In the next few weeks, college students studying abroad this fall will start packing bags and shipping out. Vaccinations, guidebooks, visas and nervous excitement most likely dominate their days. But their ranks are thin: Fewer than a quarter-million students will likely go abroad this year, less than half of the number of foreign students the U.S. will receive.

Part of the problem rests in culture. "Why would I leave? This is the greatest country on earth," a friend from Texas said a few months back, his girlfriend pestering him about whether he had considered joining her in Spain.

Part of the problem stems from the weak dollar. I spent the days leading up to Christmas last year with a friend just home from studying at the London School of Economics. Although he's from a middle class family, he had found himself beyond strapped for cash. He was printing off readings for the spring semester for free at our college rather than paying close to 10 cents per page in London. "Dude, it's like getting hit for 10 bucks every time you have a hundred page reading. You have any idea how fast that adds up?" Another friend studying in Europe suggested that he had become a proper petty thief.

And part of the problem lies with the opportunities extended to those considering going abroad. They're faced with a fairly clear-cut choice: Go as long-term tourists, hanging out almost exclusively with fellow Americans and drinking more than studying, or immerse themselves in what many consider outright dangerous adventures.

I'm not suggesting going abroad shouldn't be fun; it should be. There's nothing wrong with foreign bars and brews — sometimes you can learn more over three beers than you can in three months of class. But going abroad shouldn't be a blur, as it seems to have become for many young Americans traveling to Barcelona, Prague and other "hotspots."

Going to Africa, the Middle East or even Latin America can be intimidating for those who haven't traveled to the regions before, and, more often than not, American students take the conservative road. Nearly 70 percent of students abroad end up in Europe, and while many take advantage of rails to see a good portion of the continent, few take steps to move beyond being tourists.

On less beaten paths, students will find more interaction with locals. It's easier to work or at least pick up unpaid internships, which often allow students to put their hands on far more meaningful work than they'd ever see in an American operation. Seeing the inside of international businesses and NGOs also affords a rarely seen avenue to understanding how governments, people and policy work.

Experiences abroad shouldn't be counted as only meaningful for those hoping to move into the fields of economics and politics. Spanish has become a crucial skill for educators, police and healthcare workers. A semester of living immersed in Latin America may be worth several years of studying in a classroom.

The American 21st century will likely be as defined by our own innovation as it will be by our capacity to interact and learn from the world around us. As this energy crisis takes grip of the global economy, for instance, many versed in the field find themselves looking toward Brazil, whose careful work to integrate ethanol over the past three decades has left them far less vulnerable to the oil industry's turbulence, and toward those foreign regulations that have effectively moved the market to produce alternative energy technologies.

This will be a generation more global — this much has been overstated by the media and globalization-ists already. Being competitive in the coming century will require understanding the field of play. It will no longer be enough for our government to be aware of and versed in global happenings. Consumers, business people and those seeking to improve America from within will need to look outside our borders for models, inhibiting factors and signs of what the future holds.

It's information like this, and the capacity to find and process information like this, that one can't find on the third night of a bender in Amsterdam.

The title: The split between men and women studying abroad is surprising. Consistently females make up close to 65 percent of those studying abroad, leaving men comprising little more than a third of the population. Statistics are courtesy of the Institute of International Education.

Brian Till can be contacted at brian.m.till@gmail.com. To find out more about the author and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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