Sociolinguistics classes in Spain, home of the flamenco, followed by late-afternoon siestas and weeknight partying into the wee hours. Sightseeing in Germany while taking engineering classes at a Dresden university. Talking public health policy by day, belting out Cantonese pop songs by night in Hong Kong.

     For Folake Eniola, spending a semester abroad added up to fun, learning and a whole new perspective on the world.

     ``It exceeded my expectations,'' said Eniola, a Tufts University senior majoring in community health and sociology. She spent the spring in Hong Kong. ``I learned more about the Asian community than I ever did here.''     

Study abroad used to be the glorious preserve of a university's liberal arts department, particularly language majors. Not anymore. Budding architects, botanists and engineers as well as future business leaders and archaeologists are spending summers, semesters or academic years in countries as diverse as Niger, Germany, Japan and New Zealand.

     ``Our world is getting smaller and smaller and to find the best solutions for our future, we have to be able to draw on the widest possible range of ideas,'' said Sheila Bayne, director of study abroad at Tufts University.

     ``We have to be able to access the brainpower of people who think differently than we do.''

     More and more U.S. students think like Bayne, judging by the numbers from the Institute of International Education.

     In its annual report on international education last year, the institute said the number of U.S. college students receiving credit for study abroad in 2001-02 had reached a record high of 160,920, an increase of 4.4 percent from the previous year.

     Study-abroad programs tend to be populated by the traditional undergraduate students, though schools report a few of the older, nontraditional students enroll. When Bayne joined Tufts in 1989, the university had five programs, all based in Europe. Now the study-abroad program - which clinched Tufts a spot on the 2005 Kaplan/Newsweek ``America's 25 hot schools'' - has 10, located in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

     Boston University has about 1,800 students studying abroad annually, the majority of whom are undergraduates. Urbain DeWinter, BU's associate provost of international programs, said the university's study-abroad program has grown steadily in the past 10 years.

     ``We probably add a couple of programs each year,'' said DeWinter, who added Western Europe is a popular destination among those who go through BU study-abroad programs.

     At University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where about 1,000 students go abroad annually, most just want to go ``down under,'' said JoAnn Bernhard, associate director of education abroad.

     ``The Australian universities have been marketing successfully in many different countries, among them the United States,'' said Bernhard. Australia also has the advantage of being an English-speaking nation with a university structure that U.S. students find easy to integrate into, Bernhard said.

     Bernhard said UMass-Amherst's school of management has a program where students go to Ghana and help communities establish business practices.

     The cost of studying abroad varies.

     ``For short-term programs, it depends on the cost of travel and accommodation,'' said Bernhard. ``If it's a reciprocal exchange, they pay home school costs.''

     DeWinter said the cost of BU's programs typically is no greater than if students were in Boston.

     ``It's either cost neutral or a little less expensive because some programs are run at a little less cost than if they were on campus (in Boston),'' he said.

     Universities also team with each other and with other institutions - such as the Council on International Education Exchange - to provide study-abroad opportunities for students.

     The council, based in Portland, Maine, has 60 programs in 32 countries, said Martin Hogan, vice president.

     ``We talk a lot about study abroad being an investment in the student's future, giving them a leg up in the job market or acceptance in a graduate program,'' Hogan said.

     Study- abroad program advisers tell students to research programs and to match them with their academic goals. Some require students to have advanced skills in the language of the country they want to visit.

     Eniola, for example, originally wanted to go to France, but didn't meet the language skill requirement, so she opted to go to Hong Kong.

     Students also should check if they can transfer credits and whether their financial aid will travel with them. The schools also advise students about health and safety, and in these times of terrorist attacks, tell them not to stand out.

     ``You're taught to fit in, and not be the rowdy American,'' said Juan Cabrera, a UMass-Lowell senior studying marketing and management.

     But schools are prepared for worst-care scenarios. BU, for example, had 95 students in Spain when the March 11 attack occurred there. But, DeWinter said, ``Within . . . 12 hours, we knew where each and every one of these students was and they were safe.''

     And the study-abroad experience, negative and positive, ``can be life-changing,'' said Hogan. ``You tend to have more political discussion about American's role in the world. There's the academic benefit of learning in a different context, but I think it goes far beyond that.''

     Rachel Farahbakhsh can testify to that.

     She graduated this year from UMass-Amherst, having spent her junior year in Seville, Spain.

     Farahbakhsh learned to speak fluent Spanish and gained greater self-confidence. Beyond that, she learned about the diversity of Spain, its political and social climate and the different perspectives Spaniards have about the rest of the world.