The view from abroad
Photo contest reveals a look from the outside in
Abeng (shown in photo above) voluntarily lives on the streets of central London. Not discouraged by laws prohibiting unlicensed musicians from performing at Covent Garden, Abeng serenades the crowds with Bob Marley songs. “My personality is my license,” he says.
Steve Bartel, a senior photojournalism major, captured the photo of Abeng while spending winter semester 2005 in the Missouri London Program. A record 829 students studied abroad during the 2005–06 academic year. Over the past five years, the number of Mizzou students studying abroad has increased by 58 percent.
Bartel won an honorable mention in the 2006 Annual Study Abroad Photo Contest sponsored by the MU International Center. Photos will be on display through the end of January at the Bookmark Café in Ellis Library.
“I met Abeng in Covent Garden, which is a hub for tourists, shoppers and, naturally, street performers,“ Bartel says. “I watched Abeng play for a while, and two things caught my attention. The first was the way he would stop and talk to passers-by. He had some pretty profound things to say — remarkably lucid and insightful, which I think gave credence to his claim of being voluntarily homeless.
“The second thing was the way he would stop a conversation mid-syllable, lunge to his feet and go chasing after pigeons with his scarf. ‘Flying rats,’ he called them, and he harbored no sympathy for them.”
“Study abroad has given me an appreciation not only for the culture and lifestyle of foreign peoples, of which I've seen many during my time overseas, but also of my own at home. You notice a lot from the outside looking in that you can't see from the inside,” Bartel says.
Don't miss the deadline!
Feb. 19 is the last day to apply to the MU Study Abroad program for summer and fall 2007 semesters, and all 2007–08 full year programs. — Lisa Bruce