Penn State alumna Robin Hoecker does not have a typical internship.

While studying at the Unitarian Universalist Assocation Washington Office for Advocacy in Washington, D.C., she had the opportunity to travel to Iraq from Dec. 27, 2002 to Jan. 3, 2003, bringing about 200 letters, songs, poems and artwork to young Iraqis.

Hoecker, a 2002 Penn State graduate, became involved with the trip when she heard the group was going to need another person.

"I got to the office and they needed help, so I asked to go along," she said.

Hoecker majored in international development with minors in French, international studies and earned honors in African and African-American Studies and photojournalism, which she said helped to prepare her for the trip to Iraq.

She only had two weeks notice before leaving for Iraq, and she said she was under pressure to prepare.

"It was hard to get in the right mindset," she said. "I was trying to learn Arabic and thinking about war, so I got distanced from people."

Hoecker had past experience traveling abroad before going to Iraq. She studied in Senegal -- a predominantly Muslim country -- the week of Sept. 11, where she said she got to see another side of the reaction to the attacks. "Islam is really misunderstood," she said. "At first I was really afraid, but many of the people there were so nice and supportive."

She said she also had to confront many of her own stereotypes about Iraq when she arrived.

"I expected all the people to be scurrying in preparation for war and all of the women to be veiled, but people were just going about their daily lives," Hoecker said.

Hoecker also kept a journal while traveling in Iraq and took several hundred photographs.

Simon Lobdell (senior-nuclear engineering), a friend of Hoecker's, said he was very excited to hear she was going to Iraq.

"When she went down to Washington, D.C., I figured she was going to do some interesting things," Lobdell said.

Lobdell made a collage for her when he heard she was bringing artwork to Iraq. He has known Hoecker since his freshman year and said that she gives energy to everyone around her.

"She's a quite inspired young lady, and I'm really proud to know her," Lobdell said.

Her parents, Doug and Carmen Hoecker, said they were in disbelief when they heard their daughter was going to Iraq.

"I believe my first reaction was, 'You're going where?' " Doug Hoecker said. "We were a little concerned about her going to an Islamic country, but she survived very well there."

Both her parents said they learned a lot from her travels.

"We made more of an effort to learn about Islam because of her trip," Carmen Hoecker said.

Carmen Hoecker said her daughter has always been a very caring person who is concerned about people and the poor.