International Accents

Seven countries are affected, five with mostly Muslim populations.

For more than twenty years the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Iowa has had an active collaboration with the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Studies (MAPO), now the Northwestern State Medical University (NWSMU) in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A demanding football schedule left Jake Gervase (BBA, finance and management ’18) doubtful he could incorporate a study abroad experience into his undergraduate career—that is, until he learned about global spring break opportunities. Gervase jumped at the opportunity to travel to Cuba through the International Entrepreneurship and Culture short-term study abroad course led by UI faculty members Dimy Doresca (UI Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center) and Jim Dreier (UI School of Music). Gervase plans to use his fifth year of eligibility to continue his UI football career during the 2018-2019 academic year. While doing so, he will be pursuing a graduate degree in sport and recreation management. We caught up with Gervase recently to learn more about his study abroad experience in Cuba.

University of Iowa student Ishaya David has big plans for the future, plans that include assuming leadership of a small nonprofit organization started by his beloved brother and traveling the rural roads of his native Nigeria to educate youth about the dangers of unprotected sex and HIV/AIDS, and the health hazards associated with substance abuse.

UI Fulbright recipient Lucy Patterson will use her grant to channel her language proficiency, quench her love for travel, and find her international calling.

It’s 4 a.m. Omani time and I just finished suhoor, a.k.a. pre-sunrise breakfast. With some encouragement from Muslim friends back in the U.S., I have dedicated myself to abstaining from eating or drinking from sun up to sun down, as the whole Muslim world does during the Ramadan holy month.

An estimated 1.5 billion people across the globe live with chronic pain, and an estimated 61 million people worldwide experience unrelieved serious health-related suffering. One-sixth of the global population lives in India, where approximately 10 million people endure unrelieved serious health-related suffering. The state of Kerala is home to Pallium India, one of the most sophisticated palliative care programs in the country. This private organization in Trivandrum provides palliative and hospice care to underresourced populations and emphasizes holistic pain treatment. The current project features the pain stories of six patients who received treatment from Pallium India. Basic patient demographic information was collected, and a Pallium India staff member who was fluent in Malayalam and English asked questions about each patient’s pain experience. Pain narratives illustrate the substantial impact of Pallium India’s home visit program and the role of total pain assessment in delivering high-quality palliative care.

Some of the best experiences come out of nowhere—but you have to be there first.

From a competitive pool of more than 100 applicants around the country, four UI students have been selected by IES Abroad to share their unique, first-hand study abroad experiences with the world as IES Correspondents for Summer 2018:

For decades, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa has helped make Iowa City a nexus for writers of all ages, walks of life, levels of success—and countries of origin. This environment has enhanced the lives of UI students and Iowa City residents, and for the last several years the IWP has taken the richness of Iowa City’s writing culture to other countries.

At home in Des Moines, I drive almost everywhere I go. In Iowa City, I walk more, but maybe only a few miles each day. While living in Prague, I walk around 7 miles every day, and always more when I travel on the weekends. My record in one day is sixteen miles in Paris! My feet do feel pretty destroyed after four months of this lifestyle, but the constant movement and exercise is so refreshing (and helps shed off some of that weekly gelato).