Q & A With Laurels Scholarship Recipient Ian Montgomery ('13)

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail written by Ian Montgomery.

1. Q: Where are you studying abroad?

A: A big bonjour from Besançon, Franche-Comté, France. I am studying abroad as a full-ride Laurels Scholarship recipient.

2. Q: What are you studying abroad?

A: International politics, a bit of Chinese (for my Asian Studies minor), and of course French. I've learned an incredible amount during my stay thus far, but only a minuscule percentage of that has been in the classroom! As my French professor put it on the first day of class, "While in my class, you will certainly learn French--but the best courses are given at the university bar.”

3. Q: What is your class year?

A: On the four-year plan I should graduate in spring of 2013, but it looks like two majors, a minor, and this year abroad will prolong that estimate a bit...

4. Q: What is your major? And why did you choose that major?

A: My first major was International Studies, which I chose after taking Dr. Subramaniam's international relations course. I declared my minor in Asian Studies at the same time. I chose my second major, French, a semester later after much encouragement from Dr. Malicote, and I never would have been in her classes had I not befriended a number of French exchange students at UNCA during my freshman year. The underlying reason for my studies would have to be a deep-seated humanism that transcends my worldly ventures and personal interactions to continuously impress upon me the magnitude of human potential. First experiential, then actualizing, and finally creative, I believe this inborn potential imbues every individual with a dignity demanding of cultivation. And so it is that with the study of foreign languages that I work to foster such free communication and understanding among people. With International Studies, I examine and hope to advance opportunities for responsible and egalitarian global development. There's the shortest answer I can give in good conscience, and with that said, I step down from my stump.

5. Q: Do you have a faculty mentor?

A: There is hardly a professor I've had at UNCA who hasn't done his or her part to inspire me. But there are a select few with whom I've had more time, and among them, Dr. Subramaniam stands out. His attitude-laden insight kept me on the edge of my seat from the first day of his International Relations course, while his encouragement and amity outside the classroom has been a constant well of support. After witnessing the comparatively dispassionate dynamic student-teacher dynamic here in France, I'll never again take professors like Dr. Subramaniam for granted!

6. Q: What are your plans after graduation?

A: Great question. I don't really know. However, among the myriad possibilities swirling around in that uncertainty, I am most seriously considering opportunities abroad: teaching English (whether in France, Spain, or China), doing humanitarian work in Francophone Africa, or with sustainable development in yet undeveloped countries. If I stay stateside, I would love to help usher along the green movement in our own country. And if all else fails, I can go work on my friend's organic farm.

7. Q: Anything else you would like to share? Favorite moments? Unexpected learning experiences?

A: Oh, wow. Well, for me, study abroad has been above all an exercise in perspective. I've met and befriended people from every continent, whose backgrounds and upbringings are simply unfathomable given my own "jackpot birth" as a white, male, middle-class American. Yet they are my friends because our persons, though formed far from one another, still hold a common foundation of human experience upon which are built many personal ones to be shared.

I came to see France, of course, and as much of Europe as I could fit in between the cracks. But having a friend group that sometimes resembles the United Nations has simply unbound my travel wishes to include anywhere and everywhere. I am reminded of my favorite place traveled to date: the Swiss Alps. My friend from the area and I spent a whole day – from sun-up to sun-down – alternately trekking through the serrated paths and stopping to take in the utterly sublime scenery they cut through. The entire experience was a prolonged struggle between foot and eye: between the drive to see more and the wish to fully grasp what was already in sight. The true scale of this conflict only hit me as my friend and I stopped along a stark, sparsely vegetated ridge to regard a lone flower. It looked like a small, vibrant chalice with its cup-shaped bloom that stretched just as tall as the thin stem it perched atop. Even then it was no more than two inches tall, but its deep purple color cast it as something vivid and remarkable even among the commanding monoliths in whose dominion we found ourselves. We both lay prone for a while in admiring silence until my buddy piped up and observed, "It's kind of funny how around all this," he gestured at the mountains, "we stop to look at this little thing." I chuckle and he continued, "But what's even funnier is to think how many more of these flowers are out there."

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