With a love for languages and a deep desire to study abroad, Erika Martinez aspired to be an interpreter. But after she studied abroad in Madrid and discovered her ravenous appetite for literature, she changed course to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts. As she continued to travel and live abroad in Argentina, Mexico, and elsewhere throughout Latin America, Erika took literature courses but never found Dominican authors being taught, and she was hard pressed to find them in bookstores. So, she took it upon herself to make it happen, starting with a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research in creative writing in the Dominican Republic. Over the course of many years, she compiled an anthology, Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women, which was recently published in April 2016. Read on to find out how Erika’s experience in Madrid helped change the course of her life and career.

IES Abroad: You were born in New Jersey to Dominican parents and spent many years of your childhood in Santo Domingo. What led you to study abroad in Madrid, and how was it different than your previous international experiences?

Erika Martinez: To me, going to the Dominican Republic was going to visit family. In a sense, it was going home. It wasn’t an adventure. I’d longed to go to Europe ever since I began studying languages. In seventh grade I started studying Spanish, in eighth grade, French, and in college, Italian. I wanted to visit the places mentioned in my language textbooks. In high school, I saw students return from spring-break trips to Europe, and I always wanted to do what my friends were doing but could never afford to. Flying to Europe, staying in hotels, and taking educational tours was much more expensive then flying to the Caribbean and staying with family.

When I went to Ithaca College, I enrolled as a Spanish major with French and Italian minors so that I could work as an interpreter. I’ve been translating and interpreting for my mother since I was a child. I told myself that I would do a semester in each country; studying abroad would be a way to satisfy the longing I’d had since I’d begun studying languages. But I had to figure out how to do that financially since I couldn’t afford a semester in three different countries. I went to France as an au pair the summer before my junior year. Then I worked as an RA my fall semester, which allowed me to use my full Stafford loan for a spring semester of study abroad in Madrid. I didn’t get a term in Italy, but studying abroad in Madrid allowed me to visit a lot of other places in Europe.

IES Abroad: In what ways did study abroad help you explore your own identity?

EM:  Living in Madrid changed how I saw myself in the world. I’d wanted to go not only because my peers had been there, but also because every time I saw my aunt in the Dominican Republic she referred to Spain as the motherland. On each of my visits to the island, she took me to the colonial zone in Santo Domingo, and had me take a tour of the Alcázar Colón. She wanted me to feel a connection to Spanish colonial history. But I had a difficult experience in Madrid. One day I was using a public phone and someone was waiting for it. I was talking to my friend who was studying abroad in Granada, but I had to end my call because this guy kept telling me to get off the phone. He cursed at me and said, “You and your damn black race.” I was stunned. That moment reminded me that people saw me as black. Spaniards didn’t see me as someone with any tie to their country because of language. That was really difficult.

I also had the opportunity to connect with a cousin who was working in Spain. In 1994, before Spain had become part of the EU, there were a lot of immigration issues with Dominicans in Madrid. My cousin told me I should always walk around with my passport because the police could pick me up. If I didn’t have my passport, they would think I was an undocumented worker from the Dominican Republic. My cousin’s advice made me think about my place in Madrid. I wasn’t just a college student abroad. I had to be careful because of my race and because of my Dominican heritage. This wasn’t something I talked about with my peers, but it was always in the back of my mind. It was scary to think that I could be picked up at any time, and if I didn’t have the right documents on hand, I wasn’t sure where I would end up.

IES Abroad: When you studied abroad, did you have any career goals in mind? Did the experience influence your decision to pursue writing professionally in any way?

EM: Studying abroad sparked my passion for literature. When I went to college to study languages, my end goal was to be an interpreter. I loved languages. I loved learning about other countries. I loved traveling. But the classes that I took in Madrid really opened me up. I took a class called La Generación del ‘27 (The Generation of ‘27) with Marcos Rocca. His passion for poetry was amazing. Before his class, I did not like poetry. But being in class with him changed everything. He recited poems to us. He asked us to read verses aloud, and I fell in love with it. I realized that poetry was meant to be read out loud. I also took a Latin American novel class; I was devouring literature all the time. I had been an avid reader before I went to Madrid, but never as part of my school work. I remember exchanging letters with someone who had studied at IES Abroad Madrid the previous year, and he had had the same experience. He said, “Don’t you just love literature now? Don’t you wish you could write this way, too? I wish I could write like the authors we read.” I wanted to write, but I didn’t think I could. I realized that I could continue studying literature, get a Masters and, perhaps, teach literature.

IES Abroad: After receiving your MFA from Mills College, you were awarded a Fulbright to conduct research in literature and teach creative writing in the Dominican Republic. In what ways did your study abroad help prepare you for this experience?

EM: My IES Abroad experience was a big part of my foundation for the Fulbright. Receiving the grant allowed me to continue pursuing my passion. This is what I should be doing, I reminded myself when I faced challenges throughout that year, and coming back to that again and again was helpful. Fulbright fellows, receive the grant and are expected to work independently. In the beginning, the State Department issues all the warnings and then tells fellows to get out there and make connections. It’s not at all a study abroad program. I had to navigate the literary world in ways that I didn’t know how to, but I learned every day by doing it. In a lot of ways, I replicated for myself the experience that I had had in Spain. In Madrid, I learned that it was important to hear poetry read aloud the way Marcos Rocca recited poems from La Generación del ‘27, so when I was in Santo Domingo I went to readings and I went to the theater. These weren’t assignments. IES Abroad had also programmed many cultural activities outside of the classroom, so I did that for myself during my Fulbright year. I took educational trips. I wanted to learn about the trees and the wildlife because those details needed to be in my writing so I joined a birdwatching group, and I joined a spelunking group. I shaped my experience in the Dominican Republic using my IES Abroad semester as a model.

IES Abroad: Your newly published book, Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women, brings together stories written by Dominican women and women of Dominican decent living in the U.S. What was the inspiration behind the book?

EM: My Latin American Novel class in Madrid didn’t include a Dominican author, and when I lived in Argentina and took Latin American literature, I didn’t study a Dominican novelist either. I also took a poetry class in Mexico, but again I didn’t study any Dominicans. Every time I traveled, I didn’t find Dominican authors being taught, and when I went to bookstores, I didn’t find Dominican books. I had been searching for a long time, so when I finished my MFA, I realized that I wanted to go back to the Dominican Republic because that was the only place I was going to study Dominican literature and that’s where I was going to find those books. That was when I realized that I wanted to work on a book that would be available here in the United States that contained Dominican authors, and I wanted to focus specifically on women authors. Since I had worked with an all-female theater company I knew how important it was to have a female-only space in order to express our experiences, and not have our voices silenced, especially because of the machismo culture in the Dominican Republic and in the Latino community, in general.

The idea had been germinating for a long time, but not until I finished graduate school and decided to figure out how to finance a year of study in the Dominican Republic did it begin to unfold. In fact, a mentor of mine at Mills College was the one who suggested I edit an anthology, and I lit up at the idea. That year, I had an essay published in a women’s anthology called Homeland: Women’s Journeys across Race, Place, and Time. My essay explored the experiences I’d had in Madrid, including my incident in the phone booth and the time I spent with my cousin. Working with the Homeland anthology editors, who were two peers from my MFA program, made me think that I could take on a project like that one day. I never imagined it would be that soon, but I embarked on the process.

IES Abroad: In addition to writing, you are passionate about teaching writing. You served first as a fellow and are now a staff member at the National Writing Project in New Hampshire. How did you get involved and what is your role today?

EM: When I was in Santo Domingo, I met the other Fulbrighters. One was Meg Petersen, who is the director at the National Writing Project in New Hampshire. She was there to start a writing project, and we began collaborating. I participated in one of the institutes that she gave at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, and she served on the reading committee for my anthology. From the beginning, we talked about the need for creative writing classes that taught the writing process in Santo Domingo. Halfway through the year we teamed up with local author Frank Baez to co-teach a creative writing class. The work generated in the class was very engaging. I was even more inspired to write and to continue teaching. Since I loved the theory and research we conducted to develop our lesson plans, Meg suggested that I apply for their Invitational Summer Writing Institute. I applied for 2010, then went as a returning fellow the following year, and then went back as a staff member. I’ve been through the institute for five times. I didn’t go last year, and I won’t go this year, because of the birth of my daughter, but I am still very connected with the National Writing Project. I serve as a judge on their Scholastic Awards Committee. Then, I edit the anthology of the winners. I also edit the Invitational Summer Writing Institute anthology. Since 2008 I’ve also remained involved in the establishment of the writing project in the Dominican Republic. We finally have a director there, who was one of the writers included in the Daring to Write anthology, and this year we will have our first Invitational Summer Writing Institute in Santo Domingo.

IES Abroad: Why do you feel study abroad is important for students today?

