By Maya Zamora, Reporter

Edited by Ellie Perkins, Editor

Berry College reopened its study abroad program in the fall of 2021 with heavy travel and health
restrictions. Students were required to be vaccinated and tested anytime they traveled. By fall of
2022 most of the restrictions were lifted, which led to an increased interest in study abroad.

Junior Grace Lawrence studied abroad the summer of 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. At the time of
her trip, South Korea had an indoor and outdoor mask mandate.

“Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt like I was prepared and comfortable for studying
abroad in Korea with the COVID-19 restrictions,” said Lawrence.

A year later, COVID-19 protocols changed internationally, which meant the study abroad
experience was different for those who studied after Lawrence.

In the spring of 2023, Senior Railey Borman studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain. While Spain had
COVID-19 restrictions for public transportation and hospitals when she first arrived, the
restrictions were lifted within the first month of her trip.

After three semesters of the study abroad program being closed, and two more with travel
restrictions, the program started to see a significant increase in student interest in study abroad.
Students who studied abroad shared their experience, which led other students to show interest in
study abroad.

“Study abroad spreads word of mouth at Berry,” Berry College’s Director of International
Experiences, Dr. Elizabeth Davis said.

Interest in studying abroad increased in other schools as well, which made traveling more
expensive. Berry students have seen the effects of the increased interest in study abroad with the
increased cost for air fare and groceries in their host countries. Dr. Davis said that air fares had
been hit the most.

“The increase in travel has led to air fares pricing being almost double of what it was before,” Dr.
Davis said.

While air fare has been hit the most, Borman said that the price of everyday items were more
expensive than she had been told to expect.

“People said that traveling in Europe is very cheap and the pricing when I got there was more
expensive than I thought,” Borman said.

The increase in cost to study abroad was not the only thing affected by COVID-19. The amount
of processing time required to get a passport was too. The pandemic caused the processing time
to double. In 2019 the standard processing time for a passport was six to eight weeks, with the
processing time being eight to 11 weeks in 2023.

Even with how study abroad has changed from COVID-19, students have not been deferred from
studying abroad. 160 students studied abroad the summer of 2023 with Summer International
Programs, which is Berry’s most popular study abroad program.

Though COVID-19 caused price increase and longer processing times for passports, Berry
Students have had a continued interest in study abroad.

“COVID-19 did not stop me from enjoying my experience, it actually allowed me to dive into
the Korean culture of mask that has been around for years,” Lawrence