On Monday, the Missouri Abroad Project launched a new website to help catalogue international experiences and open up students’ eyes to the world around them.

Ideas for a website such as this had been brought up before but never put into action until junior Eva Dou and her team members started working on plans for the site in January.

“Before I studied abroad, I was looking at other students’ study abroad blogs and reading about all the amazing experiences they had,” Dou said in an e-mail. “I thought it would be great if there was a way for them to reach a larger audience, and for it to be easier for them to share their stories with each other.”

MAP’s goal is to be a tool for students looking into studying abroad or travelling to a different place around the globe. The members of MAP are doing this by collecting photos and stories of different experiences from people who have studied abroad or are currently studying abroad.

“We’re really hoping to find content that helps them in experiencing travels,” senior Brook duBois said. “So if I’m planning a trip to Brussels, I can know what the culture is. I can find places to eat and stay. And I could look at missouriabroad.com and say that this is a great place to go.”

The website features stories, photos and other information compiled from students who have studied abroad or faculty members living abroad. MAP would like to expand the volume of information to include travel experiences outside of the abroad office.

“We want to see other experiences such as student vacations from spring break or different programs,” senior Gretchen Mahan said. “There are countless ways to get international experience.”

Another goal for the website is to expand users’ worldview.

“We want people to expand their world view,” Mahan said. “Some don’t have the opportunity to travel the world. This makes it possible to experience places without being there.”

MAP’s website also includes a map feature that links users to articles and photos after clicking on its respective map marker.

“The map is included because we think it’s intuitive to navigate geographically when searching through the site,” Dou said.

Mahan and duBois said they encourage students to contribute their own experiences and information to the website so it may continue to grow even after they graduate. They said they would also like to see work from students outside of the School of Journalism.

“The site showcases the talents of writers and great photographers,” duBois said. “A lot of it stems from the journalism school. But there’s talent all over campus.”