EM: Studying abroad is a way to help us understand the world first-hand. And we live in a more global world now. The internet has brought us very far. When I was in college, the internet was just emerging. I remember our French teacher giving us detailed instructions to go to the World Wide Web to look up French culture. Today, there is endless information at our fingertips. Virtually we are more connected, but we tend to be more disconnected at a personal level. At home in our daily rhythm, we tend to engage only with whom we come into direct contact at work or at school. And we disconnect even more, now, because we walk around looking down at our cell phones all the time. I remember when the switch happened—I’d been abroad. And when I returned to the U.S., I noticed BART riders were looking down at their phones instead of looking out and up. I loved living abroad because it helped me look at everything around me. Look up at the buildings. Look around at the parks and engage with people. I felt more alive. I think travel abroad can be an awakening. It makes you come more into your body because you have new sensory experiences. It is so important for our writing. For writers and people, in general, traveling helps open us up. When you are going through new experiences and meet new people daily, you start realizing what you like and what you don’t like, or you notice what types of situations bring out your different characteristics. You get to know yourself more, and you get to know other people in the world. That is so important in order to figure out how to live your best life and how to live it to the fullest.

Studying abroad in London was an eye-opening experience for Mark Shriver. Through travel in Europe, the Soviet Union, Egypt, and Israel that year, Mark was exposed to a multitude of new perspectives, cultures, and different political systems resulting in personal growth. On top of it all, Mark got a first-hand look at the British political system through an internship in Parliament. Coming from a family background of public service, Mark has dedicated his life’s work to advocating for children. Today, as president of Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), Mark fights to make sure that every child has a strong start in life. As the political advocacy arm of Save the Children, SCAN has two goals: to make sure every child in the U.S. has access to high-quality early learning and that no mother or child around the globe dies from a preventable death. In 2012, Mark wrote a New York Times best-selling memoir, A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver. Mark is now finalizing a book on Pope Francis, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis, scheduled to be released this fall. Read on to find out more about the book, the inspiration behind Mark’s passion for children, and why he believes study abroad is important for students today.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time as a student in London?

Mark Shriver: I think it was not only the classes I took but the internship I had at Parliament, working for a Member of Parliament, and being exposed to a different form of government than what I had experienced in America. It was also the ability to travel, not only through the United Kingdom but also being able to go to Ireland and then Europe, being exposed to France and Holland and Italy. And then from there – I did my second semester junior year – I traveled after school was over to what at that point was the Soviet Union, and through Egypt and Israel. So, exposure to history, exposure to different cultures, exposure to different political systems, not just the Parliamentary system but communism in the Soviet Union and being able to go into Berlin – East Berlin and West Berlin – when it was still divided, and exposure to so many different aspects of the world was eye-opening for me as a 21-year-old kid.

There is obviously great value in the act of taking classes abroad, but when you are able to travel abroad and be exposed to the actual places where the history took place, whether it was Paris or Amsterdam, seeing real paintings in museums in Amsterdam to going to museums in Paris to exposure to the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, it was just fantastic for six months. None of that would have happened if I hadn’t had the Junior Year Abroad experience. My point is that I wouldn’t have been over there dealing with any of that – seen Europe, gone to classes there, or been exposed to the travel during the summertime – if I had not been on the IES Abroad program.

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in London?

MS: I don’t know if I “changed,” but I think it was the exposure to all these different cultures, history, and different people that helped me grow the most while studying abroad. I didn’t have a “Saul on the Road to Damascus” experience. I just think it is exposure to different political systems. It’s exposure to different people, different lifestyles, and I think it is all part of the maturation process. It was a fascinating real life experience.

IES Abroad: Were there any lessons learned abroad that have remained a constant throughout your life?

MS: I think there are different ways of learning. When you are exposed to different people, different ideas, different experiences, you grow as an individual. You can study all you want through a book, but if you live it in a setting that is different than the college or university campus that you are used to, for four or six months or a year, that’s going to profoundly alter your education and really enhance it. And that’s what the study abroad experience was for me. I think if you are weighing whether to stay an extra semester at your university or go travel to Europe or Central or South America or Asia, the case was strong not only in 1985 when I went, but even stronger today, because the world is flatter and the world is smaller than it was when I was in college. So, am I encouraging our daughter to go when she is in her junior year? Yes. Hugely.

IES Abroad: You have dedicated your life’s work to advocating for children and the right of every child in the U.S. to have a ‘safe and vibrant childhood,’ including access to high-quality, early childhood education and to end preventable deaths of moms and kids around the world. What has compelled you to fight for children’s rights?

MS: I think it was my experience in college working in an Upward Bound program. My brother ran an Upward Bound program for kids in the Hartford and New Haven Connecticut Public Schools System, and I worked there two summers tutoring inner-city kids who were struggling in school. They were very bright, yet for one reason or another were struggling. I enjoyed that work immensely, and when I got out of college, I had a friend who worked with kids who had been arrested, juvenile delinquents, and it just seemed like there was huge opportunity to help kids and essentially start something new that could succeed. That is why I started a program called The Choice Program, and that has really taken off. That is where I have spent most of my career. We are trying to help children, and we are trying to mobilize people and resources around that issue, trying to get people to work together to make a difference in kids’ lives. It’s exciting. It’s rewarding. It makes a big difference in other people’s lives, so it is a pretty good job.

IES Abroad: What is your vision as President of Save the Children’s Action Network?

MS: There isn’t a really strong voice for kids in America. There is no NRA for kids. The AARP is for adults. There is the NRA, which is for hand-gun control or lack thereof. The question is: what organization is that strong voice for children that makes a difference in the political arena, and there isn’t one. So we are trying to be that voice to mobilize people to care about children and their needs and to put some pressure and accountability on elected officials so that they will do well by our kids.

IES Abroad: You are finalizing a new book on Pope Francis, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis. Can you give us an update or tell us how the project is going?

MS: It is coming out the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (2016). It has been an incredible journey. I got to talk to dozens of Pope Francis’ colleagues and friends trying to figure out who he is, to get a better understanding of who the man is and how he thinks and acts. He is a fascinating individual who really does walk the walk. He is very humble, he is very dedicated, and he is incredibly committed to not only the concept of mercy and love but of service to others. There is this Catholic ideal of being a man or a woman for and with others, and he is definitely a man for and with others. He listens to poor people. He doesn’t just serve, but he listens and tries to learn from everybody that he meets. He is a real role model.

IES Abroad: Looking back over your career and your life in public service, what are you most proud of?

MS: I am most proud of being married for 25 years and having three kids who are thoughtful and who help others. They do a lot of community service work and they work hard and they give back. When all is said and done, that is the most important thing. You can have buildings named after yourself, but if your kids don’t like you or talk to you, you’re not doing too well. It doesn’t really add up to much. That is what I am most proud of. The kids are doing great work. And I work with a lot of fantastic people every day who are trying to make the world a little bit better, so I’m proud of that, too.  

IES Abroad: What words of wisdom do you have for future generations – today’s children and young adults – regarding the importance of gaining an international experience, regardless of financial means?

MS: I made the decision to enroll at IES Abroad on short notice, and I’m so glad I did it. I’m definitely encouraging our children to study abroad. My wife studied abroad her junior year in France. She learned a language. She understands that culture better than anyone I know. I think having a better understanding of the world is so much more important than it was when I was in college in the mid-80s. So, if a kid has an opportunity to study in a country that they are interested in, and they can travel from that country or stay within that country, or travel around that continent that they are on, that’s a tremendous opportunity. It just breaks down walls of misunderstandings and prejudice. If you think the culture is not that sophisticated or not that thoughtful, and you meet people who are thoughtful and sophisticated and you understand the issues that they are dealing with and the problems they are facing, the solutions they are trying to implement – that is always going to help you in life. It is going to broaden your horizons, and it is going to make you a better leader, a better employee, a better mom or dad. I think it’s great.

While studying abroad in Salamanca to improve his Spanish-language skills, Leighton Rice immersed himself in the rich history and culture of Spain. The experience left him inspired to learn about his own history and return to his hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There he joined the family business, Rice Fruit Company – the largest apple-packing facility in the Eastern U.S. – despite not having a background in agriculture. In our interview, Leighton shares how the lessons and skills he learned in Salamanca continue to impact his career, and why he supports scholarships for IES Abroad students.

IES Abroad: As a student at Haverford College majoring in Religion, why did you decide to study abroad and what drew you to Salamanca?

Leighton Rice: I decided to study abroad because I had talked to so many people who said that it was a must, that it was a life-changing experience and gave them a healthier attitude towards their college education. I wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country because I had two years of college-level study in the language and thought that immersion was the best way to improve. This turned out to be very true. I remember towards the end of my study…renting some bikes and riding through the little pueblos outside the city with a friend who was doing study abroad concurrently in Holland. We stopped and chatted with some locals out for a walk. They asked me, after hearing me speak for ten minutes, if I was from Salamanca. That was a “wow” moment for me!

I wanted to go to Europe instead of Latin America because I’m more interested in European history and culture. I’ve also had a fascination with Spain since the summer of 1999, when my family went on a three-week vacation to Spain where we drove most of the Camino de Santiago. Also, I had recently read James Michener’s Iberia which details the different cities and regions of Spain. Salamanca called to me for some reason. For one, I’ve never been a big-city guy and Salamanca seemed just the right size. I feel like I explored every little nook and cranny of that beautiful town.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time in Salamanca?

