by Virginia O'Connor | Aug 19, 2026 | Personal Growth, UCLA
By Stacey Valentin (UC Los Angeles), winner of the 2025 Blog Writing Contest Editor’s Note: Did you know you can study abroad before your very first quarter or semester on a UC campus? Stacey participated in a special UCEAP pre-freshman Global Start program in...
by Virginia O'Connor | Aug 12, 2026 | Europe, Personal Growth, UC Santa Cruz
By Terra Alvarez (UC Santa Cruz), winner of the 2025 Blog Writing Contest 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...
by Virginia O'Connor | Jun 30, 2026 | Asia, Personal Growth, UC Berkeley
by Clark Boyce (UC Berkeley), studied abroad in Singapore Everyone goes into studying abroad with their own plans, expectations, and questions. Will I find friends when I get there? Will I like the food? What will my living situation be like? How hard will the classes...
by Virginia O'Connor | Jun 24, 2026 | Australia and Oceania, Personal Growth
by Jordan Shellow (UC Berkeley), studied abroad in Sydney, Australia To all my past selves, I want to start with you, 5-year-old me. Remember wandering through the mini LEGO cities at LEGOLand? You saw the Sydney Opera House and instantly thought, “Wow, I need...
by Jennifer Monroe | Jun 1, 2026 | Asia, Home Feature, Personal Growth, UCLA
By Emily Hsi (UC Los Angeles), winner of The Californian Abroad blog contest, studied abroad at the National University of Singapore. When I first decided to study abroad, all I knew was that I wanted to be in Asia. As a Chinese American born and raised in California,...
by Virginia O'Connor | Jun 1, 2026 | Asia, Home Feature, Personal Growth, UC Berkeley
By Denmark Harris (UC Berkeley), winner of The Californian Abroad blog contest, studied abroad in Kyoto, Japan I was excited to study abroad in Japan—but I was also afraid. As a person of color, I knew I was heading to a country where the vast majority of people...
