University students planning to study abroad this semester may face little threat of terrorism, but some of them have decided not to risk it.

"If there was going to be this tension through the semester I was afraid I wasn't going to have a normal and enjoyable experience," said Karin Greenberg (junior-history).

Greenberg planned to study art history in Florence, Italy, this spring in a Syracuse University-sponsored program. After a week and a half overseas, anti-American sentiment and the threat of terrorism forced Greenberg to return home Jan. 15.

Though most Italians were friendly and hospitable, Greenberg said, some anti-American threats created an uncomfortable environment.

Graffiti stating "Go Home Americans" and "Death to All U.S.A." was sprayed across statues, walls and archways, Greenberg said.

"We'd be walking through a market and people in the street would scream, 'There's going to be a war -- why don't you get out?' " Greenberg said. "They were joking, but it affected me."

The situation was similar for Robin Eicher (junior-French business), who found herself caught in the middle of about 2,000 anti-war demonstrators in downtown Nice, France, the day after allied forces attacked Iraq.

Students in the Penn State Nice program were told to limit train and bus travel, vary their daily schedules and avoid American-oriented locations, Eicher said.

"I decided to come home because there was a bomb threat at the school, she said. "That was the last straw."

Though the bomb threat was not directly tied to the war, Eicher said she and three other Penn State students studying at the University Institute of Technology at Nice chose to come home.

University programs in Cairo, Egypt, and Tel Aviv, Israel, were cancelled this semester, but students are studying in Africa, England, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Japan and Australia, said Margo Groff, coordinator of program support services in the Office of Education Abroad Programs.

Everyone reacts differently to fear and terrorism, the decision not to travel is a personal one for the student and their parents, she said.

"We can't predict terrorism," Groff said. "We can keep well informed, dispel rumors, and notify parents and students about what is happening."

The Office of International Education keeps in touch with on-site coordinators to monitor conditions abroad, Groff said.

They also consult U.S. State Department travel advisories, a network of study abroad professionals and the Risk Management Emergency Committee of Faculty, she said.

Groff said a few students decided to return from France and a student scheduled for the Rome, Italy, program pulled out before leaving. Students who chose not to attend were aided in re-enrollment at the University this semester.

Other University-coordinated travel has also been affected as enrollment in the Alumni Travel Program is down, said Robert L. Goerder, travel coordinator and international liason.

"People feel any travel overseas could be subject to terrorist activity," Goerder said. "Saddam Hussein is having a definite effect on our travel industry."