LR: One of the things I loved most about study abroad and about Salamanca, specifically, was the sense of discovery. You could walk down a crooked side-street and discover something magical – the likes of which would make it the main attraction in a town in the U.S. But in Salamanca, it was just one those hidden treasures that almost seemed forgotten. It might be a beautiful 900-year-old church or civic building or maybe a beautiful park or a piece of public art. The history practically dripped from the walls. I took a class on literature and poetry from Spain’s golden age. I remember one morning studying a poem written by a poet who, the book stated, also happened to be an organist. Stepping outside the classroom into one of the many beautiful plazas in the town, I took notice of a statue standing in front of what looked like organ pipes glistening with water that was trickling down in the fashion of a public fountain. When I looked closer, I saw it was the same name as the poet we were just reading. Somehow the professor didn’t think to mention that the same poet was an organist at one of the large cathedrals in Salamanca and that his statue stood just outside the door of the building.

IES Abroad: Why did you decide to go into agriculture and work for the family business, R&L Orchards and Rice Fruit Company?

LR: My role now is Quality Assurance Director at Rice Fruit Company. It is a fairly large business that packs and sells fruit for the wholesale market, mainly on the East Coast. Our largest customers are Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Publix, and Whole Foods. We also sell heavily into the New York and Boston markets. I came here about two years ago after seven years working at R&L Orchards, which is the field branch of the same family company. When I left Salamanca, I had the strong sense that I wanted to go into the family business. Similar to that was the feeling that I wanted to learn more about my hometown of Gettysburg. I can’t say why, exactly. For one, when you immerse yourself in world history, you become more aware of your own history and your role in the world. Just like the native Spaniards who might not think much of the cultural riches that surround them, I didn’t think much of the National Park at Gettysburg and all the monuments and stories about the battle. Now, I am more curious to learn about those things. And I am more interested to do my part to supply the world with quality apples and peaches.

IES Abroad: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in the business? Were there lessons learned in Salamanca that are valuable in your work today as both a farmer and a businessman?

LR: A family business presents many challenges that a normal business does not. I’ve weathered many challenges related to that aspect of my career. In the end, I see it as a positive thing, and I have to attribute some of that optimism to the lessons I learned while studying abroad. Specifically, I learned a great deal of humility when I was abroad. Study abroad is not an easy experience, and I don’t think anyone should expect it to be smooth sailing. You are stepping way out of your comfort zone into a culture and language that might not be familiar to you. So, you are forced to use the language skills you have. If those skills are not highly-developed, you are often left feeling stupid and weak – a good life lesson. Having Spanish language skills has been very important in my career. Most of the force behind agriculture is Spanish-speaking. Most industries in the U.S. employ Hispanic workers at some level. Half of the interactions I have during the day are carried on in Spanish. When I worked on the farm it was more.

IES Abroad: What is one thing you learned while abroad that remains a constant in your life today?

LR: The importance of spirited action. The only way to do anything in life is to do it! I walked into the family business knowing practically nothing about an industry which is highly complex and relies on nuanced aspects of weather and world markets. It was very overwhelming, but I never ran from anything out of fear. I just got out there and learned it, one day at a time. That means hop right up on the tractor, drop the clutch, and go. I made plenty of mistakes, which are all-the-more embarrassing when you’re the boss’s nephew. Once I even drove a tractor straight into an irrigation pond. But after nine years in the business, I’ve learned a tremendous amount. I guess you could say that study abroad helped me to embrace the principle of spirited action. Just give it a try, even if you don’t know what you’re doing (within reason of course). And don’t look back.

IES Abroad: You participated in IES Abroad’s first ever #GivingTuesday campaign in 2014. Why is study abroad so important to you, and what motivated you to make a gift to support scholarships for future students?

LR: I think we learn a lot about ourselves by experiencing contrasts. Therefore, one of the greatest achievements of the study abroad experience is self-discovery. I came away from my semester in Salamanca with a much clearer idea about my future and many of the skills I would need for that journey. In the context of most people’s lives, there is no better opportunity to undertake this type of learning than through study abroad. IES Abroad provided each of us with a greater chance to explore. I have given to IES Abroad because it is a sure bet for positive change.

Forced by her German mother to study abroad and learn the language, Alexandra Jewett didn’t have much of a choice, but it ended of being one of her greatest experiences and opened up numerous opportunities as a result. After the CIA showed interest in her after college graduation, she took what she believed was a safer route and returned home to Washington, D.C. to instead take a job in television production. She soon moved to NYC to work on The Phil Donahue Show, which won several Daytime Emmys during her tenure, and was eventually tasked with launching American-style daytime talk shows internationally. The skills she learned abroad proved instrumental as she successfully launched shows in Germany, France, Holland, England, Israel, and Malaysia. Three children later, she easily stepped into launching and executive producing shows back in the U.S. Today, Alexandra runs programming and development for Debmar-Mercury, a leading television production, syndication, and distribution company, overseeing shows such as The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game with Craig Ferguson. Nominated for several Daytime Emmys herself, Alexandra remains extremely grateful for her year abroad and is forcing her daughters to study abroad in college, too.

IES Abroad: What motivated you to study abroad and why did you choose the program in Freiburg?

Alexandra Jewett: I wasn’t so much motivated to study abroad. I was forced by my parents, and it turned out to be one of the best gifts they gave me. My mother is German. She was born in Nuremburg. German was not offered in my high school, so I didn’t start studying German until college at Vassar. It wasn’t going well. It was dragging down my GPA quite a bit. My mother decided that I really needed to go spend a full year in Germany studying the language and continuing my studies, which was the last thing I wanted to do. She was quite high on Freiburg because it was a beautiful university town, and she knew it well. She was the driving force. I don’t know if they even offered a semester program. None of my friends were studying abroad for a full year. I had some of my high school friends at other colleges that were doing a semester in Rome or a semester in England.  It really was a life changing experience. Just in terms of understanding the culture and learning the language, and not to sound trite, but in finding myself and understanding who I was in a lot more meaningful way than I think I would have staying at Vassar for that year.

IES Abroad: Did you have an 'ah ha' moment while you were in Europe that critically changed the way you think?

AJ: I went the summer before, and then I stayed through the following summer, so I was there for 15 months.  And again, not by choice. I was really alone. I had no friends, no family in Freiburg. I became friends with the other Americans who were studying in Freiburg, and they were unlike any friends I had ever made in high school or college. We didn’t have any cell phones, and it was always snowing in Freiburg. I would have to trudge through the snow to the pay phone to put the coins in to reach my family or friends. I remember feeling very lonely and sort of not in control of my life, and in the beginning I really wanted to come home. But by the time I left, I had the opportunity to travel to so many different places and countries and meet so many people that I would have never opened myself up to meet. I came back a changed person, changed for the better.

I think maybe my “ah ha” moment came after I came back home for my senior year. That was when I felt this enormous gratitude that I had gone and done that, had the experiences, and had in that one year seen so much of the world, met so many interesting people, and learned things that I never would have been able to learn in my classrooms and about myself and about the world. And I also came back speaking German fluently, which ended up being a real gift to me in my career, especially in the early part of my career.

IES Abroad: How did studying in Freiburg impact your career, particularly early on as you started your career in television?

AJ: I was a political science major and international relations minor in college, and I studied international relations in Freiburg. When I came back, the CIA was showing an enormous interest in me, which was an interesting twist. It was this sort of entry level job but I had to commit to living abroad for three years, and the pay was really good. I don’t know that I even considered it seriously. The thought of it terrified me. It was during the Cold War, and what I imagined I would be doing, no real facts, but my imagination got the better of me. But there was real interest in me because I spoke fluent German, I had spent a good deal of time in Europe, and I was able to assimilate well into another culture. When I graduated from college and moved to Washington D.C., like most graduates, I couldn’t find a job. So I ended up, by default, taking an available job in television production, something I knew nothing about. Early on in my career, I was a producer on The Phil Donahue Show in New York City, and my husband took a job in Albany. I had to quit my job, which I loved, and the chairman of the company that owned and produced Donahue asked if I spoke any other languages. Freiburg is very close to France, and I had taken French in high school, so I said, “Yes, I speak German and French,” and he said, “Great, let’s go start American-style talk shows in international territories. We’ll start with Germany.” And I went to Germany and launched the first of three shows we did in there, including two extremely successful daytime talk shows, one called Fliege and another called Vera am Mittag.

IES Abroad: What skills in particular helped you launch daytime television shows in international territories?

AJ: I went over and I tried to understand not only the landscape of daytime television, but even more importantly, the culture and habits of the country, so I could figure out what kind of show would work. Then I would begin the process of finding and recruiting talent, a production partner, etc. etc.  We launched the first one in Germany, then went on to launch shows in France, Holland, England, Israel, and Malaysia. We launched a number of really successful shows in international territories. We had U.S. competitors, but I think I really had an advantage because I knew how to walk into a foreign territory and very quickly assimilate and very quickly have enormous respect for their culture, their values, and work with the team, a local team there, to create something that would work for them and their audience. I eventually had three children, and I was spending 18 days a month abroad, and it just became too difficult. I decided I really needed to focus on working here in America, not traveling. Because I had launched almost a dozen television shows, it was a big stepping stone, and I was able to step right into launching and executive producing shows in the U.S. 

IES Abroad: Tell us about your work today at Debmar-Mercury. What gets you up in the morning and excites you the most?

