In summer 2019 and fall 2019, UI student Ala Mohamed studied abroad twice in China with support from a Stanley Merit-Based Scholarship.

This country is definitely not in the “most popular study abroad countries” list in our study abroad office, and the last student who adventured in Iceland has already graduated. But, if you are a Geoscience student or a music lover, Iceland can be ranked No.1 in your own list.

Cheng, a distinguished professor of the biomedical engineering department and director of Orthopedic Device Research Center at National Yang Ming University, was honored for his major academic contributions and research.

In a move likely to calm diplomatic and trade concerns created by Donald Trump’s rhetoric during and after the presidential campaign, the president-elect has tapped Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to be his ambassador to China.

Although both the Chinese government and public are increasingly aware of China’s high prevalence of depression, burnout, and milder mental health concerns, the topic is not commonly discussed on local campuses. Chinese students often do not divulge their mental health status to close friends and family, and from what I have observed, the newly-arrived international students who are eager to integrate, do not either. 

Through violent storms, rigid oaks can undergo uprooting while flexible bamboos bend to survive. When moving to China, a student needs to imitate the bamboo by adopting the physical and psychological agility of Chinese pedestrians in crowded streets.

Building Our Global Community is a certificate program offered by International Programs in collaboration with UI Learning & Development that educates University of Iowa faculty and staff about the experiences of international students and scholars, and methods in which they can foster our increasingly intercultural campus community. Participants who complete the series of sessions (one “core” course and four electives) earn a certificate that demonstrates their commitment to supporting international students and scholars in the classroom and workplace.

Leaders from Academic Studies Abroad Global met with leaders from the Iowa City area on Monday afternoon to discuss business opportunities and to sign a “memoranda of understanding.”

More robust orientations planned as signs point to a softening of international enrollments

Back in Iowa City after half a year in Beijing, I am struggling with re-adjustment. The process goes like this: watch four Star Wars movies on the flight back, half-heartedly suggest family Easter dinner at the Beijing Buffet on the Coralville strip, get car towed because a certain private parking lot has strengthened enforcement protocols, swerve at the sight of newly sprouted condominiums three houses down from my home, scroll through photo albums of China adventures, obsessively check friends’ WeChat updates, try to retrieve the part of me that is still sleeping and waking in Beijing time. Perhaps retrieval will come by way of writing and reflecting.

Built on East Art Gallery Street in 1996, the 24-hour bookstore is known by many readers as their “spiritual home” and a place in which to soak for an entire day. A bubble bath of 90,000 books stacked in a space of 1400 square meters. There are at least twenty different annotated versions of Journey to the West, one of the four great classical novels of China. A 513-page guide to polyphonic Mandarin characters can be found in an aisle devoted to dictionaries. Copies of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant are tucked away in random nooks. Books with titles like The Story of Art and The Story of Time convey the immense ambition in this place.

Study abroad is a perfect opportunity to translate oneself in a foreign country, in a strange language, in unfamiliar roosts. You may just discover a way to add another layer of meaning to your brand. No, despite what the Chinese supermarket said, you can’t actually buy life. But maybe you can rebrand it.