Not all learning can come from a book. Students give us a glimpse into the study abroad trips of today.

URI’s International Center and the many groups that work through it seem to extend their reach and ambition a little further every year.

The biggest change for 2014 was the first Winter J Term, a two-week session tucked between the holidays and the beginning of spring semester, which—along with on-campus programming—offered eight faculty-led trips to places as various as rural Indonesia, Belize, and Germany.

Then, of course, there are trips over summer and spring break, plus full semesters abroad that students take through a range of programs, from the International Engineering Program—which expects students to spend a full year in language immersion, splitting time between a partner institution and an internship—to the National Student Exchange, a nationwide program that allows students to study in Canada, Guam, and Puerto Rico, often for in-state tuition rates.

All told, undergraduate and graduate students now have more than 200 destinations to choose from, and last academic year, some 530 students took advantage of them, broadening their worldviews and bringing their new perspectives back to enrich their classrooms and campuses.