AJ: I run programming and development for Debmar-Mercury, a production, syndication, and distribution television company. We have multiple formats on the air, from talk shows to game shows to sitcoms. The company is partly owned by Lions Gate. I oversee the current programming that we have on the air as well as develop new programming, new shows for syndication. Right now, we produce The Wendy Williams Show. We have a game show called Celebrity Name Game with Craig Ferguson. We distribute Family Feud. We have Anger Management with Charlie Sheen in syndication. We have a lot of shows from game shows to talk shows in the development pipeline as well as continuing to develop scripted. At the end of every day, no matter how difficult of a day I’ve had, I feel like I had a more interesting day than most people. You’re telling stories, you’re working with talent, and you’re meeting people that you would never ever get to meet or talk to if it weren’t for your job. Because I spoke a couple of other languages, I was chosen early on in my career to travel a lot and now 25+ years I have traveled to most parts of the world – Russia, Malaysia, Israel, and throughout Europe – for work, and that has been extraordinary. I feel enormous gratitude that I’ve gotten to go so many places, meet so many people, and work together with so many different people. I just can’t imagine what other job I would have had that would have allowed me to do that.

IES Abroad: You have been nominated for a Daytime Emmy several times and many of the programs you have worked on has won prestigious awards. What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?

AJ: For many, many years I was a daytime talk show producer and executive producer. A dozen of those, I certainly helped create and launch. But creating and launching daytime talk shows in foreign territories successfully is probably one of my greatest accomplishments. It was a herculean task, and I would have never ever been able to do it successfully or do it well if I hadn’t spent a year studying and living and working abroad. No way would I have been able to feel confident, feel comfortable, be open enough, understand that I was the stranger in the land and needed to assimilate. Because I may know how to launch a TV show, but that doesn’t mean I know how to launch a TV show in France or in Italy or in Malaysia. So, for me, that is what I am most proud of.

IES Abroad: Are there lessons you learned in Freiburg that have remained a constant throughout your career?

AJ: I think one big lesson for me was that you can’t control everything. I was used to having much more control over my life. I was young, I had gone through high school and two years of college, but I was able to control who I hung out with, my schedule, what classes I wanted to take, what I wanted to do with my free time. Moving to Germany with no cell phone, not speaking the language, and knowing nobody and knowing that I was going to be there for 15 months, I had to figure it all out. I remember feeling very out of control and feeling very lonely at times, but I also remember coming home and feeling enormous pride that I had done the year well and had much more self-confidence than I even knew was possible. I had incredible gratitude for the experiences that I had, the places that I had been able to go, the people that I had been able to get to know, and I had a stronger sense of who I was and how I wanted to live my life. I didn’t have control over a lot of it. A lot of it I just had to accept, and that wasn’t something I was all that used to. I have looked back on that experience a lot over my life when things feel a little out of control. You just have to put one step in front of the other, and your attitude is going to determine what kind of a day you have. So, just have a good attitude and move forward. I think that is one lesson I learned from studying abroad.

IES Abroad: In what ways do you stress the importance of studying abroad to your own children?

AJ: With my own three daughters, my line has always been: I will not pay one penny of college unless you commit to study abroad. Two of the three have already gone off and studied abroad and have come back a changed person for the better – more mature, more empathetic, a deeper understanding of themselves and what their capabilities are, a willingness to be open to other people and cultures. It may have taken them much longer to figure out how important it is to embrace curiosity, to know how to adapt, to make an effort to try to fit in to disparate cultures and places, and to embrace things that feel and seem foreign to you, rather than turn away. They know how important an experience it was for me because I’ve talked about it always. Just to go and live on your own in a place that is so unfamiliar and really try to embrace that experience, though maybe lonely at times or sometimes too far from the comforts of home, I don’t know many people that ever regretted doing it. In fact, it is the opposite. When else in your life can you go and live in some totally new land for six months at a time? Once you graduate from college, you get on that hamster wheel pretty quickly, and it is hard to find a job that will even give you two weeks off. The opportunities for travel and the opportunities to sit in a café and talk to somebody who you would never ever have the opportunity to meet in your lifetime are just extraordinary.

My advice: don’t go over there and immediately find the other Americans and only hang out with them because that you can do anytime. This is quite possibly the only time in your life you will ever have the opportunity to go live in a different country and really try to understand that place and the culture and the people. When else do you have the opportunity to do that? Go study abroad if at all possible. And once you get there…soak it all in, and do your best to fit in. It will enrich your life in ways you can’t imagine. And you will have extraordinary memories for a lifetime.

A true cosmopolitan, a “man of the world,” Dr. William G. Durden never realized what the world had in store for him as a first generation college student. After getting the travel bug during a high school immersion trip and having a “mindful” year-long experience in Freiburg, Dr. Durden went on to lead an impressive career in higher education. Through it all – from professor at Johns Hopkins University to President of the Division of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. to President of Dickinson College – Dr. Durden has been a champion of international education. In our interview, Dr. Durden explains the important role study abroad played in his life, and why he believes it remains such an important experience for students today.

IES Abroad: You were one of the first in your family to attend college. Had you traveled internationally before studying abroad?

William Durden: I had studied German in junior high and high school, and there was a German teacher who organized summer trips to Germany in two parts – the A plan and the B plan, or the economy class and the business class versions. I went on the economy class trip, which was far less expensive. We went over on a ship, which was great fun, and lived with a family in a German city. As I spent my summer in a small German town, I realized there was something that attracted me to another dialogue and another way of looking at the world.  

IES Abroad: How did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study in Freiburg?

WD: I originally intended to be an English major, but I realized I would have to “destroy” the English language by overanalyzing and dissecting it in order to learn it well. I didn’t want to do that, so I switched over to German and combined it with Philosophy. Somehow it felt more comfortable to take apart another language in order to learn it. I was the first or second group to go overseas with IES Abroad from Dickinson. Everyone in the College was behind the idea of study abroad and supported it. There was something about being abroad that appealed to me. This encouragement – that of course I would study overseas – made it easier to go.

IES Abroad: What were some of the most influential memories from your time in Freiburg as an undergraduate student?

WD: I think I was practicing mindful international education. By being a first generation student, I had the feeling that I knew I wanted to have a purposeful education. So, before I went, I read lots of German literature that was asking questions about life. I came upon German philosophers that practiced in Freiburg, and I was lucky enough to get into this first semester course that turned out to be a nine-year seminar in Heidegger’s philosophy.

The second element was that I learned some things about myself. I didn’t really realize until I was in the IES Abroad environment about how we (our group) would approach that year and help take care of each other. I was elected the class speaker. I realized that maybe I do have some abilities to get things done, organize experiences, etc. I also realized that I liked people – I like helping people, I like engaging with them, working with a sense a humor. I liked negotiating and figuring things out.

I began throughout the year to recognize my lifestyle, how I felt most comfortable existing. We would go to the café, have coffee, exchange our ideas. It became a habit, a lifestyle – reading books, challenging each other – with both my American IES Abroad friends and my German friends. With my IES Abroad friends, I remember just wandering the city and observing. It very much became what I still do today. When I go to places, I still seek out the local café, wander the city, and observe as much as I can.

IES Abroad: During your 16-year tenure at Johns Hopkins University as German professor and executive director of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY), you also had a long-standing engagement with the U.S. Department of State. How did you get involved with the State Department?

I have always had an international component. The world is bigger than the U.S., and we need to consider the bigger world. I was the founding director of CTY. International education is an international issue. As you get out there, people notice. They came to me. They knew Johns Hopkins’ reputation, and they asked me to get involved. There is no doubt in my mind that they saw I had an international experience in my background. Obviously, they wanted to engage someone who was comfortable internationally and had experience. The State Department just celebrated their 30^th anniversary of the gifted and talented program they recruited me to start. It is going strong, with an effort to help ensure U.S. students in international schools around the world focus on gifted and talented and learning challenges. The more you are out there, the more you see how the world is related, and people are related. I wrote a book, Living on the Diagonal, that addresses these issues. It all started years ago in Freiburg.

IES Abroad: From Johns Hopkins you took a dual-leadership role with Sylvan Learning as President of the Division of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. and Vice-President for Academic Affairs of the Caliber Learning Network, a joint distance-learning venture of Sylvan and MCI. What motivated you to make this change?

WD: One of things I got involved in at Johns Hopkins was testing and the SAT. I was never really satisfied with administering the test solely or focusing on verbal and mathematic abilities. It was missing those who didn’t have proper learning about these things. I thought, maybe there is another intelligence, a spatial intelligence. We might find people who we could identify and nurture, those whose first language is not English, for example. There was imagery that was beginning to show up beyond letters and numbers. I wondered if we could make tests more readily available if they were computerized. The place that was doing this was Sylvan Learning Systems. They had a huge division of prometrics, computerized testing. I approached the company and they did it pro-bono, they published the test.

There was a part of me that was an academic entrepreneur. I liked building things. The CEO of Sylvan Learning Systems called me up and asked me if I was interested in working with them. My first trip with them was to Germany to look at a Germany company that they were looking to buy. I helped with the negotiations, and I ended up staying in Dusseldorf for two years.

IES Abroad: After Sylvan, you served as President of Dickinson College for 14 years. Tell us how that happened. 

