I am happy to be writing to you since returning from the 2017-2018 India Winterim Study Abroad Program. It was an adventure to say the least, but I hope my letter will provide you with some insight and direction in your choices of studying abroad. I will describe the sites visited as well as the field based learning opportunities.I studied abroad in Bangalore, Karnataka, India in the section titled: Youth, Nutrition, and Foods. This program aimed to educate students about India’s overall culture and cuisine, the ways in which schools and businesses work together to feed India’s children living in low income populations and/or living with disabilities, and the history of India to provide a better understanding of it’s current landscape today.

My name is Amanda Burroughs, and I am a first generation college student, as well as an only child. I come from a middle class family in which no one before me ever attended college, and I have a lot of student loans covering the cost of my education. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably considering studying abroad but you aren’t sure how to make it happen, or if it’s even possible with a limited budget. About 6 months ago, I found out about an amazing program called the India Winterim. I wanted more than anything to be a part of that trip, and I knew in my heart that it would be the experience of a lifetime, but my heart sank when I looked at the program cost sheet. It can be discouraging when you first look at the expense of going abroad, but I am here to assure you that if you are truly passionate about traveling and determined to have an experience abroad, you CAN find a way to make it happen!

Yesterday my group and I visited the Valley of a Thousand Hills to get a visual representation of what it feels like to be on top of the hill, looking down.

Catching a taxi in Dakar using Wolof (one of the native languages of Senegal).

Hi! My name is Russell. I’m a Biomedical Engineering major from West Branch,  Iowa. I studied abroad the summer after my freshman year in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). My time abroad was undoubtedly the most memorable two months of my life, and I’d like to share   some of my experiences with you here.   Before I went abroad, I remember feeling varying combinations of  apprehensiveness and enthusiasm. On one hand,  I was nervous - this was my first time ever traveling outside of the US,  and I knew zero Cantonese. But I also felt a feeling of excitement growing inside of me. Excitement to experience what life is like in a   country so different than the U.S., and excitement for all the adventures that I imagined having.  

My name is Juan Martin. I am a proud Latino and I am the first in my family to go to college. I wanted to show my family what a college education, what a student from the Tippie College of Business, has the abilities to do: at home and abroad. I spent the entirety of my summer interning for a French financial institution in the heart of Paris. This was also the first time I had ever been outside of the country and the first time I could truly learn and immerse myself into another country’s culture.

My name is Nazira Coury and I am a fourth-year student majoring in International Relations, and minoring in Latin American Studies and Arabic. During the summer of 2017, I had the incredible opportunity to study abroad for nine weeks in the very hot, but very beautiful city of Fes, Morocco. As a first generation student, I am the first person in my family to go to college and now, I am also the first in my family to have studied abroad.

Study Abroad will host an information session on its Studio Art Centers International (SACI) program in Florence, Italy, on Friday, March 2, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in 71 Schaeffer Hall. 

Study Abroad will host an information session on its Wells College: Lorenzo de Medici program in Florence, Italy, on Wednesday, February 28, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in 1117 University Capitol Centre. 

My class of twenty-four was split up into groups of four and five and sent out to different special needs schools in the Durban area. We went there to witness the structure of the institution, the funding allocated, and talk to the faculty about their experience working there. 

The sun rises around 5 a.m and the 72 roosters in the neighborhood begin their gossip. The taxi drivers fight the rooster crows with the habitual honking of their horns, and the neighborhood dogs bark in whatever little slips of silence are left. The mornings are bright, hot, and loud. Welcome to Cato Manor, my home away from home in Durban, South Africa.

Andrew Broderick (B.S. human physiology ’16) studied abroad in Newcastle, Australia, as an undergraduate student at the University of Iowa. Now in the doctor of physical therapy program at the University of Iowa, Broderick took a break from his studies to share information about his study abroad experience, as well as advice for current UI students considering study abroad.