While yes, Mexico is a foreign country, most ASU students can admit its practically a second home for them. So when students brag of summer adventures abroad, and that abroad is Mexico, few are impressed.
Then there are students who actually go abroad for the summer. We're talking about really foreign countries, ones where you won't run into other drunken ASU students around every corner and in every jail cell. Countries where Bud Light is not served.
While many dream to exercise this kind of wanderlust for the summer, Caren Plummer, a 2007 ASU Alumna, makes perfectly clear the real road block to international free-wheeling.
"I would love to," Plummer says of going abroad, "but I do this thing called work."
Here is the eternal struggle between fun and cash flow.
Some students are finding a way around this, by combining international flights of fancy with work.
Laura Villevieille, a marketing sophomore, spent last summer in Paris, France in an internship at an accounting office.
Villevieille applied at the beginning of the year for the summer internship and had an easier time than some since she is a French citizen (though born in the U.S., Villevieille's parents are both French citizens thus granting her citizenship as well).
Villevieille, whose first language is French, says she had to learn some Italian as well since the company she was with mostly dealt with Italian businesses based in France.
Villevieille was paid the standard French internship rate of 400 (approximately $630) a month during her internship.
"I was working 40 hour weeks, so the per hour base was pretty much close to nothing," Villevieille says. "Also, it didn't help that I was living in Paris, where living on a budget is practically impossible."
STA Travel, a travel agency specifically geared toward college students and conveniently located in the Memorial Union, offers students who want to get a job abroad but don't know how help in getting out of the country with a job plan. That is, if they want to work in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom.
STA offers programs from simply getting students a work visa and providing the support of somewhere to stay to actually placing students in a job.
"Our most popular work abroad program is the 'Be a barkeep at a pub.' " Amanda Webb, the corporate communications coordinator for STA, says in an email.
Of course, work visas can be obtained without a middleman as well, just don't expect to find a job overseas very easily.
Many summer jobs, such as English-speaking tour guides, normally fill up months in advance, leaving little room for work-seeking students. Not to mention the market is rough for foreigners, especially in the European Union, where hiring foreigners can be difficult for employers.
For those interested in going at it alone, contacting the embassies of countries they wish to visit for information on work visa requirements is recommended. Every country has different requirements for work visas, some more strict than others.
Those who wish to travel internationally, but don't necessarily want or need a job, have an option of volunteering on programs abroad.
While students won't be making any money, and in fact will be spending sometimes thousands of dollars to participate, they get the satisfaction of helping others while seeing the world. Also, they might have an easier time getting help paying for the trip than if they're just funding a booze cruise.
"You are not just paying to volunteer," Webb says of STA's own international volunteer programs, "But also to support your flights, accommodations, 24 hour emergency support, orientation and training. When you factor in these necessities, the cost is rather minimal."
STA sends around 135 students a year on work and volunteer projects according to Webb, who says the most popular STA volunteer program is work with lion cubs in South Africa.
There are a wide variety of projects available, from sea turtle conservation in Greece to working with tribal communities in India. Just make sure to check the duration of the trip.
They aren't all confined to summertime, and some can last up to a year, such as training to become a safari field guide in South Africa.
When given the option of working in a pub in London, or with sea turtles in Greece, plans for yet another summer trip to Puerto Peñasco suddenly seem less exciting.
Reach the reporter at: lana.burke@asu.edu.
