Increasingly, global understanding is part of the core mission of institutions of higher education (Bollag, 2004). The National Association for State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC Taskforce on International Education, 2004) issued A Call to Leadership, urging university presidents to focus on internationalization as a way to enhance, broaden, and enliven academic learning, discovery, and engagement. Many colleges and universities recognize the need for globally literate citizens to meet the demands of an increasingly interdependent world and see study abroad as a way to develop students’ crosscultural skills (Bollag). Paralleling administrators’ acknowledg ment of the importance of educating students for an increasingly interconnected world is students’ increasing desire for international experiences. When students choose to study abroad, many do so to gain crosscultural understanding and language proficiency or to satisfy a desire to travel and to have fun (Carlson, Burn, Useem, & Yachimowicz, 1990). At their best, study abroad programs promote crosscultural understanding so that students can become citizens of the world (NASULGC Taskforce on International Education, 2004). Ideally, as students become global citizens, they gain exposure to a variety of diverse cultures, fostering an appreciation for and comfort with multiple perspectives (Nussbaum, 1997). Although there is some evidence that students develop crosscultural understanding through study abroad (Carlson & Widaman, 1988; Kitsantas & Meyers, 2001, Rea, 2003), many programs continue to provide students with limited tools for cross cultural interpretation, assuming that the immersion experience alone will be sufficient for students to learn about other cultures. This approach fails to acknowledge that students bring their own socially constructed identities and cultural assumptions to a host country (Twombly, 1995). These identities and assump tions influence and in some cases may distort the ways in which students approach, endure, and reflect on their experiences. Oftentimes undergraduate students’ study abroad experiences coincide with identity formation in late adolescence (Davis, 2002; Erikson, 1968; Jones, 1997; Jones & McEwen, 2000; Josselson, 1987, 1996; McEwen, 1996). Not only does study abroad serve to enhance students’ understanding of other cultures, it may be influential to the formation of self. Understanding how study abroad participants interpret their crosscultural experiences can provide valuable information to anyone interested in fostering the development of students’ identities and their understanding of difference. Although there are many important areas in which to conduct research regarding how students’ cultural assumptions and identities inform their crosscultural understanding, for the purpose of this study the focus is on examining assumptions related to gender. Gender Observations and Study Abroad: How Students Reconcile Cross-Cultural Differences Related to Gender