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Author: Naomi Stein | Major: Psychology | Semester: Summer 2025

The desire to experience culture outside of America has been a dream of mine since high school. When searching for my study abroad program, I began by identifying the type of class I wanted to take. I’m currently studying Psychology at the University of Arkansas and am involved in two research labs focused on emotion regulation. I found a program through AIFS that offered a course titled Emotions, Stress, and Self-Regulation in Barcelona that aligned with both my academic interests and research goals, and it was a course not directly available at UARK. As I researched more about Spain, I realized the program also offered rich cultural and
architectural history, something I had been longing to experience. I enrolled in a six-week study abroad program, where I took two classes four times a week. Each class was two hours long and
taught by professors from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
While abroad, I took Emotions, Stress, and Self-Regulation, taught by four brilliant professors who were also practicing neuroscientists. Not only did they cover core topics related
to stress and self-regulation, but they often shared their own research, offering insight into
studies on addiction, mindfulness, anxiety, and PTSD. Their work exposed me to new
dimensions of psychological research. While my experience at UARK has focused on self-report
and behavioral observation methods, their research involved neuroscience technology, including
various brain measurement techniques. Many of their studies even began with animal models and
used optogenetics, which were approaches very different from what I’ve personally been
exposed to on campus due to my choice in labs as I have always been attracted to the humanistic
lens. This course deepened and expanded upon what I had learned in my Biopsychology class at
UARK, and it inspired me to consider incorporating neuroscience methods into my own
research. For example, my current project explores the impact of an adaptive anger
book-intervention on increasing persistence in goal-blocked tasks for children, using behavioral
observation alone. The course emphasized the role of the frontal lobe and cognitive functions
like decision-making and persistence, and discussed various ways to measure these processes. I
now see the potential of using electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the temporal resolution
of participants’ brain activity during the task. It’s possible that children who read the
adaptive-anger strategy book may show greater frontal activity than those in the control group.
This is just one example of how the class reshaped the way I think about my research and opened
my mind to the vast connections between emotion and the brain. For my second course, I knew I
wanted to explore the history of culture and civilization in Spain. I enrolled in Spanish Art and
Cultural Heritage, taught by a passionate professor who led us on field trips that brought art and
history to life. To say this course shaped my experience would be an understatement. I now can’t
walk past a piece of architecture without noticing the vaults, analyzing the style, or reflecting on
where the influence came from. While abroad, I also had the privilege of traveling to Croatia,
Hungary, and Italy. In each place, I used my new understanding of history and architecture to
explore the cities with a depth I wouldn’t have had otherwise. More importantly, the course
emphasized how history is interpreted differently across cultures, helping me recognize the
Western lens through which I was raised. When I visited a friend studying abroad in Rome, I
found myself explaining historical context as she guided me through the city’s monumental sites.
It was a surreal moment of connection and knowledge sharing.
Through every experience abroad, whether learning to cook paella from a local or sharing
stories with classmates from Egypt during walks home, I was continually awakened by the
humility of distance. One of my favorite moments in Barcelona was walking to class past a
group of people sitting and sharing a meal, deep in conversation, only to walk back two hours
later and see them still there, unrushed, savoring connection. No one was in a hurry to deprive
themselves of the joy of presence. Each person I met had a different backstory, yet we shared the
same laughs, tears, and moments of understanding. The people I met abroad were the most
meaningful part of the journey, and I return to the University of Arkansas with a renewed passion
to connect and understand others. I have always respected how cultural heritage and environment
shape people and their perspectives, but I now carry a deeper understanding of how to use this
compassion and attunement in my future work as a clinical psychologist. I can’t express enough
gratitude for the Honors College at UARK for providing me the opportunity to live out a lifelong
dream and gain invaluable experience that will serve me in both my personal growth and
professional path.