UMSL business students Nicole Rushlow (left) and Nesmira Muratovic (right) studied international business abroad this summer in Bremen, Germany, with Elizabeth Vining, assistant teaching professor and international business coordinator.

Nicole Rushlow, a senior business administration major at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, got down to business this summer in Bremen, Germany, as part of the UMSL Study Abroad program.

“I have always wanted to travel, so it’s a good thing I’m studying international business,” Rushlow said.

She was one of 16 UMSL students who attended classes this summer at Hochschule Bremen, a partner school with UMSL. Elizabeth Vining, assistant teaching professor and international business coordinator, and Joseph Rottman, international business director, headed the program. Two classes ran from July 8 to Aug. 1: “Doing Business in the European Union” taught by Vining and “Information Systems 2800” taught by Rottman.

“I took assistant teaching professor Vining’s course,” Rushlow said. “For our final project we examined the outcomes and consequences of a local company conducting business from inside and outside the EU. That in-person experience is irreplaceable and can’t really be replicated in a classroom back home.”

Not only did Rushlow learn a great deal, but she also got herself a few credits closer to graduation this December. And the best part is that UMSL tuition prices translated over, so it didn’t cost any extra to study abroad, an experience that Vining deems essential.

“The more students are aware of the world they live in and how to conduct business in it effectively, the more successful they will be in their careers,” Vining said. “When a student is able to study abroad, he or she is able to experience firsthand and adapt naturally to cultural differences. Most students say studying abroad changes the way they look at the world and their place in it.”

When Rushlow wasn’t studying, she and her friends were able to take side trips. They visited Wolfsburg, Germany and Amsterdam, where they took canal tours of the city and saw the Anne Frank House. They also went to Cuxhaven, a German island in the North Sea only accessible on foot during low tide.

“It was amazing how the island transformed, and where there was once land, was now only sea,” Rushlow said. “Suddenly you were just surrounded by water. It was beautiful.”