The IEP Living Learning Community welcomed 72 residents this fall, bouncing back to pre-pandemic numbers. About one third of those students were from URI’s international exchange partners, as previously had been the case, allowing for an optimized balance between student groups and a better intercultural residential experience for all. With a total of seven students, the largest international cohort this fall was from France. Also of particular note this time around was that many of these international students had to postpone their study abroad for a year or more because of pandemic-related restrictions. The student who held out the longest in order to achieve her study abroad goal was from Japan, having waited for at least two years to be able to come to URI!

To celebrate finally being able to be together, an abundance of activities were planned this fall including: movie nights, game nights, pumpkin carving, ice skating, trick-or-treating, a trip to a haunted house, a holiday party and more.

IEP LLC House Council Member Beatrix Chiuz, a Chinese Flagship IEP student in her third year at URI, had this to say about life in the IEP LLC:

“For the past two years, living in the IEP LLC has granted me the opportunity to meet wonderful people from all over the globe. IEP is not just a community in which we all rely on each other, but as time goes on is more like a family. One of the most important lessons I have learned so far while living here, besides being exposed to and learning to adapt to different cultures, is the fact that saying goodbye (when someone graduates or goes back to their home country) is not really forever, but more of a “see you soon”. Whether it’s during my year abroad or another time in my life, I will make a point of meeting up with the other IEP LLC residents again!”