by Virginia O'Connor | Aug 26, 2026 | Academics, Europe, UC Riverside
By Wayne Dewing (UC Riverside) Just two years ago, if you told me I would soon be nearly fluent in German and living in Berlin for a year, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. I study neuroscience. I want to be a research scientist. I don’t have a...
by Virginia O'Connor | Aug 12, 2026 | Europe, Personal Growth, UC Santa Cruz
By Terra Alvarez (UC Santa Cruz) Growing up in East Los Angeles, traveling beyond Mexico was considered a dream. For most people around me, Mexico was the furthest place our families’ stories reached. Anything beyond that felt distant, expensive, and unrealistic. Our...
by Jennifer Monroe | Jun 1, 2026 | Europe, Home Feature, Local Living, UC Santa Barbara
By Casey Lopez (UC Santa Barbara), studied abroad in Padua, Italy The first time I used my 10 euro Moka pot, one of Italy’s simplest and most iconic coffee makers, I was sure it was broken. Impatient and jetlagged, I stood at the communal kitchen stove, hoping no one...
by Jennifer Monroe | Apr 20, 2026 | Europe, UC Santa Barbara
by Sadie Bijlsma (UC Santa Barbara) studied abroad in Edinburgh The Promise of Eternal Beauty On the Isle of Skye in Scotland, there is a river that is rumored to have been enchanted by fairies. According to Scottish folklore, if you dip your face into the waters...
by Virginia O'Connor | Apr 20, 2026 | Europe, Personal Growth, UC Irvine
By Valerie Elizabeth Cruz (UC Irvine) studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland Like many first-generation college students, I started my journey at UC Irvine with a desperate need for a concrete plan. I had no idea what my undergraduate career would manifest, and as a...
by Jennifer Monroe | Mar 31, 2026 | Australia and Oceania, Europe, Returning to California, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Diego
Contributors: Annika Sundberg (UC Berkeley), Chloe Margulis (UC San Diego), Corra Nordheim (UC San Diego), Jolene Marie Ku (UC Davis), Leanna Chin (UC San Diego), 2024 blog writing contestants You’ll take thousands of photos during your study abroad...