WD: I was totally happy where I was and the College came to me. I said no. I didn’t think Dickinson College was achieving academically how I wanted it to achieve nor

did I want to be a part of it. I didn’t have the confidence in the leadership. The headhunter came back and said the Search Committee refused my answer. I told them, as an alum, I was extremely disappointed. I would shake thing up and do things the way I thought best. I don’t want a contract. I said I would stay as long as I feel I am being effective. Except for the military and Dickinson College, I’ve never had a job that pre-existed me. It was either made up for me, or I made it up for myself. The foundation for that came out of my international explorations.

IES Abroad: In 2006, The Forum on Education Abroad, the official Standards Development Organization for the field of education abroad, moved its operations to Dickinson College. Why was it important that Dickinson play a lead role in international education at the national level?

WD: Dickinson College always had that international bent. Even back when I was a student there, they were so supportive of students having international experiences. I attempted from my position to support that. It was a very natural and easy fit for me to engage in that. What Dickinson College was lacking was a leadership narrative – something people would want to be part of. It lacked the ability to drive self-confidence and know who it was. The founder was Dr. Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Rush went to Princeton but he did his medical degree in Edinburgh. That year in Scotland was the most formative of his life. He wrote a letter where he would advise how to approach overseas study – steps to take, including going to dances and speaking to all types of people. I was trying to reclaim the international influence of the founding and reinvent the institution. International education was an issue that mattered, and I wanted us at the table. The Forum just fit in with my narrative. It was an additional way to participate with others in the national and international conversation.

IES Abroad: What advice would you give students today as they are embarking on their study abroad?

WD:

1. Have a mindful experience. It is somewhat purposeful, not accidental. There is virtue in the accidental, but not totally. You need to prepare and to think about it. So, give it some thought. Prepare as much as you can. Prepare for where you are going – read the literature, learn about the customs, try to understand what is different.
2. When you are there, engage. Be out there. Absorb every bit of the experience that you can. It is nice to have a focus that orients you, but then find connection to random things that happen. Be engaged, live very intensely during that year.
3. Reflect on the meaning of that year. We don’t do it enough. Specific skills may have been picked up, but what about the subtle things. Whole set of things start to change when you are abroad for a sustained period.
4. Have an ethical frame of mind to going overseas. People are more alike than they are different. Our effort should be to find that commonality. It is a lifestyle, a disposition. Today, in particular, students should be poised to reflect upon where they are going, how that location is a shared place of global challenge, and use that to give structure to their experience. Higher education costs too much to be a frivolous experience. There needs to be intentionality.
5. Form a deep sustained relationship to a local person in the foreign context, and sustain it beyond the year. It is really difficult to do, and to do that with just one person is a success.

IES Abroad: You retired as President of Dickinson College, but you haven’t slowed down. You remain an active champion of international education. Why is it so important?

WD: It’s not work. It’s all about living the fullest life that is possible. When you extend your points of contact both in the U.S. and overseas, you are increasing the possibility of a wholesome life. You then want others to have this opportunity. It’s the right path for others if they want to accomplish it, too. You want them to have the most expansive area from which to build the quality of their own life and their contribution to the rest of the world. It turns out that it is absolutely essential to have global connections. I’m such an advocate of international education because, look, for a first generation kid, it opened up such a playing field for me, such mobility. I can only recommend it for others.

Today, Dr. Durden juggles several demanding positions – commuting to the U.K. once a month as Dean of the new School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) at Bath Spa University; lecturing as Professor of Liberal Arts at Dickinson College; serving as Joint Professor (Research) at the Johns Hopkins School of Education; and working as an Operating Partner for Sterling Partners.

An English major with a passion for art history, Major General Tracy Garrett found that joining the U.S. Marine Corps allowed her to combine all of her interests, including a love of travel. Her 36 years of service in various posts with the U.S. Marine Corps included acting as the first woman Inspector General of the Marine Corps. Major General Garrett retired from the military in 2014. Today, she continues to take an active role with service men and women and is focused on fostering leadership among young girls, in particular. Studying abroad helped Major General Garrett develop skills she drew upon throughout her career as a woman in senior levels of the U.S. military.

IES Abroad: You were a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) student at the University of Washington and an English major. What motivated you to study abroad in Vienna?

TG: I received my NROTC scholarship in 1974, and I believe that was the first year women had the opportunity to receive ROTC scholarships in the Navy program. I asked that my scholarship be dedicated to the Marine Corps, and I was commissioned in 1978 as second lieutenant. Some branches of the military require specific degrees of their prospective officers, but the Marine Corps was not restricted in that way. I wanted to major in English and art history, and the Marine Corps allowed me to do that. I chose to go abroad as a way of expanding on the art history education I received at school, which can largely be a matter of studying a timeline and memorizing slides about artwork. Seeing these works of art firsthand was such a tremendous opportunity.

IES Abroad: What are some of your memories from your time in Vienna?

TG: The most influential things were the experience of traveling independently and developing a new appreciation for architecture. Going to the Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) introduced me to architecture as a meaningful expression of culture. I also traveled to Budapest, Florence, Czechoslovakia – wherever I could get to easily from Vienna. I had a flood of wonderful experiences seeing original art. It was magical and so accessible. Traveling to Vienna was my first international experience. Many of the other students had done family travel already, staying in lovely hotels and enjoying great meals. That was not my experience – I was there on a shoe string budget. Luckily, one of the joys of seeing art is that access to it is generally free. I was really on my own, and I loved it.

IES Abroad: What type of personal and/or professional impact did the study abroad experience have on you?

TG: Ultimately, I learned how accessible the world is. Vienna is a very long way from Seattle, Washington. Vienna was even on the edge of being a forbidden travel destination, situated so close to the Soviet Union. This sense of stretching my boundaries opened me up and prepared me for things I later did in my professional life with ease. For example, I was on active duty in Iraq, and in my last five years before retirement, I spent time in Africa. Just because a place is unusual, doesn’t mean it’s inaccessible. Really, the whole world is accessible.

IES Abroad: When you joined NROTC, you did not intend to make the military your career. Why did you decide to stay on?

TG: A large part of my professional career has been as a reservist, which is essentially halftime. The work-life balance that being a reservist afforded me while building a meaningful career was really important. People can be drawn to the military for practical reasons, but then we stay with the military for more heartfelt reasons – for service, for mission. I always appreciated the adventure that comes with being in the military. I have traveled all over, and I have made many professional acquaintances. You see our national government from a different perspective. The work and the adventure just kept getting better and better as I became more senior.

IES Abroad: Did studying abroad help you manage the ambiguities of your work? What skills were most important to successfully navigating your 36-year career with the U.S. Marine Corps?

TG: Studying abroad taught me that accepting a culture that is foreign to you allows you to see the genuine upside of diversity. In our nation, we see the immigrant experience from the outside. But when you are the outsider, you gain a different perspective. Studying abroad feeds that shift in curiosity. You accept that you are going to have wildly unusual experiences, and having that acceptance is huge for grown-up life. Studying abroad is transformative.

The discipline of looking back at the United States from an outside point of view was clearly important to my work with the Marine Corps. All international media is aimed at the U.S., and it flips one’s perspective to see us through the eyes of the Austrians, for example. Looking at our country from abroad made me skeptical of the media and the inputs we get from living in the States. Now, it’s all global, and if you are bound by your national perspective, you are nearly blind.

IES Abroad: In 2007, you were promoted to Brigadier General and then served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps, becoming the first woman to hold this post. In 2010, you were promoted to Major General, a position few women have held. What has being a woman at senior leadership levels of the U.S. military meant to you?

TG: The experience of being a senior leader comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility, especially in public service. You are held to high standards and face public scrutiny. Then, there is the added filter of doing all that as a woman. Regardless of gender, however, you must work your way up the pyramid, and every day is a challenge. Being a Marine or a leader of any kind is complex; the system is bound by an outside framework that comes with inherent prejudices and biases. The successful person will have the skills to navigate that framework. I have faced a lot of gender discrimination, but I think one’s work speaks for itself. Doing a good job is hard to overlook. In a meritocracy, if you do well, if you work hard, you will get promoted. That lessens the influence of discrimination right there.

IES Abroad: What is a general misunderstanding about the U.S. military today?

TG: There actually is a large degree of open-mindedness among those in the military. We are faced with the challenges of achieving world peace, and meeting these challenges involves young people who are idealistic about what’s possible to achieve and about the value of their service to the nation. In general, though, those who come into the military want to do good things. There is a tremendous amount of open-mindedness about how we are going to accomplish our mission and what is possible. There is an intense determination to meet the mission that is not present in other contexts. I have worked in business and in the non-profit sector, but it is different in the military. We undergo physical and emotional challenges together, which builds a great amount of loyalty to each other. Above our commitment to each other is our commitment to the mission. That is a positive and powerful environment to work in. Nothing beats it.

IES Abroad: You serve on the Board of Directors of the United States Automobile Association (USAA) as well as the Girls Scouts of Western Washington. How did you get involved with these organizations and what motivates you today?

TG: USAA is a wonderful organization and business enterprise. It was set up to provide for the financial security and well-being of military personnel and families. The board has been a tremendous experience for me. There are thirteen board members, and four are women. I am honored to be a part of the organization. The Girl Scouts of Western Washington is a position I sought out because I was a Girl Scout for many years, and also because I had a couple of opportunities while in uniform to try to form a bridge between the Girl Scouts and the military. I think of it as the premier leadership organization for girls and women. One thing that many congresswomen have in common is that about 80% were Girl Scouts. They are a very diverse group of women, but they share good leadership abilities, and they likely learned that through scouting. Girl Scouts grow into women who will make a difference for our country.

