BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Millions of Americans watched the results of the history-making election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African-American to the Presidency of the United States on Nov. 4. Many of those Americans were overseas, including the 61 Illinois Wesleyan University students studying abroad, from England and France, to Argentina and Oman.
Obama was favored to win in many European polls, and Illinois Wesleyan students studying in Europe watched the excitement for the election build, and the jubilation of many people when the results were announced. At the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Mark Kasperczyk attended an election party in one of the residence halls. “It was surprising how many people cared about the election here,” said Kasperczyk, a senior physics major. “The party was huge, with people overflowing into the sidewalks until around 3 a.m.” Kasperczyk estimated about 200 to 300 people stayed for most of the night.
Many students studying in Illinois Wesleyan’s London Program stayed up all night to watch the election coverage, even to hear Obama’s acceptance speech at 5 a.m. London time. “It was on the front page of every London newspaper that I saw the next day,” said Carolyn Leonard, a sophomore psychology major. “All of our British teachers were very excited that we stayed up to watch, and very understanding of how tired we all were.”
Sophomore Katie Bayles, an anthropology major, said the world was watching the election closely. “The tension that had been building from the extended coverage over the week came to a peak Tuesday night on the [British subway] Tube. I realized that everyone’s faces were pressed into the papers, reading about the upcoming election, what time the coverage started, even when California’s polls would close,” said Bayles, noting they understood the importance of the West Coast polls.
Nicholas Kogelman grew up in Hyde Park, Obama’s neighborhood, and said he felt a special tie to the election. “It was difficult not to be able to go downtown for his rally, but truly amazing to watch from an outside perspective,” said the senior business administration major. “It put the election in a global perspective and reinforced the magnitude of the ramifications of this election. After the election – and many of my fellow classmates share this opinion – that this was the proudest we have been as Americans in London.”
Watching from Spain, senior Ann Chang also found it difficult to be away from home during the election. “It was my first time voting, and not being able to witness people our age joining together to actually vote and show their American pride was rough,” said Chang, a mathematics and Hispanic Studies double major, who still called the chance to witness the election through the eyes of the Spanish “incredible.” The morning after the election, Chang said headlines were splashed across every newspaper she could see. “Talk of him is everywhere. And right now I can hear my Spanish neighbors saying how happy they are that he won.”