“I grew tremendously as a person,” says senior Amelia Tirey
March 2025 – Drew University student Amelia Tirey C’25 looks back on her time abroad in Austria as an affirming experience.
After working with Drew’s Center for Global Education to find the perfect study abroad fit, Tirey was accepted into IES Abroad’s program in Vienna focused on European society and culture.
“I grew tremendously as a person,” said Tirey, a history major and political science minor. “With this being the first time I ever left the country, traveling all the way across the Atlantic by myself to a country where I didn’t really speak the language, I grew and adapted like I never have before. I grew much more independent and confident in myself.”
Tirey took five courses with professors from Austria and other European countries. Most of the classes all excursions built into the coursework, allowing for Tirey to travel to places like the Wien Museum depot and the Social Democratic Archives.
Tirey thinks of her semester abroad as a “test run” for potentially pursuing a life in Europe after college.
It was a test she passed.
“It proved that I can handle these big life changes. I put myself in new, foreign, and uncomfortable situations and thrived in them.”