IES Abroad: Why do you feel studying abroad is so important?

TG: Studying abroad is an opportunity to break out a little bit, to move away from your comfort zone. Your focus might be developing your language skills or something site-specific, but regardless of what your initial motivation is, magic happens when you are open and in a place that is unfamiliar.

With a basic understanding of Spanish and an interest in food, art and music, Barcelona was the perfect study abroad location for Adam Romanow. Immersing himself in the culture and language forced him out of his comfort zone, and he returned home with a greater sense of independence and a new outlook on the world. After embarking on a career in consulting right out of college, Adam decided it was time for a change. Interested in craft beer, Adam left his job for an apprenticeship at a small brewery. Turning his passion into a career, Adam opened Castle Island Brewing Co. in December 2015 with a mission to provide great beer without the pretense that can sometimes take the fun out of craft beer. Read on to find out how learning to communicate effectively was, by far, the most valuable skill he brought home from his time abroad.

IES Abroad: What motivated you to study abroad and why Barcelona?

Adam Romanow: I’ve always enjoyed traveling and exploring new places, so the decision to study abroad was an easy one – I never turn down the chance to experience a new place I’ve never been. As for Barcelona, I took some Spanish in high school and really wanted to be able to study abroad in a place where I had a basic understanding of the local language, but where I could take it a step further and really make an attempt at full immersion with not just the language but the culture as well. I had heard great things about Barcelona from a college friend, and also being a huge food, art, and music fan, it seemed like a natural fit.

IES Abroad: What are one or two impactful memories from your semester abroad?

AR: One incredibly impactful moment for me was when my resident advisor invited me to have Sunday lunch with his family in Esparreguera, a small town outside Barcelona. Although there was a pretty thick language barrier, they opened their doors and arms without reservation, and immediately made me feel like part of the family. It really stuck with me that they could invite in a total stranger – about whom they knew nothing – into their home for a great tradition, despite no common background, ancestry, or language.

IES Abroad: How did you grow or change most during your time in Barcelona? 

AR: My time abroad taught me to be more independent than I ever could have anticipated. Up to that point, college life for me was guaranteed on-campus housing, a full-service dining hall, and a 90-minute drive back home if I felt like I needed to get away. Living on your own in a foreign country, where the language isn’t your own, forces you out of your comfort zone, and for the better. I took more chances in Barcelona than I had ever taken in life, made more friends that I normally would not have made, and really started to look at the world on a much larger scale.

IES Abroad: After graduation, you embarked on a career in consulting, but then changed course. What inspired you to launch your own craft brewery?

AR: Consulting required long hours, and long hours required the occasional beer. I’ve always loved to cook, and as I got more into the craft beer scene I decided to try my hand at brewing. After I left my first consulting job, I took an apprentice job at a small brewery to get a taste for the commercial side, and I immediately got hooked. A six-month gig turned into a year and a half job that had me convinced this was the industry for me.

IES Abroad: In December 2015, after several years in the works, Castle Island Brewing Co. opened to the public. Tell us more about your journey from idea to launch.

AR: Bringing Castle Island to fruition was an incredibly huge task. With so many breweries opening every day, I realized there was no point in being quick, but we absolutely had to do it right. So I took my time. I planned carefully, did my homework, and ran multiple models to find the one that was the right fit. I ultimately decided that I wanted to launch a packaging brewery – a beer company whose primary business is the manufacture and distribution of beer, as opposed to a brewpub or retail brewery, where most or all of the beer is sold on-site. The packaging brewery route meant taking on investors and bank loans, which really forced me to get my ducks in a row on the business plan side of things. But it all paid off, and we’ve been open for 7 months and are already at capacity.

IES Abroad: What makes the Castle Island beers unique?

AR: My vision for Castle Island was great beer, at a great price, accessible enough for the casual beer drinker but quality enough for the beer geek. I spent a lot of time in my mid-20’s chasing the newest, hottest, most sought-after beer out there. But I gradually started to drift away from what got me into beer in the first place – it’s not pretentious, and it’s supposed to be fun; but that doesn’t mean it has to suck, either. It’s this balance that we’re striving for at Castle Island.

IES Abroad: As the craft brewing industry continues to grow, what are some of the biggest challenges you face?

AR: For starters, this is an incredibly capital intensive business. Not only are we marketing beer, but we’re also manufacturing it, and that takes a lot of money. We’re also in a crowded business that’s only getting more crowded by the day. Finding ways to secure shelf space without sacrificing our vision is only going to get harder; this is a constant focus and we have an expert sales and marketing team whose mission is exactly this. Another big challenge for us is that our business plan – which I spent years crafting – has gone out the window. We’re undergoing phase I of a capacity expansion right now, but if things continue the way we’ve been going, we’re going to need a bigger boat, and sooner than we anticipated. To be clear, this isn’t a bad problem to have, but it’s a problem nevertheless.

IES Abroad: Are there any lessons learned or skills acquired in Barcelona that continue to be valuable in your work as a craft brewer and business owner today?

AR: The ability to communicate effectively is by far the most valuable skill I brought home from my time abroad. In Barcelona the language barrier created challenges, and in running a business you’re constantly up against communication breakdowns with suppliers, distributors, accounts, customers, stakeholders… the list goes on and on. But the ability to clearly, concisely, and effectively communicate with these partners on a daily basis is key to running a successful business, and I cannot imagine doing what I do without it.

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students today thinking about studying or interning abroad?  

AR: I went to a terrific school where I learned a ton, but I still contend that I learned more – in a global sense – in my four months abroad than I did in the rest of the time I spent at college. I cannot stress enough how much the abroad experience enriches who you will become. That being said, don’t fight it; you have to grab onto the handlebars and just go for the ride. I remember a few people on my program who only spoke in English, who would eat at McDonald’s most days of the week, who only hung out with other American students abroad. While I’m sure they had a lot of fun, they used four months to do in Barcelona what they likely would have done at home, and I think they missed out on a much broader, more interesting, more rewarding experience. So take chances, do something new, and immerse yourself in a foreign culture to really get the full experience. Otherwise you’re not going abroad, you’re just going on vacation.

Having lived in Honduras for part of her childhood, Robin Martin McKenna grew up as a traveler and knew she wanted to study abroad in college. Despite coursework unrelated to her Environmental Science major, Robin was deeply impacted by her experience in London. She not only met her husband while on the program, but an internship with the Green Party led her to realize she wanted focus her future career working for a conservation advocacy organization. Today, Robin serves as the Executive Vice President of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a nonprofit whose mission is to protect and enhance America’s National Park System for present and future generations. After focusing on international travel for much of her life, Robin now enjoys traveling domestically with her family and has been to over 100 of the 400+ parks in National Park System, which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

IES Abroad: As an Environmental Science major, what led you to study abroad in London?

Robin Martin McKenna: My father worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), so growing up we traveled quite a bit and even lived abroad in Honduras for four years. So I had always intended to study abroad and wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before. My study abroad experience actually had nothing to do with my interest in conservation and environmental issues. I probably should've gone to Costa Rica to study the rainforest or the British West Indies to study marine biology. But instead I chose London, a city full of history, culture, and architecture with easy access to the rest of Europe. It was the perfect place for me to study abroad.

IES Abroad: What are a few of your most impactful study abroad memories?

RMM: My entire four months in London were impactful. First of all, I was in a house with 10 incredible people who all came from very different places. There were three guys and eight girls. Three of my roommates and I still see each other regularly, I consider them to be some of my closest friends, and four others I stay in touch with. They are all lifelong friends, and I can't wait for the day when we all head back to London for a reunion!  

The biggest impact is that I fell in love with one of my roommates, Doug McKenna. We started dating about a month and a half into the program, so it was pretty cool to be able to have the incredible abroad experience together. We married in 2007 and now have two wonderful boys. Ryan is five and Jake will be two this fall. My study abroad clearly had a huge impact on my future. 

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in London? Did the experience shape the way you think in a profound way today?

RMM: I think studying abroad really gives an individual the opportunity to learn more about themselves...the things they like, the kinds of people they want to surround themselves with, their personal limitations. I know I became a lot more independent and confident when I was in London. I had to. I was completely on my own, other than the 10 strangers I lived with. It's like starting your life completely over. Meeting new people, going new places, making your own decisions every day, it makes you realize all that you are capable of doing.  

IES Abroad: You joined the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in 2000, and currently serve as Executive Vice President. Were there skills you learned or developed abroad that helped you in the early days of your career?

RMM: I interned with the Green Party during my time in London. While I had been interested in conservation and environmental issues throughout my life, this was the first opportunity I had to engage more politically with a group whose values centered around conservation. This experience made me realize that I wanted to focus my career working for a nonprofit, conservation advocacy organization. And that's exactly what I ended up doing right out of college and have been doing ever since. 

IES Abroad: Although separate from the National Parks Service, the NPCA calls itself “the voice of the national parks.” What are some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing the national parks today?

