July 15, 2011

Two Shawnee State University students are going to study at universities in Germany and Morocco this year as exchange students.

Audrey Howard, of Portsmouth, has been to Germany twice before and looks forward to traveling – without a car. In Europe, with public transportation in abundance throughout the countries, it is easier to travel. In high school, she hosted a student from Austria and wants to travel there to visit her. She will be in Ludwigsburg, Germany at the University of Education Ludwigsburg for a year.

"I look forward to not having a car and all the expenses that go with having a car," Howard said.

Howard is studying sociology and criminology at SSU.

Jasmin Tilford, of Cincinnati, International Relations major at SSU, will be going to Ifrane, Morocco to Alakhawayn University.

"I look forward to breaking out of my comfort zone and to the overall experience," Tilford said. "I'll be learning and meeting a lot of different people and I look forward to that too."

Tilford's long-term goal is working in Haiti and third world countries. She is planning to write her senior seminar paper about Haiti.

Both Tilford and Howard plan to travel to as many countries as they can while there. They are both the first ones in their families to study abroad.

"The high schools in Germany require students to study abroad somewhere even if it is a month long," Howard said. "When I get back I have to do a presentation so I am doing one on that."