RANDY METCALF/Arizona Daily Wildcat Public relations senior Morgan Beck studied abroad through UA's Arizona in Paris program. Some students have used their experience abroad to party and drink while under the legal U.S. drinking age. Studies aren't always the top priority.

Study abroad, for many, represents an opportunity to sit in a classroom overseas, learning to adapt to a new language and new customs.

But depending on the program, some may find themselves adapting more to the nightlife as they party ÷ rather than study ÷ abroad.

International studies junior Sarah Beck said the program she went through, which she found by searching the Internet, focused little on academics.

Beck went to Salamanca, Spain, where she went out every night. The tourist-oriented city was a party center, she said. She went to bars that offered inexpensive alcoholic drinks, which ran around $1.50.

"At the time, I was 18, so going to bars and not being carded was so fantastic. It was a novelty," she said.

Nearly every day, she stumbled home, passing her American roommate, who went jogging in the early morning.

Beck said the scholastic portion of her program was not emphasized; she never had homework and needed only a C to receive credits for her classes.

"My Spanish got worse during that month," Sarah Beck said.

Unlike Sarah Beck, Morgan Beck, of no relation to Sarah, said she balanced studying and partying when she studied abroad through the UA's Arizona in Paris program.

"Everyone would get their studies done, learn about the culture and then go drinking," Morgan Beck, senior majoring in English, said.

Morgan said after she and her friends were done with their classes, they went out to clubs, like Planet Hollywood and VIP Underground.

"All of us in the program went down (to VIP Underground). · There were male models all over the place, and we danced all night," Morgan said.

Morgan said she sometimes caught the first metro home with her friends.

"It was kind of like a bunch of Americans bumbling around at 6 in the morning, trying to go home," Morgan said.

David Wright, director of the Office of Study Abroad and Student Exchange, said students are going to party whether they are at the UA or abroad, but they should find a program that fits their academic needs.

"I think students are going to party, but the type of program they take part in will depend on how that program relates to their academic endeavors," Wright said.

Sarah also studied abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam, a program that provided her with a different experience.

"The opportunities to stay out and party all night are much more few and far between," Sarah said. "Academics were definitely the focus."

Sarah received four credits through the program, but she warned students to check on whether credits would transfer before committing to a program.

Wright said the students have the burden of making sure credits transfer.

"The key through all this is having a good relationship with your academic adviser because it is the discussion with that person that will ultimately inform you if that credit will transfer or not," Wright said.

Meredith Smith, an international studies senior who went to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for a year, said she studied more than partied during that period.

"We lived in a dorm that closed at midnight, and you had to scale the iron fence to get in," Smith said.

Despite having to jump fences in the middle of the night, Smith said she had an awesome time abroad.

"It was a life-changing experience," Smith said, "The partying aside, you learn so much about how much we take for granted here."