Lauren Palmer graduated from Marian University with a double major in Spanish and French. She received her Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish from IUPUI. Lauren has always been passionate about language and culture, and she is devoted to sharing that passion with students and her community. In the past, Lauren has taught as an adjunct professor of Spanish at both Marian University and IUPUI as well as a Spanish teacher at Bishop Chatard High School.  Lauren is working as a graduate assistant on the POLIS Center Project, Religion and Urban Culture 2.0. This is Lauren’s fourth semester in the American Studies Ph.D. program at IUPUI. Her area of focus is on programs that facilitate a study abroad-like experience but on a localized scale. Her goal is to assess how various programs that attempt to create a local study abroad experience can more effectively create a cultural learning environment for students who are not able to physically live abroad. She firmly believes that exposure and understanding of different cultures lead to more opportunities and more well-rounded students.