The waning days before spring break are a time of intense griping for Harvard students. They complain, with reason, about the long, unvanquished winter, about mid-terms that block the light at the end of the tunnel, and about a break so short it's like sitting down to a meal only to get kicked out after the tapas.

There must be something bittersweet about all that pain, however, because there are Harvard students who, even now, are knocking back pints of Guinness in Dublin, watching funny mammals with pouches in Australia, and feeling the Cape breeze on their faces in South Africa. And most of them will graduate on time along with the rest of their class.

These lucky students went to second floor of the Office of Career Services (OCS) last fall, or perhaps last spring, researched programs, filled out a few applications, and without too many tears and rarely any blood, got credit for studying abroad.

For a variety of reasons, very few Harvard students study abroad for credit during their undergraduate years--no more than five percent based on an unofficial estimate.

This makes Harvard unique among liberal arts colleges--some of which even require their students to take time off. Why do most Harvard students spend four years in Cambridge?

Too Much to Lose

Many students interviewed describe their decision to study abroad as a decision involving many trade-offs. Not only do students have to leave an often a hard-won sense of community at Harvard for the unknown, but they also have to sacrifice time at a school that boasts amenities ranging from a dynamic location, sterling academics and amazing people.

"When you're at school, school is your world," says Latasha Edwards '00, an economics concentrator who spent last fall studying in Australia. "When you come back you realize how you've grown past certain things."

"It's a double-edged sword. It can kind of make you happy to come back, or make you realize that you're ready to make your break," she added.

Despite the mixed feelings Edwards describes, many returning students feel a sense of invigoration as a result of spending time away from Harvard. They leave because they feel restless and return more satisfied with their Harvard environs.

"The best thing about being abroad is that it has made me appreciate Harvard so much more," says Alexandra V. Schmitz '00, who is currently in Paris for the semester. "It is nice to take a break from everything because I know that I will get back to enjoy my senior year and take advantage of all of the things that we often take for granted at Harvard."

But there are things about the Harvard life that make students want to stay in Cambridge. Departing for a semester or a year could jeopardize students' position in extracurricular activities.

"It was hard to get back and realize that lots of friends were presidents of things, whereas I had cut off my commitments at the end of sophomore year," says Amy L. Beck `00, who worked at an internship in Paris during the fall term. "It was hard to see that I had in fact made sacrifices. I didn't feel particularly committed to anything."

Despite worries about being "passed over," a far greater concern voiced by nearly all of the students interviewed was the potential for being estranged from close friends or the Harvard community at large. They find the time abroad is yet another fight to develop networks of friends--like being a first-year all over again.

"I've missed my friends and been largely isolated from their contact," says Marie E. Hicks '00, who is currently spending the year at Oxford University in England. Hicks says she has been forced to communicate with Harvard friend mostly via e-mail, since telephone calls are cost-prohibitive.

"There is very little community here," writes London School of Economics student Cristopher I. Cowherd '00 in an e-mail message. "We're all so spread out that it becomes a chore to see friends."

Students studying in foreign cities say that adjusting to the social atmosphere abroad can demand an effort beyond that required by the close-knit community of American schools. Students at foreign schools are generally more independent of their Universities, socializing with friends they made before college.

But some students say these challenges opened their eyes to social opportunities that they wouldn't have found in Cambridge. At Oxford, for example, students in study abroad programs come from schools all over the U.S.

They "form a uniquely diverse sort of community united by a common experience," Hicks says.

"This is one of the things I would have missed most if I stayed at Harvard my junior year and interacted only with Harvard students, who seem to increasingly homogenize themselves into a sort of `Harvard student' mold as their college years go along," Hicks added.

Like Hicks, other students agreed that being abroad highlighted some of the downsides of the Harvard community.

"A lot of things that can be trivialized in the outside world are made to be a big deal at Harvard, such as academics or social problems, because we're in such a tight community," says Matthew S. Trent '00, who spent the fall studying in Amsterdam.

Since few Harvard students study abroad, students interviewed say the campus at large does not embrace the value of their foreign experiences. This creates a self-sustaining phenomenon--fewer students feel the need to leave, and ever fewer feel comfortable doing so.

"The main thing that I wish were different," Beck says, "was that there were so few people that went away. I have a lot of friends at other schools where a lot of people go away, and it's a much more common experience."

On the Outside, Looking In

One of the most compelling aspects of their time abroad was the way it changed their perception of Harvard, many students found.

"Studying this year in England has refreshed a lot of my outlook on Harvard, and has helped me assess our college's faults and virtues in a much more cogent, lucid way than if I had gotten progressively mired in Harvard for all of my four years," Hicks says.

Not only did Hicks and other students find that studying abroad catalyzed their personal re-examination of Harvard but they also came face to face with other people's perceptions of Harvard, and of Americans more generally.

"Spaniards have all heard of Harvard, and some say, `Oh, that's a really good school' or `You must be really smart,'" says Sarah H. Winkeller '00, who's spending the spring term studying at the Universidad de Sevilla.

