Dear UMD,
Today, a member of your faculty or staff posed to me the question, "How do you feel about studying abroad? We want to know!" via email. I would like to start off by thanking you. You, UMD are the first college I have attended to ask me that, instead of just moving straight to the phase of telling me to give study abroad a try. I appreciate that you want to know how I feel. Because of that, I have decided not to ignore your message and send it straight to the spam folder (like I do with all other college-wide emails... don't take offense, I did it at my other schools too - with the exception of the safety and security messages from the U. I enjoyed reading the physical description of the attackers over and over and over again, followed by the statement that "race or ethnicity is no reason to cast suspicion on an individual..." over and over and over again. Really? So say you have fifty crimes in your area in a four-month period, and 49 of them have red-headed unicycle riders listed as the suspect. Walking home late at night, would it not be prudent to keep an extra close eye on the red-headed unicycle rider who seems to be shadowing your pace?)
Instead of the spam folder, I decided to respond, because you really MUST want to know how I feel about studying abroad.
