My name is Rita Guzmán, and I am a junior studying marketing, international business, and Portuguese. This past summer, I had the amazing opportunity to intern abroad in Dublin, Ireland. Being in Ireland for two months led to constant self-reflection and insight about my identity.

In the spring of 2016, I embarked on an amazing travel opportunity with Semester at Sea. Semester at Sea is a study abroad program sponsored by an American university that travels across oceans to multiple countries by ship. The ship is our home and the world our classroom. I traveled to Eastern Asia and areas of Africa. My itinerary included Japan, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco and then docking in Southampton, London. By the time I returned home, I had traveled to 17 different countries over the course of five months. Rather than cultural immersion, I experienced cultural comparison.

I was lucky enough to grow up in the suburbs of Kansas City in a very nice area. Being the daughter of an American and a Filipino, I’ve grown up living in the American culture while celebrating the Filipino every chance I get. If anyone knew how important it was to understand, respect, and appreciate other cultures, it would be me. I’ve had opportunities to travel to the Caribbean area multiple times for vacation, but I’ll admit that my experience with the different cultures never passed a superficial level. I may have seen all of the beautiful sights a country has to offer, but all I was seeing was just another beach. I was so excited to get the opportunity to redeem myself and be completely immersed in the Italian culture, one I’ve had little to no experience with.

My name is Ashley Arkfeld, and I am a first generation student as well as the first in my family to study abroad. I interned abroad in Barcelona, Spain this summer. Funding a trip abroad for an unpaid internship was something that many of my peers, family members, and friends couldn’t quite wrap their heads around. “Why are you paying to go work over there?” “Couldn’t you get a paid internship here?” “That seems like a waste of money.” I listened to comments and questions such as these for months prior to my trip abroad. Though it seemed silly to so many bystanders, the experience was worth the cost in my eyes. With that being said, scholarships and grants covered 70% of my program costs.

My name is Marcus Smith and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the spring 2016 semester in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was without a doubt the best 5 months of my life, and gave me the chance to grow intellectually, emotionally, and culturally. That being said though, I did have several concerns before my departure, and a majority of them had to do with how my identity as a black male would be received over there.

Since returning home from my study abroad experience in Edinburgh, Scotland people have frequently asked me the same few surface level questions. What was it like? Did I have a good time? Am I glad to be home? It was good, I had a blast, and yes it’s nice to be back in the US. But people rarely ask me about the difficulties of studying abroad, and even more seldom ask how the experience changed me.

My name is Kelsey O’Donnell and I am a fourth year student double majoring in International Studies and Anthropology. For my entire third year, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Cork, Ireland. As a first-generation college student, my sisters and I are the first of our family to attend university, while I am the first of my family to travel abroad. As indicated by my choice in majors, I have always enjoyed learning about other cultures and traveling. As a first year student at Iowa, I was bombarded with information about events and opportunities.

Traveling to Pondicherry with the 2016 India Winterm Program was my first trip abroad and the experiences I had over the three weeks I was there were life changing. I enrolled in the course Serving Children with Disabilities, Empowering Local Women, Assisting Older Adults (SEA). My enrollment in this course provided me with the opportunity to volunteer with nonprofit organizations in the area, attend lectures with guest speakers, and visit ancient temples and other cultural sites. I volunteered at SARVAM, an after school program created by the Sri Aurobindo Society that works to advance the educational attainment of children in rural areas.

I never have traveled outside of the Continental US and Mexico. Being a first-generation student from a Mexican background, every opportunity I have had to go on a trip was usually to visit my family in Mexico. Although, I have always wanted to go somewhere completely different from anything I have experienced before. I decided to, quite abruptly, apply to the London Winterim Program. I felt that a college experience would just not be complete unless one studies abroad while they have the opportunity to and I also really wanted to experience being in another continent.

My sexual identity has never been an easy subject with me. I like to say it is similar to having your worst fear tattooed on your forehead. So, I was branded with “GAY” on my forehead. There were nights where I hated every part of myself because of this one little section of my being, but there were also nights that I felt amazing because of my differences. Going to a nation that the majority of popular opinion is opposed to gay marriage was daunting and it made me think about more than just my sexual identity.

Hello University of Iowa students thinking about studying abroad! Last year, around this time, I was looking into studying abroad just like you! This experience has changed my life. I saw my textbooks come to life, met amazing people, and, above all, found myself.

My name is Nadia Doubiany, and I am a senior at the University of Iowa studying International Studies in Human Rights, Fundraising and Philanthropy Communications, and Spanish. If you are considering study abroad in Cuba, do it! In all of my travels abroad, my experience in Cuba has been by far the most life changing.