"One guy, after finding out I went to Harvard, asked me to do his homework. When I said no, he said, `Come on, you must be so smart. You need to share the wealth,' and did not stop pestering me for about four days, when he finally realized I was not going to do his homework," Winkeller says.

Javier Casillas `00, who is also in Spain this spring, was particularly intrigued by the way many Spaniards perceive Americans.

"[One of the things] I found most interesting [is] what I can learn from people's opinions of Americans," Casillas writes. "Basically they are seen as crass, uncultured, imperialistic, materialistic and puritanical. However, they are also perceived as independent, hard-working and competent."

A Different Kind of Classroom

Whether they were navigating rain-forests in Australia or winding their way down 17th century staircases at Pantheon Sorbonne in Paris, all of the students who studied abroad were affected by their exposure to a very different kind of academic environment.

While many felt the rigor and involvement of Harvard academics was not replicated abroad, most were struck by how a change in the way they were learning complemented their Harvard experience.

Beck says instruction in Paris came from a different angle than at Harvard. "[Classes] were very doctrinaire. There was very little reading and tons of discussions and lectures," she says.

"It was very difficult to adjust in the beginning because I was comparing everything to Harvard standards, but after a while I saw the merits of both," Beck adds.

It seems the academic ball and chain was often unshackled on foreign shores.

"While this may sound awful, the teachers [at the London School of Economics] don't always feel the need to keep a flame under visiting students," Cowherd says. "They know that, for the most part, we're here to have fun and get away from home."

But if the torrent of tests, reading and papers at Harvard was reduced to a more manageable stream abroad, it may well have been because of a natural shift away from the classroom for students who studied abroad.

For Alexandra S. Mandelbaum '99, who took the unusual step of studying for credit over the summer in Cuba, this was certainly the case.

"[Classroom learning] wasn't the primary experience," Mandelbaum says. "I have a new perspective on poverty, the results of the cold war and American foreign policy, but it didn't change my classroom experience in any way."

Mandelbaum was only allowed to stay in Cuba for three weeks due to government regulations.

"The Cuban experience is very different because there is no acclimation," she says. "You're always a foreigner, and you'll always have lots of money."

David W. Lerch '99, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, stressed that time abroad is particu- larly important for students in certainconcentrations. The rainforests that Lerch studiedin Australia could not be replicated in Harvardlabs.

"The experience of living in the rainforest andlearning about ecology and plant species andtaking hikes was a lot different than sitting in aclassroom and looking at books," he says.

The downside of these benefits, however, wasdifficult academic transition upon returning toHarvard.

"Studying for tests, doing reading and going toclass was difficult to adjust to," Edwards says."Before I was used to just doing my work and notstressing it. Now it's a more."

Trent, a sociology concentrator, noted that,while he might have liked to stay in Amsterdam fora full year, the demands of his concentration madethat impossible. At the same time, however, Trent,was quick to add that his department was verysupportive of his program of study and granted himthree concentration credits for his time abroad.

Those students who used their Advanced Standingstatus as a means to go abroad, instead ofpetitioning for credit, felt that it relieved muchof the pressure of staying on track in theiracademic careers.

"It seems unusual that more students don't [useAdvanced Standing this way]," says Schmitz,"because it has been really nice to be able to beabroad without worrying about credits. It hasgiven me the leisure to travel and miss a fewclasses without feeling guilty about it."

Mission Impossible?

Beyond concerns about fulfilling academicrequirements, many students, it seems, feel thatapplying for credit through OCS means entering atunnel of horrors from which few emerge unscathed.While many students lambast the University'slarger commitment to sending students abroad, mostwere generous in their praise for the staff atOCS.

Particular praise was reserved for Jane Pavese,associate director of OCS for study abroad.

"Jane Pavese is the answer to my dreams,"Mandelbaum says. "I said, `I want to go to Cuba,'and she looked at me and she helped."

Those who were critical of the University'sattitude toward study abroad tended to citebroad-based, systemic problems.

"A lot of people just aren't aware of theopportunities to [study abroad] and get credit,"Lerch says. "I might be just because Harvarddoesn't have specific programs themselves, sopeople don't realize that they have theopportunity to get credit from other colleges."

A particularly sore spot for Casillas was theUniversity's attitude toward students that need tostart their time abroad before the end ofHarvard's exam period.

"I had to take two exams with a seven hourjetlag, after moving in with a family that didn'tunderstand why I spent my first two days in theirhome locked up in a room studying," he writes."This requirement perfectly captures thediscouraging stance that Harvard takes towardsstudying abroad."

Despite bureaucratic hoops both real andimagined, the majority of students interviewedproudly defended their decision. They say theybenefited from an education that was as much aboutchanges in attitude as changes in latitude.

"If Amsterdam taught me anything," Trent says,"It taught me to chill out."

And most of those still abroad, envision asweet return.

"I bet [my return] will be like that scenewhere George Bailey comes back to his family andhis friends give him money," Cowherd says. "Exceptmy friends won't give me money.