For Talitha Kolbow, who studied abroad in Ghana during the academic year of 2004–05, her cross-cultural education began the moment she stepped on the airplane. “Almost everyone on the plane was Ghanaian,” she said. “Before we even landed, I felt like I was in Africa.” She remembers vividly a baby on the flight whose crying could not be subdued. The baby’s mother proceeded to pass the baby around to other women on the plane for a communal cooing. It was the first of many scenes during her time abroad that would help her redefine the meaning of community.

Talitha Kolbow participated in the yearlong Minnesota Studies in International Development program in Ghana and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007 with a degree in African and African American Studies with a focus on public policy and development. She now works as the office and marketing associate in the U of M’s Learning Abroad Center.

Among the initial challenges that go along with moving to a new country and learning a new culture, Talitha also struggled to define herself in her new surroundings. “Being African American, not everyone considers you African, but I do,” she said. “The people in Africa don’t always view us as a brother or a sister. So when I arrived there it was really painful to me.”

She soon fell into a rhythm, however, that made her feel like part of the community and made Ghana feel like home. “Once I got acclimated to the culture, and I got to know people on a more intimate level, I realized there were aspects of culture that I didn’t even really need to be raised with but that were somehow just instilled in me,” she said. “It was the pace, the food, the music, the dancing all the time … I was so healthy, and I was so happy.”

Talitha studied international development during the fall semester of 2004 and interned at the W.E.B DuBois Centre in Accra. In the following spring, she relocated to a rural area where her learning experience took place entirely outside of a classroom. Her spring internship site, the Single Parent Foundation, assisted single parent households and people affected by HIV. The experience had such a strong personal and educational impact on her that she now feels Africa is where she belongs.

“Being abroad in Africa really meant a lot to me because I always knew as an African American and just being strongly connected to Africa that I would go there some day,” she said. “But I really didn’t know on what level I would remain involved with Africa. Going there and working with the people really confirmed a lot of things for me that I would be not only successful there, but happy there.”

Since returning to the US, she has been contemplating her future back in Africa. She has maintained some connections in Ghana and hopes to return there permanently to work in community development. “It was a blessing to go there, and I definitely grew. It forced to me to just really think about how I really want to define myself,” she said. “I have a better vision for my life.”

Because Talitha’s experience was so enriching in shaping her identity and helping her define her future goals, she can’t stress the importance of a learning abroad program enough. “If you stay in a place you are familiar with, you are not going to learn as much about yourself, about the world in general, about maybe what you want to do,” she said. “So you definitely need to get out there. Studying abroad will cause you to grow, which you need to do in order to be successful.”