Students from all over the world rush in and out of ETSU’s Office of International Programs to discuss their study abroad experience, fill out paperwork or just hang out.
Despite the diversity, International Programs’ most experienced traveler is from Johnson City.
Christine Tober is a graduate assistant who got her degree in logistics from Penn State University and returned to Johnson City and ETSU to get her MBA and Healthcare Management Certificate.
“I’m so glad to have this job (in International Programs),” Tober said. “It’s so cool. I love meeting all the different people and talking to them about where they come from – it helps me decide where I want to go next.”
The 27-year-old said she would ultimately love to work for United Nations or a world health organization to help changing nations like Iraq develop health care systems.
“I don’t think anyone really wants to go to Iraq right now, but if I got the chance I probably wouldn’t pass it up,” Tober said smiling. “But that’s way in the future.”
For now, Tober’s focus is on her trips. She has already visited 35 states, four continents and 21 countries including Japan, Africa and all of Europe.
“I’m working hard to get the others (continents) in – Antarctica will be tough,” she said with a laugh.
Traveling has been a part of Tober’s life for as long as she can remember. Her mother was from Germany and instilled in Tober a love of cultures other than her own. Her mother is Tober’s most frequent travel companion. “I guess I get the travel bug from her a little bit,” she said.
Sometimes though, she travels with just whatever friends she can bribe into going with her.
One friend who dared to travel with Christine is Andy Deshkulkarni, who is also a graduate assistant in International Programs. Sitting in the library that is their “office,” he recalls their trip to Tober’s alma mater this past fall.
“We were going to a Penn State football game and we drove her mom’s car,” Deshkulkarni said, smiling shyly. “We had a really good time, but I think I scared her some with my driving.”
Tober laughs at Deshkulkarni’s memory and her bright blue eyes sparkle as she speaks about some of her adventures.
Of all the places Tober has visited, her two favorites are New York City and Sedona, Ariz. Sedona, she said, is an artsy, hippie, alternative town that is said to have vortexes in the earth that give off positive energy.
“Supposedly the energy in Sedona inspires people,” said Tober tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.
Tober recalls a day in Sedona when she set out to find one of the vortexes. In the spot where the vortex was located there was a pile of rocks standing on top of each other because of the magnetic energy surrounding the area. “The closer we got (to the vortex) the hair on my neck stood up,” she said. “It kind of felt like The Blair Witch Project.”
Visiting Sedona may be hard to top, but Tober says her favorite memory is from summer 2003 when she lived in New York City for three months.
Tober describes one particular day when she was late for work and couldn’t find her subway fare card. After searching through her purse and holding up the line behind her, she gave up and decided to just buy another card. To her surprise and delight, a stranger in line behind her let her have his card. “In New York City the people are the nicest people you’d ever meet,” she said, still in shock. “It surprised me so much.
“I visited (New York) before Sept. 11 and since then I think the people have pulled together and are really there for each other.”
Also in New York this summer, Tober randomly happened upon a taping of the television show Sex and the City. “The street was less crowded than normally so it (the cameras) caught my attention,” she said. “I looked over and there was Carrie Bradshaw walking down the street.”
Although Tober has many fond memories of the many places she’s been, she does have some unpleasant experiences. Her least favorite trip was when she went to Taiwan, but only because it was monsoon season. “They have open sewers and the streets are kind of nasty when it rains,” Tober said frowning. “I just didn’t get a good impression.
“The people were really cool even though it was monsoon season. They would stop us (Tober and her mom) on the street and ask us random questions. They were all really nice.”
Morocco is another place that holds unpleasant memories for Tober. “All the beggars really got to me,” she said. “They stood on the streets and kept asking me for money, and I wanted to help them but I was broke, too.”
Money would be an issue with most college students, but Tober said so far she has been lucky in the finance department. “In college it was a requirement to study abroad for my major, so that was part of college financing,” she said.
After college, her luck continued because, she said, she has friends from all over the country and the world that she can stay with. She always takes friends up on offers of lodging and sometimes even offers from friends of friends.
“Most folks are really gracious and love to show you around their home and tell you all kinds of really cool stories that you could only hear from the locals,” she said smiling.
While she’s visiting friends, Tober said she has no need for a map because her hosts are always willing to take her anywhere she wants to go. “They always ask where I want to go, and I may have a few things in mind but I like to leave things open,” she said.
However, if Tober finds herself in a city where she knows no one, she said she will buy a guidebook or something that tells the best places to stay, eat and see.
As far as the other things she takes with her, she can’t go anywhere without her camera. “(The trips) are no fun without it,” she said with a grin. “I always come back with about 50 billion rolls to develop.”
She also admits to being not very good at packing. “Traveling light is something I wish I could do,” Tober said. “I always bring the maximum amount allowed.”
If the maximum is what she takes with her, she said it doesn’t compare to what she brings back. Tober admits to having an extensive shot glass collection and keeping more post cards than she could ever send.
“I try to get a shot glass from every city I go,” she said. “I also buy more post cards than I could ever write to all my friends and family.”
However, Tober said her most interesting souvenir is not a shot glass or a post card, but an actual piece of the Berlin Wall. Visitors can chip away their own piece of the wall, but Tober didn’t like the piece she got for herself and ended up just buying one at a souvenir stand. “I went (to Berlin) four years after the wall came down – it was still a big thing then,” she said.
She knows her passion for travel may come off as strange to some people, but Tober said her friends just think it’s cool. “I think most people think I’m a little quirky, but whether or not that’s from traveling or the way I am we’ll never know.
“The only one that thinks I’m weird is Andy (Deshkulkarni) and that’s just because he has to deal with me on a daily basis at work, and I can have moods at work,” she said with a laugh.
So what does Tober do when she isn’t traveling all over the world? Hang out in her hometown, of course, and she studies occasionally, too.
“I love Johnson City,” she said smiling. “No matter how much I go away I always love to go home.

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