On my third day in Spain, I learned about the expert pickpockets of Madrid. It wasn’t simply through Ibon’s sound advice to get a money belt or to sling packs in front of our bodies where we could see them. No, I had to learn the hard way. I’m blaming it on the fact that I’m from a town where we don’t even lock our bikes. I implicitly trust everybody. However, belief rarely lines up with reality and in less than a week abroad I found myself wallet-free. Still, I’m optimistic that not every lesson that day was lost on me. Before I was so swiftly and silently robbed, I absorbed some stories about Spain’s long and complicated history, which, on more than one occasion, involved miracles.

My first experience abroad was in Spain during winter break of my freshman year. While this was an enlightening experience, it was not so different from my own culture. Traveling to India, however, I was excited to explore those cultural and social differences. Starting with the sheer amount of people on the streets of Chennai, the town I flew into, I knew the YouTube travel videos I’d watched in preparation were not exaggerating.

On February 3, 2015, Joan Kjaer and her WorldCanvass guests discussed the the complicated and controversial issues surrounding the legality and use of tobacco and marijuana with a special focus on the tension between personal liberty and the public good. This is a "ReCap" of the event with access to see and hear the full program.

A group of about 20 students arrived at the Aeropuerto Internacional José Martí in Havana close to midnight on Sunday, December 28th. That very next morning, classes started for the January, 2015 USAC Cuba program. Despite the late arrival and few hours of sleep, students were eager to climb up the marble staircase at Casa Africa in Old Havana for the first day of class. As a visiting professor, I, too, felt the rush of excitement that comes from that first meeting with students.

Some University of Iowa students will soon “hijab-it-up,” break a “fastathon” with crêpes, and pass out flowers of faith. This week, the UI Muslim Student Association will host its first Islam Awareness Week, a series of events designed to raise awareness and understanding of Islam on campus.

University of Iowa students are participating in more summer and winter study-abroad programs in order to participate in more than just class. In the 2012-13 school year, 62 percent of UI students participated in study, work, internships, or volunteering during summer or winter sessions — as opposed to 55 percent just three years ago.

Fewer students are enrolling in foreign-language university courses nationally, a study says, but the University of Iowa is not following the trend. According to a survey conducted by the Modern Language Association, there has been a 6 percent decrease in aggregate enrollments. At the UI, however, enrollment numbers have stayed consistent.

The Caribbean, Diaspora, and Atlantic Studies Program (CDA) will host a lecture with Shona N. Jackson titled "Involuntary Settlers, Voluntary Colonials: the Contingent Nature of Subaltern Freedoms in the Caribbean" on Wednesday, March 4 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in 315 Phillips Hall.

Spring Festival — or Chinese New Year — is one of the most important holidays for many Chinese students. Because it occurs during the semester, many say they’ll miss celebrating with their family. University of Iowa senior Yan Sun said she hasn’t celebrated the Spring Festival with her parents for three years.

When a parent of a child with autism in China attempts to take his or her child to a public school, chances are they’ll be turned away. The UI's Youjia Hua and two other faculty members from other institutions have created the first-ever course sequence training Chinese educators and parents to be Assistant Behavior Analysts (ABA) certified. It's a systematic way of approaching students with disabilities. “There is a law in China that every child has a right to an education, but it’s a toothless tiger — no one enforces it.”