When abroad, your time in a new country should be organic and personalized, not warped by the consequences of violent and irregular events. It may give you some heightened anxiety, but you can't let it ruin your trip. No one can expand their perspective of the world if they are afraid to explore. Going abroad is about accepting and interacting with a different culture. And that should be the main goal of your experience no matter the circumstances.

What would we Iowa students do without our precious syllabus week? It is the only week out of the semester where we are nurtured back into the swing of attending classes. For those students who choose to take classes during a winter or summer term, syllabus week is a false promised land. My first week at University College Dublin was still nurturing even without a full syllabus week. Here are some of the biggest lessons I learned coming into a summer program abroad without having a full week to adjust.

There are firsts for everything. Whether that's a first day of college, of being away from home, of feeling at home, there's always a time you can pinpoint these moments in your life that change you. Over the next six weeks or so, I'll be experiencing an entire novella of these kinds of moments.

Staring blankly up at the ceiling of a French hospital, I distantly understood that I was in trouble, but could find no words to explain how I felt. Speaking in French to explain my situation to the doctor was impossible, as I was no longer sure that I could speak any language. Time moved differently, jumping back and forth between clear memories of before the accident and the fuzzy, confused reality of after. My head felt eerily empty, quieter than I had ever experienced it. I had a vague sense of who I was- I knew my name, at least- but could not understand how I had gotten to be in this state.

Ladroma studied French, Spanish, and International Studies: Development at the UI. A presentation about a study abroad program piqued his interest in the possibility of studying in France. A Regents Study Abroad scholarship paved the way for Ladroma’s opportunity to immerse himself in the European culture. One benefit of studying abroad that Ladroma didn’t anticipate was meeting his future wife, Ashley (DeCarlo) Ladroma, B.A, communication studies, French, at a presentation in Lyon, France. The couple grew up just 38 miles from each other (Ashley is from Harlan, Iowa), but first met in France.