I identify as an Asian American, specifically of East Indian descent, and I have felt that too much of my focus was on the academic side of college. Most of the Indians I know participated in few to no activities outside of the classroom because we have been raised in a culture that stresses the importance of academics far more than our non-academic interests. Many of my family members and friends of Indian descent love to tell me about their time in college but when I ask them what clubs or events they participated in I too often get blank stares.

When I told my study abroad advisor I wanted to go to Uruguay for my semester abroad, she told me, “I hope you’re prepared to eat a lot of beef.” As a vegetarian, this probably should have been a red flag.

Prior to my arrival in Morocco, I was aware that there would be significant differences between the classical Arabic that I had been studying at Iowa and the colloquial Arabic used in everyday exchanges in my host country.

As an undergraduate student at the University of Iowa, Anna Patty (B.A. journalism, Spanish '03) had never been on an airplane. That all changed when she decided to study abroad in Heredia, Costa Rica, for an entire academic year. Nearly twenty years after her study abroad experience, Patty is now co-owner of Epiphany, a full-service marketing company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Patty recently took time to reflect on how her study abroad experience has shaped her career.

Anna Kroeger is witnessing preparations for Day Zero first-hand as a UI student studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Kroeger, a student in the Tippie College of Business, is spending the Spring 2018 semester at the University of Cape Town through IES Abroad.