Attitudes about college have changed. What will happen to study abroad?

“There is no other accessible, logical reason to pick up and move to another place."

Kevin McKeon was about to enter his junior year of college when he sailed into St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2014. He was studying abroad on a Semester at Sea voyage, and that spring Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula with few international repercussions. But tensions were high, and he was nervous about how Russians would treat American tourists.

St. Petersburg was stunning. The massive baroque Winter Palace held a dizzying array of world-renowned masterpieces. Nevsky Prospect, the high street of the city bisected by the local tram, bustled with activity. The banks of the Neva River glimmered beneath drawbridges that rose each evening to allow for twinkling ships to pass through the city and beyond.

One day, McKeon stopped in a souvenir shop to buy Russian nesting dolls for his family. At the front counter, two dolls caught his eye: One was painted like Vladimir Putin, and the other like Barack Obama. The cashier spoke English and asked McKeon where he was from. When he replied that he was from the United States and that the people, museums, and sites of St. Petersburg were incredible, the cashier picked up the nesting dolls in front of her, Obama in one hand and Putin in the other.

“Don’t believe what these two say about each other,” she said. “We’re happy to see you here.”