A picture is worth a thousand words, and not just in English. On Wednesday, the USC Center for Languages and Cultures hosted its third annual Abroad Photo Contest.

Students who studied abroad in the 2024-25 academic year, either through Maymesters or semester-long study abroad programs, submitted photos from their trip to the contest in four categories: nature, people, culture and city. Winners from each category had their photo printed out and displayed in Taper Hall room 309, home of the CLC. During the event, photo submissions that didn’t win were displayed on screens in the room.

“If you have students that come to the opening, they can also talk about their experience, how much they got out of living abroad, being in places that were different, trying different food [and] learning about different cultures. It’s a good way to have them reflect and share their experience,” said Maria Mercedes Fages Agudo, chair of the outreach committee for the CLC.

Rui Zhang, a senior majoring in East Asian languages and cultures as well as communication, reflected on their study-abroad experience at Sophia University in Tokyo. As part of their experience, they got to see lots of different parts of Japan, from Nezu Shrine in Tokyo to Kamakura Beach.

“It really pushed me to be open toward trying new things and putting myself out there. It’s a scary thing to move to a new country, where you’re not fluent in the language, you don’t know anybody, but I thought it was a really enriching experience,” Zhang said.

Zhang won first place in the culture category with their photo “Azalea Festival at Nezu Shrine” and second place in the nature category with their photo “View of Mount Fuji from Shichirigama Beach.”

Elliot Jones, a senior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention, won second place in the city category with his picture “The Nervión River in Harmony Bilbao Reflections” and third place in the nature category with “Green Echoes of the Sea.”

He went on a Maymester in Santander, Spain. However, one of his winning pictures was taken in the city of Bilbao. His entries show just how distinct different places in the same country can be.

“I definitely took a lot of photos of the nature and of the different cities I was in and tried to make a note to photograph anything that was new,” Jones said.

David Zarazúa, a member of the outreach committee, echoed the sentiment of appreciating and learning from travelling to new and different places within the same country.

“[There are] all these countries that we just have their name and think their culture is monolithic, that everybody’s the same,” said Zarazúa, also an associate professor of Spanish. “Just travel a little bit. You don’t have to dig very deep to be aware that there’s different natural regions in a country, that the people are different, that the food is different, that the infrastructure is different.”

The contest wasn’t only a way for the students to reflect on their study-abroad experiences, but it was also a great opportunity for them to appreciate their own work, said Fages Agudo.

“These days, when you take your picture with the phone, you rarely take time to look at them afterward,” said Fages Agudo, who is also a master lecturer for the department of Latin American and Iberian cultures. “It gives [students] some sense of pride, in seeing [their] work displayed professionally on a wall.”

Not only do students get to see their own work displayed, but others in the USC community get to enjoy it as well.

“I heard about the opportunity. I was like, ‘Oh, it’d be nice to share them with other people,’” Zhang said.

Despite being the home for the CLC, Taper Hall room 309 also serves as a study space for students. As students study in a cozy spot, they can appreciate the winning photos.

“Students come here to work. It’s like a little library [where they can] see the work displayed,” Fages Agudo said.

Having Zhang’s, Jones’, and the other contestants’ photos hung will potentially inspire other students to study abroad themselves. If not through the pictures, the photographers themselves serve as ambassadors for their programs.

“I would definitely recommend taking a Spanish course abroad. It really adds a different cultural element,” Jones said.

Adrian Cohen, one of the judges for the city category, said it was fun for him to see some wonderful pictures that students take as they travel the world.

At the end of the academic year, students have the opportunity to pick up their printed photos and display them in their homes. Pictures that get left behind, however, are used by USC language faculty. Zarazúa recalled framing and displaying previous winning photos in the office for Latin American and Iberian Cultures.

“Some of them decide not to collect it, and so we are displaying some of [the photos] in our department. Just like this year’s, they’re very pretty,” Zarazúa said.