The Webster program allows two Missouri Southern students to study in the Netherlands.

Joshua Estep, senior computer information science major, and Brande Davis, junior international business and Spanish major, spent eight weeks studying at the Webster University of the Netherlands.

Estep and Davis left Jan. 8 and returned March 8.

While there, they took classes in human rights, psychology, economics, marketing, international politics and computer information technology.

This trip was possible because of an agreement between Southern and Webster University that allows students to study at any of the Webster University campuses scattered around the globe.

Davis found out about the trip one week before the application deadline from one of her business instructors. She was immediately interested in the destination for a number of reasons.

“I had traveled internationally before, and I guess I had the travel bug again,” she said. “I wanted to go some place different. I’d never been to Europe before, and I was excited that I could travel through the business department.”

Estep was interested in the Netherlands because of the lack of a language barrier.

“I was interested just to go, and I knew that they speak a lot of English there,” he said. “The English made it easier, but I went there just to see if I could do it.”

Estep said all of the people he came in contact with spoke English because all of the students are required to study it as a second language.

Both Estep and Davis had traveled internationally with the help of the College before. Estep studied in Costa Rica during the summer of 2001, and Davis spent a semester in Chile in the fall of 2001.

This trip was different from their other travel abroad experiences because of the small number of students from Southern and the large amount of unstructured free time.

“We were on our own in the Netherlands,” Estep said, “In Costa Rica, we were with one of Southern’s programs, and there were activities set out for us.”

Davis thinks it would have been helpful to have a guide direct students in their sightseeing.

“I didn’t have anybody to show me around,” she said. “When I was in Chile, a guy who had been there before led us around and took us to all of the major sites. I just keep thinking that I must have missed a lot in the Netherlands because I didn’t know what I was looking for.”

The culture of the Netherlands was different from anything Estep or Davis had ever encountered before.

“Everyone rides bikes,” Davis said. “There are bike lanes and street lights. You would see whole families biking together, moms with kids in front and behind. There are canals running through the cities, and I love the trains that can take you anywhere you want to go.”

Both students believe the trip was beneficial for them as people, not just as scholars.

“I realize that there’s a lot more going on than I knew about,” Estep said. “All of their questions made me learn a lot more about my own culture. It opens your eyes to all of the diversity and different opinions of all the people in the world. I recommend anyone who has the chance to travel outside of the U.S. at least once.”