22-year-old Alex Berry is from Albany, Georgia and is studying Industrial Engineering with a Chinese and Business minor. Ai “Anna” He, 21, is also studying Industrial Engineering and came to Tech from the Sichuan Province of China. While the two had some classes together here in Atlanta, they didn’t formally meet or become friends until they arrived in Singapore to study abroad in the Singapore-Beijing program. When the two recently met up, they reminisced about the program as Alex recalled getting “a little too adventurous” during a group trip to Thailand.

Nassima Benhammoud is a 30-year-old Algerian and Mariko Uedo is 35 and from Japan. They both live in Atlanta as their husbands pursue post-graduate degrees. They are two of a group of about 30 people that belong to the Georgia Tech International Student Spouse Group, which is how they met and became dear friends. Here’s Mariko describing some of the activities this dynamic group has participated in together.

Paloma Casteleiro Costa, 21, and Tammy VuPham, 20, became close friends as roommates last year at I-House. They recently sat down to reminisce about this one-of-a-kind experience as Tammy recalls how she felt as an incoming freshman and meeting Paloma for the first time.

In 2007, Steve McLaughlin became Georgia Tech’s first Vice Provost of International Initiatives, traveling to nearly 50 different countries on behalf of the university. He’s now the Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and recently sat down with Larry Jacobs, Associate Dean for Academic to talk about the history of the International Education program and his hopes for its future within Georgia Tech. He begins with a little advice he shares with incoming freshman.

A few months ago, 31-year-old PhD student from Serbia, Zorana Matic, had the chance to sit down and chat with Georgia Tech’s own First Lady, Val Peterson. One of the first things the First Lady, or Queen Bee, as she is known around campus wanted to know, was how Matic ended up at Tech so far away from her home country.

This past Summer, Ishbir Singh – an International Student from India – returned from a 5-month study-abroad program at the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires. He is back at Tech working on his degree in Computer Engineering. When he met up with his close friend and fellow Yellow Jacket, Maithili Appalwar, he told her a little bit about how he grew as a person as a result of his experience, especially after he set a personal challenge for himself.

In the Summer 2014, Allison Stanford was a work-study student in Dr. Katja Weber’s inaugural study-abroad program in Southeast Asia. Shortly after returning, Allison spent her Junior year studying and researching in Germany. She is now pursuing her Master’s degree in International Affairs and talked with Dr. Weber about how that first study abroad experience opened a whole new world for her.

Rebecca Yoo, a senior, is studying Civil Engineering with a focus in Environmental Systems. Aaron Bivens is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on drinking water quality. Two years ago, Aaron was a Teaching Assistant in a class Rebecca was taking called Environmental Technologies in Developing Countries. They traveled to Bolivia twice together with this course with Rebecca serving as a TA alongside Aaron on the 2nd trip. They are now friends and came together again to discuss a little bit about what they’ve learned from their work and research in international settings.