Students from all over the world come to Columbia, yet many Columbians are also eager to get away. The Office of Global Programs hosted their annual Study Abroad Fair on Friday. Students gathered in Lerner Hall to get information about studying abroad in one of over 65 nations, including featured programs in Kyoto, Berlin, Paris and Beijing.

Mason Fitch, Columbia College class of 2012, hopes to study abroad next semester, but this won't be his first time abroad. 

"I studied in Beijing, China as part of the 'Columbia in Beijing' program. I studied the summer after my freshman year...I studied Chinese during my freshman year, so this was a chance to get ten credits in a short period of time and to really improve my Chinese skills."

One of students' main reservations when applying to study abroad is the culture gap between living in the United States and another nation. Mason shares his particular experience studying in Beijing.

"It's pretty obvious that you're a foreigner because China has such a concrete culture. But they're very welcoming; you can go out to dinner with them, you can talk to people on the streets, you can go out to bars and you never really feel uncomfortable. You might feel out of place, but you don't feel uncomfortable."

Columbia has one of the most diverse campuses in the world and this exposure to cultures may play a large role in how students adapt to living in other nations.

"I don't think there's a huge amount of culture shock just because everyone I met was very welcoming."

Though Columbia brings the cultures of the world to campus, sometimes it is just better to go out and discover them for yourself.