questions, let us know!

In May, MU Journalism Abroad's Danny Matteson traveled to Washington D.C. along with other MU journalism students Emoke Bebiak and Yarna Klimchak. The group conducted interviews and produced the video series "100 Questions About Islam." 

Check out the following article to learn more about Danny's work with the series:
Missouri Journalism Students Collaborate with United Nations and British Council to Release the Video Series "100 Questions About Islam"

The entire video series can be found at the following sites:
Vimeo: 100 Questions About Islam
YouTube: 100 Questions About Islam