We welcome Fabio Rambelli, Professor of Religious Studies & East Asian Cultures, as our EAP faculty director! Fabio’s main field of research and teaching is Japanese religions and cultural history, especially the Esoteric Buddhist tradition (mikkyō) and the history of Shinto. Fabio was born and raised in Italy, received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Venice, and studied abroad at Kyoto University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He served as director of the UC Tokyo Study Center and was UCEAP director for Japan. Fun fact: Fabio speaks four languages — English, Italian, Japanese, and French.
We asked him a few EAP related questions so you could get to know him better:
1. What are you most looking forward to in your role as faculty director of EAP?
My goal is to continue along the successful path set by my predecessor, Dr. Juan Campo, and to make the program even more successful by further promoting study abroad and making it possible for as many students as we can. I have been enjoying working with the staff and getting to know students and alumni and I look forward to more conversations.
2. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing students who want to study abroad, and how do you plan to address them?
There are different types of challenges, but two in particular strike me as especially powerful: structural and psychological. Structural challenges are essentially socio-economic: many students simply can't afford to spend time abroad, or are (rightly) afraid to incur student loans, or even if they are willing to do so, their social context discourages them to study abroad because they consider it an unnecessary endeavor. Psychological challenges are more personal and internal: students are afraid to take the risk of studying abroad, they don't want to leave the security that campus offers, and the proximity to their families and friends. Some students really like life on campus and are unwilling to leave it, even only for a few months. All these challenges require different approaches and strategies: scholarships are crucial for structural challenges, and advising and mentoring (by staff, peer students, alumni, etc.) are crucial for the more psychological challenges. I think that marketing (trying to find new and more compelling ways to reach out to students and attract their attention, while also assuaging some of their fears and worries) could play an essential role.
3. Where are you traveling to next internationally?
I am going to Japan at the end of March, and I will be in Paris from mid-May to early June. I have been invited to five lecture series at an academic institution in Paris. While there, I have been invited to give lectures and concerts in Italy, England, and Belgium. It will be fun!
4. What's one piece of advice you would give to those heading abroad for the first time?
Look around and become aware of how local people behave and what they do in general (dress codes, courtesy rules, modes of interactions, etc.). In some occasions it is important to signal that we are foreigners and therefore we don't know these rules; in other cases, however, signaling one's foreignness feels to locals like a desire to be left alone and that prevents creating deeper acquaintances abroad.
5. What's your go-to travel snack for those long flights or bus rides?
Luckily, I don't get very hungry on airplanes, and I am generally OK with most airline food (except for that provided by U.S. airlines, because someone must be really evil in U.S. airlines' catering department to concoct such horrible stuff). In those cases, I bring bread and cheese with me — my comfort food.
