UI Study Abroad Diversity Ambassador Stephanie Cuddalore Priya is an accounting student at the Tippie College of Business, and a CIMBA spring 2015 alumna. She studied in the small Italian town, Paderno Del Grappa for 12 weeks, traveling to 10 different countries and experiencing self-discovery, adventure, and culture. In this letter to prospective students, she reflects on overcoming being a 'homebody' and how her multicultural background comes in handy while traveling.

UI Study Abroad Diversity Ambassador Scholar Mikkia Graves is a senior majoring in mathematics with a minor in statistics and a certificate in entrepreneurial management. This winter, Graves studied abroad on the USAC Havana Program in Havana, Cuba, where she explored the history and culture of Cuba. In this letter, she reflects on her study abroad experiences in Cuba and India as both a first-generation college student and an African American woman.

UI Study Abroad Diversity Ambassador Scholar Azzah Nasraddin reflects on her identity as a black Muslim American woman while abroad on the UI India Winterim program– and how her experiences broke down her stereotypes and prejudices. Azzah is a sophomore majoring in psychology and social work with a minor in global health and Arabic.

In my last year at Iowa, I served as a Diversity Ambassador in a study abroad program which took me to Havana, Cuba. It was an unforgettable month of culture, dancing, cuisine, and lifelong memories. During my time on the island with the 20 other Americans participating in the USAC program, I learned much about group dynamics, gained some close friends, and had the time of my life experiencing such a unique learning opportunity with a well-rounded group of peers. The most important lessons I learned with regard to diversity, I learned from the people I met on the island.

If you are reading this letter, you may be pondering the idea of studying abroad and trying to decide whether it is something you should do. As a senior in my last year in the College of Education, I debated the idea for many reasons, but the biggest one being the cost. See, my original goal coming out of high school and soon to be first generation college student was to go to college and excel in my academics in order to achieve greatness, but never was it in my plan to study abroad.

Studying abroad in college was something I had always wanted to do since I was a very young age and last semester I finally got the opportunity to do so. I wanted to go to a country where I could utilize my Spanish but I did not want to go to Spain. So I spent my fall semester in Heredia, Costa Rica.

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.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s really been two weeks already. When I was sitting in the airport writing the first blog I honestly had no idea how this trip would go. I didn’t know any of the 50 people going (except for one boy from a previous class), and my nervousness was at an extreme high. Once the jetlag disappeared after a few days, I felt very comfortable in this foreign town.

I finally experienced a typical rainy day in London yesterday. Our class had a day trip to Stonehenge and then to Windsor Castle. It was a bright and early wake up to be outside on the bus at 7:45 am; or I guess I should say dark and dreary. It was lightly raining as all of us zombie walked onto the bus.

It’s New Years Day! Last night I went to Piccadilly Circus to watch the fireworks and they were pretty spectacular. This year was the first year London ticketed their NYE fireworks, but I figure that was more for crowd control rather than for profit. Only those who wished to see the fireworks across from the London eye down by the River Thames were ticketed. Someone told me that last year all of the tubes had to be shut down because of too many crowds.

My name is Hanley. I am currently studying the 2014-2015 academic year abroad in Madrid, Spain. I decided to study in Spain after having spent a year in Peru. I became fascinated with the Spanish language and the many cultures that surround it. My year in Spain has been one of the greatest experiences in my life, to say the least. Perhaps, one of the biggest revelations one could make while abroad is self-discovery. Regardless of people’s said intentions for going abroad, or even just travelling in general, they subconsciously are not only looking to see new parts of the world, but of themselves as well. People travel to find previously undiscovered parts of their identity.