Study Abroad Orientation for Summer and Fall 2020

Study Abroad Orientation for Summer and Fall 2020 Programs General Announcements

PUBLIC HEALTH ANNOUNCEMENTS! • • Make sure all routine vaccinations are up-to-date. • Student Health Services provides travel consults ($20 fee) Appointments: 715 -836 -5360 Discuss any CDC recommendations specific to your host country with your doctor!

What is UW-Eau Claire doing? COVID-19 (Coronavirus) How is the decision made to cancel a program? Have any programs been cancelled? What are the risks?

Non-USAC Programs We recommend you work through Fox World Travel, the UW System official travel agent. Airfare Considerations: Book through a Travel Agent USAC Programs We recommend you work through Frosch Travel, USAC’s official travel agent. All Programs We recommend you book through a travel agent and get travel insurance and tickets with a low change/cancellation fee.

Extended Deadline for Program Withdrawal with $125 UWEC Refund Monday, March 16 11: 59 pm

STAYING HEALTHY ABROAD

Scene 1 You take a prescription medication and brought enough with you for your full time abroad. Unfortunately, you left the bottles you weren’t using in a plastic bag under your desk, and your host mom thought it was garbage and threw it away. What do you do?

Have a plan AND a back-up plan for prescription medication. Contact Assist America, the emergency services branch of CISI Bring a doctor’s note explaining what the prescription is for, including the generic name of the medication. Take your U. S. doctor’s phone and fax numbers with you.

Scene 2 You are concerned about one of your friends on the program. They don’t seem very excited to be there, don’t participate in extra-curricular activities, and they spend a lot of time alone in their room. What might be happening? What do you do?

Talk to your UWEC study abroad coordinator before you go if you have questions about what support services are available at your host site.

Planning is also essential to sexual health abroad. Abstain Educate potential partners Go prepared STIs are everywhere!

SAFETY ABROAD

Responsible Alcohol Use http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=mo_49 X 7 B 53 o

If you choose to drink, do so in moderation watch your drink at all times.

SCENE 1 You and several others from your program go out to a club on a Saturday night. You notice one of your friends is hitting it off with a local person they just met. Later, your friend comes up to you and appears to be drunk, with slurred speech and hardly able to stand plan to leave with the new friend. What would you do?

Security Alert for Students Going to Spain issued February 3, 2020 by US Department of State The Spanish Ministry of Interior reports a steady increase in the number of sexual assaults nationally over the past five years. This includes a rise in sexual assault against young U. S. citizen visitors and students throughout Spain. U. S. citizen victims of sexual assault in Spain can find it very difficult to navigate the local criminal justice system, which differs significantly from the U. S. system. The U. S. Embassy and Consulate General urge U. S. citizen students and visitors to take precautions against sexual assault during their stay in Spain. https: //es. usembassy. gov/security-alert-u-smission-spain-february-3 -2020/

US State Department Recommendations • Drink responsibly. Do not consume beverages that have been out of your control. • Use the buddy system, and travel with a friend or a family member. • If you have been sexually assaulted, call 112 immediately. • Also, consider contacting a local attorney to help you navigate the criminal justice process and protect your rights. • The Embassy and Consulate General maintain a list of English-speaking attorneys. • For more information on what to expect, please visit our website. • Review the Safety and Security information on the Department of State’s Spain country information page as well as your personal security plans.

Scene 2 It is your last day in your host country, and you are in the country’s capital city. You are traveling home by yourself, flying out early in the afternoon. To make the most of your last few hours abroad, you go to visit a famous monument. It is relatively early in the morning; there a few people around, but not a lot.

Another solo visitor to the monument asks you to take his picture. You put your backpack down for a minute, and when you finish taking the picture, your backpack is gone. Looking around, you see a skinny teenage girl disappearing around the next corner, your backpack over her shoulder. Your passport, wallet, and phone are in the backpack. What do you do?

You yell, “Stop, thief!”, and run as fast as you can after the girl. The man whose picture you took sees what is happening and joins you in the chase. When you round the corner, you discover you are turning onto a narrow, empty street. You have cut the distance between you and the thief in half. The other person keeps sprinting after the thief, waving at you to follow. What do you do?

You continue running and catch up to the man helping you. The two of you are almost close enough to grab your backpack when the thief ducks around another corner. You skid around the corner behind her. . .

. . . and find yourself confronted by a large man holding a knife inches from your face. The man whose picture you took blocks the street from behind.

What could you have done differently? • It is your last day in your host country, and you are in the country’s capital city. You are traveling home by yourself, flying out early in the afternoon. To make the most of your last few hours abroad, you go to visit a famous monument. It is relatively early in the morning; there a few people around, but not a lot. • Another solo visitor to the monument asks you to take his picture. You put your backpack down for a minute, and when you finish taking the picture, your backpack is gone. Looking around, you see a skinny teenage girl disappearing around the next corner, your backpack over her shoulder. Your passport, wallet, and phone are in the backpack.

Questions?