All articles

Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The Country of Heaven. The Garden City. Land of Abundance. Sounds like an alright place to spend six months to me. I hardly knew what to expect when I arrived in Chengdu, city of 11 million people, after my month-long orientation in the beautifully rural Guilin (think blue skies and Mario World-like mountains). I left early one clear, hot August morning by train and arrived 27 hours later, sweaty and tired at Chengdu Dong Train Station. Talk about an imposing introduction. It opened just three months earlier and still smelled uncommonly like a new pair of shoes. Passengers leaving the train face a mountain of stairs followed by stark white and cavernous rooms seemingly designed to maximize required walking distance or possibly to accommodate the entire population of China should they all decide to vacation here at the same time. I would soon discover that Chengdu Dong Station wasn’t the only building that smelled like new shoes in this city and is, in fact, a perfect introduction to the desired feel of modern Chengdu -- bright, new, grandiose and ever-so-slightly extravagant.

With more than 1,700 University of Iowa students hailing from China, UI President Sally Mason and a number of university officials will travel to Asia in hopes of establishing new relationships and strengthening existing ties with alumni.

Mason will travel to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing in China, and Taipei, Taiwan, from July 1-9. A handful of UI officials will accompany Mason on the trip, including Provost P. Barry Butler and UI Foundation President Lynette Marshall.

A mini-Carnaval at 4:30 p.m., Friday, June 8, outside the University of Iowa Theatre Building will feature music, dance, masks, and puppets, as well as stilt-walkers from Canada's Swizzlestick Theatre.

A 2013 Iowa City Carnaval parade is planned, and this preview will enable the public to ask questions and share ideas, and even find out how to build carnaval costumes and floats or become a sponsor for the parade.

The 2012 Russian Guitar Festival will be held in various Iowa City locations June 21-24. For all concerts, general admission is $15 ($10 students and seniors). A $50 Festival Pass is good for all concerts! See more information and a full schedule.

The University of Iowa has awarded the Mayflower Hall Sushi Workshop with Best Educational Program of the Year Award for 2012. Yume Hikada, International Programs' Japan Outreach Coordinator, held the first workshop in February 2011. Its great turnout and enormous success amongst participants led her to conduct a second workshop in February 2012 that attracted over 100 participants.

“The Latehomecomer: a Hmong Family Memoir” by Kao Kalia Yang is this year’s book choice for the One Community, One Book annual reading program, sponsored by the UI Center for Human Rights (UICHR) in International Programs.

Originally from Burlington, Iowa, Brandon Jennings has always had an interest in the Middle East. Very soon, he'll have an address in the Greater Middle East.

Jennings, a senior graduating this May with a major in international studies and minors in religious studies, chemistry, and Arabic, was recently awarded the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) through the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He will be going to Morocco for a 10-week program to study Arabic, which is considered a critical language.