Megan Thum knows where beer is cheaper than water.

She has seen a concentration camp.

She’s visited a place where the sun didn’t set until 10 p.m.

She traveled to Paris from Belgium in a little more than an hour.

And she did it all through Loyola’s Study Abroad program.

Thum, psychology senior, is one of the many students who took advantage of the program last summer.

She stayed in Leuven, Belgium with several members of the Loyola community for the month of July.

“I thought it sounded like fun,” Thum said. “I needed to take a philosophy course to graduate, and I had been thinking about studying abroad for awhile. It was kind of weird at first. The culture is pretty different from America’s.”

Ward Davison, a communications senior who visited Leuven with Thum, also had to adjust to the different culture he encountered in Belgium.

When he ordered a hamburger, he could never be sure it was 100 percent beef.

He learned to tip bartenders at the end of the night instead of with every drink.

And, although most Leuven natives spoke English, the menus were usually written in Dutch.

“It was tough to order in restaurants. Most of the time you could just point to what you wanted,” Davison said. “Sometimes, though, we had to make chicken or pig noises so that the waiter would know what we wanted.”

Davison said he enjoyed the many sights Belgium had to offer. Leuven, which is one hour south of Holland, is near many historic sights.

He went to festivals, which are common in Belgium, and even visited Charlemagne’s castle.

“It was a really good experience,” Davison said. “I had never been to Europe before, and I figured it was a good time to go. The trip was awesome.”

Jillian Esnes, physics senior agreed with Davison. She has attended the summer abroad program twice, traveling once to Ireland and once to Belgium.

In Ireland, Esnes stayed in Dublin. She took classes in Irish literature and spirituality, and even learned some Irish slang.

Although the Irish speak English, it took most of their stay for Esnes and her friends to translate the sometimes confusing vernacular.

Esnes was also able to take a bus tour of Belfast, where she witnessed signs of the turmoil between the Irish Catholics and Protestants.

Hostility between the two religions was obvious as she and her friends took in the layout of the city.

“It was always in the news so we always knew what was going on between the two groups,” she said. “You couldn’t really forget, anyway. Everywhere there were murals about the fight. One block was Catholic, the next Protestant in Belfast.”

Guides instructed the students not to stay out late or talk about religion in public.

A group of British militia even followed them home from dinner one night to protect them.

Despite the safety issues, Esnes did not want to leave Ireland when the visit was over.

So, when the next summer rolled around, she decided to travel again.

Belgium was different for Esnes because it was on the European continent, which made travel easier.

During her visit, she went to Amsterdam, London, Paris and Rome.

She said she had some surprising reunions in her travels.

“When we were in Paris, we met up with the Loyola study abroad program there,” Esnes said. “We missed the students in London due to scheduling conflicts, but we ran into a bunch of them in Rome. Loyola was all over the place.”

Rachel Saunders chose to attend a summer semester in Spain because it was convenient.

Because she is a Spanish major, many of her professors had encouraged her to study in a Spanish-speaking country.

However, in order to graduate on time she could not leave for an entire semester.

A month, she said, was not too short for her to gain a full appreciation of the Spanish culture.

Saunders, now a senior, stayed in Avila, Spain.

While she was there, she gained knowledge and independence that she had not possessed before.

“At first, I was scared to talk to people,” Saunders said. “But no one spoke English, so I was forced to. I definitely got a better handle on the language in Avila. By the end, I was going up to people and trying to make conversation with them.”

Thum expected to have some fun and get credits for school.

But, she said, studying abroad gave her much more than that.

“I learned about a whole other culture,” Thum said. “Belgium is a place where people relax. It’s OK to sit back and people-watch. In America, we rush around a lot. It definitely taught me the benefits of taking it easy once in awhile.”

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