RMM: One of the most pressing issues that our parks face is that they are severely underfunded, getting just a fraction of the money from Congress they need to fully staff rangers, repair roads, maintain trails, and educate visitors, among other things. Drilling and mining for resources, as well as energy development in and around park lands can harm fragile ecosystems, impact wildlife habitats, and contaminate air and water in the communities that surround them. Air pollution is among the most serious threats to our national parks and monuments. Dirty air ruins scenic views, harms wildlife and historic sites, and affects the health of visitors. Water gives life to our national parks, shaping land and sustaining plants and animals. Yet, waters inside parks across this nation are also threatened with over fishing, invasive species, impacts from adjacent land development, water quantity and quality, etc. These are just a few of the issues we are working on as we speak up for parks.

There is also great opportunity for our national parks. While incredible natural landscapes such as Grand Canyon and Yellowstone exist in our park system, two-thirds of America’s more than 400 national park sites are dedicated to cultural and historic significance. In recent years, new sites have been added that better represent the diversity of America’s people – and better tell the story of who we are as a nation. For example, we now have a national park site that tells the story of the nation’s first industry-wide strike in 1894 and early Civil Rights history at Pullman National Monument in Chicago. The events that happened there are the reason we celebrate Labor Day today. And just this year, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C. and Stonewall National Monument in New York were designated. Belmont-Paul has been home to the National Woman’s Party for the last 90 years and the epicenter of the struggle for women’s suffrage and equal rights. Stonewall is the first and only national park site dedicated to interpreting LGBT history. There are still more stories to be told, and there will be more stories made in the future. History does not stop being created. It’s important to tell America’s diverse story through our parks, the places that hold our nation’s heritage, including the good and the bad. 

IES Abroad: This summer the National Parks Service is celebrating its centennial year. How is the NPCA joining in the celebration?

RMM: The National Park Service centennial is such an amazing opportunity for us to celebrate our parks and encourage people to get out and enjoy them. The NPCA has worked with the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to support their Every Kid in a Park campaign, which has a goal of getting all fourth graders and their families to a park this centennial year. Additionally, NPCA is challenging Congress, the administration, and the American public to re-engage with the parks and ensure their protection for the next century. 

To celebrate 2016, NPS launched an initiative called Find Your Park to encourage people to get out and visit these incredible places – whether across the country or maybe even in their own backyard. To join in the celebration, NPCA launched our Find Your Voice initiative. We want people to be both national park visitors and national park advocates – in this centennial year and beyond. As part of this effort, this year we’re hosting over 100 activities across the country including service projects like park clean-ups, recreational opportunities like hiking and boating, and even sessions to teach people how to be advocates. Through this effort, we hope to inspire people to find their voice for our national parks. I want to invite each of you to visit our website at www.findyourvoice.camp and see what events are near you. We would love to have you join us! 

IES Abroad: Your family loves to travel, especially to the national parks. What are some of your favorite places to visit, and has your experience abroad impacted how your raise your children?

RMM: Gosh, there are so many places in this country and in this world that are so wonderful for different reasons. Until I started working for NPCA, I did not have a good understanding of all the amazing natural places, cultural landmarks, and historical sites there are across this nation. Having grown up traveling internationally, my focus in high school and college was to get out of the country. After working at NPCA for a year and a half, I was given the opportunity to be a staff representative on a donor trip to Yosemite National Park in California. I remember when we arrived in Yosemite Valley it was quite dark. I woke up early the next morning and left my hotel room. I remember being absolutely awestruck by what surrounded me. The bright blue sky, huge white clouds, and granite formations all around me. It was truly magical. Ever since then it's been my mission to get out and see more. 

There are 412 national park units in our National Park System and I have been to over 100 of them. I've ridden a horse down into Haleakala volcano, hiked up Exit Glacier in Kenai-Fjords, watched the synchronous fireflies in Great Smoky Mountains - the only place in the U.S. they can be found – got engaged in Virgin Islands, seen baby alligators in the Everglades, been locked in a jail cell on Alcatraz Island, helped build a fence in Harpers Ferry, and spotted my first mountain lion in Big Bend while a bear ran across the road from me 20 feet away. I think traveling and experiencing different places and people is so important to who a person is. Both of my kids have been going to national parks since they were months old, and well before they were born. They're both still very young and probably won't remember the experiences they've had so far, but I can't wait until they're old enough and we can take a couple months traveling across this beautiful country. 

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students interested in studying or interning abroad, particularly those interested in environmental sciences and sustainability?

RMM: I would tell anyone to study abroad. Whether what they do when they are abroad is related to their future career or not, it is an experience that everyone should have. I actually didn't take a single environmental or conservation course when I was abroad, but I did do the incredible internship with the Green Party as mentioned before. To be honest, not having to take courses in my major probably took a little of the pressure off and allowed me to really enjoy my time while I was in London and take classes that I normally wouldn't.

After studying abroad his junior year in Paris, Adam Namm knew he wanted a career that was internationally focused and took the U.S. Foreign Exam on a whim, because it was free and would be a challenge. Little did he know he would embark on a career in the U.S. Foreign Service that has taken him across the world from the Dominican Republic to Pakistan to Colombia. Now, 28 years later, as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, Ambassador Namm reflects on how studying abroad in Paris gave him skills he continues to draw upon today, and shares how he brings a unique style of diplomacy through music—as member of a local blues band in Quito.

IES Abroad: As a student at Brown University, how did you hear about IES Abroad and what motivated you to study abroad in Paris?

Ambassador Namm: I had participated in an exchange program my sophomore year in high school. A group of us from White Plains, NY traveled to southern France and lived with students and their families for three weeks, then a couple of months later the French students whom we stayed with came to stay with us. I loved the experience and knew I wanted to study in France during college. When the time came to pick a program, IES Abroad’s Paris program seemed like the right fit given the ability to take courses at a variety of Paris universities, in addition to taking courses at the IES Abroad Center.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time in Paris?

AN: The people, both fellow American students and the French I knew during the year, including a Parisian girlfriend who was my entrée to “real life” beyond the typical exchange experience. I lived in Montparnasse and loved frequenting the crêperies in the neighborhood. I also took advantage of travel opportunities, visiting many other parts of France, Europe, and even made it to Morocco. All unforgettable, seminal experiences that led me to a career in the U.S. Foreign Service.

IES Abroad: How did you change the most during your time in Paris? Did the experience shape the way you think in a profound way today?

AN: My worldview changed, precisely because I was living in a different part of the world and came to understand French and European perspectives, which didn’t always coincide with American ways of thinking. I recall the French language teacher that led my high school exchange program saying before we departed, “You will think the French are dirty because they don’t shower every day – but realize the French think Americans are dirty because they have to shower every day.” That’s a funny line but really makes one think about perspectives, whether cultural, social, or political. 

IES Abroad: How did you decide to get involved with the U.S. Foreign Service? How did your time with IES Abroad in Paris impact that decision?  

AN: Having loved my junior year abroad with IES Abroad, I wanted a career that was internationally focused. My major at Brown University was International Relations, and a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer came to speak at a “career night,” which got me interested in the Foreign Service. Before that night, I knew what the State Department did, but hadn’t realized there was such a thing as the Foreign Service. Just about every other student majoring in International Relations planned to take the Foreign Service exam, and I thought, “Why not?” It’s a free exam and I figured it would be a challenge. When I finally got into the Foreign Service (about two years after taking the first exam), I thought I’d stay in for four or five years, live in a couple of interesting places, and then get out and get a “real job” in a consulting firm or bank. Little did I know that I’d be in for 28 years…and counting!

IES Abroad: Were there lessons learned in Paris that helped you in the early days of your career?

AN: Adaptability. IES Abroad placed us with Parisian families, and in my case my host family turned out to be an older nun. Her rules were much stricter than I was used to – for example, my IES Abroad roommate and I were not allowed to use the kitchen other than for breakfast. We had dinner with her twice a week – that was one of the terms of the living agreement – and she served us foods that were new to me, like rabbit. She had lived through World War II and drummed into us how good we had it, recounting her memories of eating rats during the war. She was right, of course, about our level of luxury, and taught me to put myself in others’ shoes. 

IES Abroad: As U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, you bring your own approachable personal style into your diplomacy through music. How did this approach come about and how has it helped break down barriers?

AN: I’ve played piano since age five and played in musical groups since elementary school. I’ve played in bands throughout my Foreign Service career, including in the Dominican Republic and Pakistan. It’s something I love to do and takes me away from work. I realized early on in my ambassadorship, actually before I even arrived in Ecuador, that music would be a way of presenting my “human” side, which would show Ecuadorians that the U.S. Ambassador isn’t some stiff who only gives speeches and attends cocktail parties. I’ve played with a local blues band since shortly after arriving, and besides playing gigs in bars and restaurants around Quito, our embassy sponsored a six-city blues tour to share this very American style of music with Ecuadorians. Music has really been a great part of my experience here.

IES Abroad: Do you feel that your experience in Paris continues to have an influence on you today?

AN: Totally! My IES Abroad year provided me with wanderlust that has lasted my entire life, and studying in France provided me with skills that have helped me work in many countries and cultures…including Washington, DC, which has a culture of its own!  

IES Abroad: When you think back over your career in the U.S. Foreign Service, what are you most proud of?

