Alumni , Minnesota State University - Mankato , Russia
Hi everyone! I am Aleksei Terin from Russia and a 2018/2019 Global UGRAD alum. I spent a spring semester at Minnesota State University – Mankato. I experienced significant personal growth as a result of my Global UGRAD experience, and I’d like to share how it changed my perspective and attitude. My participation changed my attitude for the better toward life …
Academic Exchange , Alumni , Boise State , Latin America and the Caribbean , Nicaragua
Thinking that it is 2020 already still impresses me. I turn back and realize it’s been two years now since my experience as an exchange student in the United States with the Global UGRAD Program and many things have changed since then. In 2018, I came back to my country full of new ideas and motivation. After finishing my degree …
Africa , Alumni , Carroll College , Sub-Saharan Africa , Zimbabwe
My name is Sibongile Hokonya, and I participated in Global UGRAD during the 2017-18 program year. Recently, myself and some fellow international exchange alumni celebrated International Education Week (IEW) in style. It was such a refreshing time here in Harare as the Global UGRAD and Study of the U.S. Institutes …
Alumni , American University , Latin America and the Caribbean , Panama
My name is Madeleine Rojas and I’m from Panama. I participated in the Global UGRAD Program in 2017-2018. I remember like yesterday my first day at the American University (AU) – it was the best semester of my life. My Global UGRAD experience changed me forever! Studying abroad is not just an experience or a trip, it’s your entire life …
Alumni , Community Service , Emporia State University , Mauritania , Sub-Saharan Africa
I was first introduced to the Bin Bayyah Foundation in 2015 by ECNU (the English Club of Nouakchott University) because they needed interpreters for the Starkey Hearing Foundation mission that they were sponsoring, which lasted for a week. I went back to volunteering for them during their second mission with the American Starkey Hearing Foundation early in 2017, but this …
Alumni , Honduras , University of Arkansas
Ever since I came back, things were not the same for me here in Honduras. To be honest, at the beginning I felt weird and out of place because I’ve just had the best experience of my life and learned so many things that most of the people around me don’t really understand. Sure they have an idea of some …
Alumni , Kenya , Northern Michigan University
“Hhmmmmm, I don’t know!!” That would be the closest possible response I’d give to any questions to the effect of what I’m up to currently. Partly because I don’t feel like I have been very productive since I came back and partly because I imagine that’s not the ideal response expected by anyone asking the question. For the past nine …
Alumni , Honduras , Iowa Wesleyan University , Latin America and the Caribbean
Thanks to Global UGRAD, my semester-long stay in the United States allowed me to widen out and meet women, some of them being Global UGRAD participants themselves, from all around the globe. They were all immensely different, which was revealed at simple sight: our clothing, food, beliefs and traditions. Pictures and videos reveal how our skin tones beautifully contrasted with …