AN: Leaving, I hope, each embassy, consulate, and Washington office that I have worked in better off than I found them. I think that applies to any endeavor; the idea that you can improve things by working hard and treating people fairly.  

IES Abroad: Is there any fun fact that you would like to share about yourself?

AN: I have two children, ages almost 20-years-old and 10 months! It’s great to have become a father again in middle age…keeping me on my toes! 

Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Daniel Quinn knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer. Having never traveled much, domestically let alone internationally, he took the leap and studied abroad in Vienna in search of a different kind of educational experience. Daniel recalls the somber environment of a city still occupied by the USA, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union. After earning his undergraduate degree, Daniel began a 20-year career in consumer and educational publishing in Chicago at the American Peoples Encyclopedia, Science Research Associates, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation, and the Society for Visual Education. Dissatisfied with our culture's received wisdom about “how things came to be this way,” he embarked on a coincident career of investigation into the subject. When he was ready to walk away from his publishing career, he was also ready to begin work on a book that would occupy the next twelve years of his life—Ishmael. It was finished in 1991, in time to win the largest prize ever given to a single literary work, the half-million dollar Turner Tomorrow Award established to encourage authors to seek "creative and positive solutions to global problems." Published in 1992, Ishmael went on (to the author's complete surprise) to be published in 25 other languages and to be used in classrooms from middle school to graduate school in courses as varied as philosophy, geography, history, religion, biology, archeology, zoology, ecology, anthropology, political science, economics, and sociology. The Story of B (1996), My Ishmael: A Sequel (1997), and Beyond Civilization (1999) followed, along with many other works of fiction and nonfiction. In our interview, Daniel shares his memories from Vienna as well as insight into his inspiration for Ishmael.

IES Abroad: Why did you decide to study abroad?

Daniel Quinn: IES Abroad came to me as something I'd never considered possible, something I couldn't possibly have organized by myself. It must have been my second semester at St. Louis University. I don’t remember how I heard of IES Abroad, but I proposed it to my father and he agreed to finance it. It was like a trip to the moon. Who in his right mind would turn that down?

IES Abroad: What are some of your most influential memories from your time in Vienna?

DQ: I was a very different person from the one I am today, painfully self-conscious, worried about being liked, silent, fearful of saying the wrong thing. I was working on a novel at the time, though I actually knew no more about writing a novel than about building an atom bomb.

I remember going with another young IES Abroad student to see Les diaboliques, a horrific thriller, in which a woman is literally frightened to death when she finds herself locked in a bathroom and a submerged corpse arises from the bathtub. The student I was with was completely unruffled by this terrifying scene, saying that, working in a hospital, she'd seen things much worse than that!

Vienna was, at that time, still occupied by the USA, the UK, France and the Soviet Union, and the Viennese were a defeated, somber people. You saw them in the streets with their pet dogs—no children at all. Our History professor at the university once said to us, “I have never experienced a change for the better.” Needless to say, we bright, young, optimistic American youngsters were horrified to hear such a thing.

I became quite good friends with a very charming young man who was quite amused to be one of the last remaining members of the all-but-forgotten Hapsburg royal family. Without pretensions of any kind, he spoke perfect English, had studied at Oxford, and was now employed at a travel agency.

IES Abroad: What challenges did you face studying abroad in post-war Vienna and how did you overcome them?

DQ: The greatest challenge was, to be sure, arriving without knowing a word of German. Luckily the natives were delighted to have an opportunity to practice their English! I had a tutor in German, who was a Viennese in his mid-thirties. But after meeting with him for a few weeks, he told me he couldn't go on – he just couldn't stand working with me. Mystified, I asked why. He said. “You won the war!” As if no other explanation was needed:  I, an American teenager, had won the Second World War. Riding the buses, we would occasionally be told to “Go home, American!”

The social imagination of Omaha, Nebraska, did little to prepare me for that of Vienna or any European city. For example, one night when I was back home in Omaha, a friend of my parents asked most solemnly, “How could you stand living around all those foreigners?” It was fascinating to experience the differences between Viennese, Berliners, Romans, and Parisians, too. For example, in Paris they despised you if you didn’t speak French, while in Italy you were welcomed everywhere whatever you spoke (and many of them spoke a very serviceable form of English), and in Sicily you seemed to have no existence of any kind. It was the first time I was living on my own. At St. Louis University as an undergraduate, I lived in a dormitory. In Vienna, I shared the small apartment of a Viennese student. As I remember it, we of the IES didn’t spend much time together except when we were traveling, and then did everything together from morning to night.

IES Abroad: What impact did the Vienna experience have on you personally or professionally?

DQ: Though I rather guarded myself against it, it became an experience that widened me in every way. In a very real sense, we were a band of outsiders, especially so on a continent still recovering from (and far from forgetting) a devastating world war. Though we might not have thought of it this way at the time, we were all learning how to get by as outsiders. I suspect that, without that experience, I would not, twenty years later, have undertaken to create the Stateville Penitentiary Writers Workshop (my idea, proposed to and approved by the warden). The twenty or so members of the workshop were old hands and politically powerful (or they would not have gotten into the workshop at all) thieves, murderers, con-men, street-hustlers. To them, I was very much an outsider. Unlike the teachers who ran the GED program, I was unpaid, so…what was I doing there? For the first few weeks, they listened to me in chilly silence, waiting for me to reveal my scam. When they finally got past that, they revealed what THEY were doing there: they wanted to write best-sellers and make a lot of money, so how was that scam worked? What was the trick, the formula, the shortcut? After I'd spent ten or twelve hours trying to make them believe there was no such thing, one student (one of the younger, brighter ones) raised his hand and said, “Mr. Quinn, are you trying to tell us that writing is just WORK?” I yelled, “That's it! You've got it!” (as if he'd put together the words I just couldn't articulate myself). All the other men in the group groaned, horribly disappointed; they weren't interested in doing WORK. But the young man who dared ask the question said, “Hell, if it's just work, then I can do it.” And unbelievably, he did do it (once he was outside). Never having written a word of fiction in his life, he not only wrote a novel, it was bought by the first publisher who saw it—and who offered him a contract for three more! So what exactly was I doing there? I was there to see if I had anything to teach about writing—and I guess I found that out.

IES Abroad: You have had a remarkable career in publishing, but you are best known for writing Ishmael (1992) with sequels The Story of B (1994) and My Ishmael (1997), among other works. Tell us about your inspiration for the story and its message.

DQ: When the book appeared, almost immediately letters began to flow in from readers of all kinds, many surprisingly from clergy of every faith, who were recommending the book from the pulpit, in their newsletters and bulletins. (Surprisingly, because my expectation had been that, if anything, the book would be denounced rather than praised by this group of readers.) One of the things all readers (like you) wanted to know was where the book came from, what its inspiration was. For me, this pointed the way to my next book, which was Providence, subtitled “The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest.” This was the story of how everything from my life, beginning with a dream I had at age five that decisively pointed me in the direction I would ultimately take in writing Ishmael. But of course I can't begin to duplicate the essence of that book here.

Many of the readers who wrote to me mentioned the difficulty they had in describing the book to their friends, a difficulty I knew very well from my own experience. Everyone automatically asked, “What's it about?” That's a question unanswerable in a sentence or two. One young film-maker produced a terrific 22-minute film about it, called The Eighth City, which can be seen on Vimeo. The film wisely makes no attempt to say what Ishmael is “about.” Instead, it shows what happens to people who read it. I can here tell only a few of the hundreds of strange stories I have about “what happens to people who read it.” For ten years, Ishmael has been used in a Humanity in Action course at the Hong Kong International School. (I have to back up to say that every year I meet by telephone with dozens of classes in which Ishmael is used.) One of the teachers of this course told me last week that he recently happened to run into a student he'd had in the course four years earlier. As he passed, the young man said to him out of the blue, “I'm still doing it.” Puzzled, the teacher asked, “Doing what?” The student showed him a book he pulled out of his pocket. “Reading Ishmael,” he said with a grin.

I have stories of the book making marriages—and breaking them. One reader told me that the love of his life kept telling him he had to read Ishmael, but he kept putting it off and putting it off—until his love found another man who had already read it, and she was gone. The abandoned lover read it then, of course (and finally understood why it was so important to her).

IES Abroad: What advice do you have for students who are considering studying or interning abroad?

DQ: After reading one of my books, a great many young people have asked me, “What should I do? What should I study? What kind of career should I pursue to make a difference in the world?” My answer is that they must concentrate not on what they “should” do but on what they do best—which is all that I've done. A great President would have achieved more than I have, but I wouldn't have been a great President, I would've been a poor one. You’ve got to track down and pursue what you're best at, because only there will you will be your most effective. It's hard (but essential) to resist the easy success that means nothing.

Studying or interning abroad is a wonderful place to begin, because that's an experience that can't be duplicated sitting in the safety of the nest you grew up in. At every turn you'll be confronted by a different sort of person, a different situation, a different way of doing things, a different idea about how things work, a different way to put your talents to use. I know that I was born to write, and that if I had neglected to do that, I would have ended as nothing. But that knowledge didn't arrive overnight; it was years in coming. Is there something you were born to do? If there's an answer to that question, you may not find it this year or next year or the year after that, but one thing is certain: you will never find it at all if you don't look for it.