Study Abroad
This is Edward, a student worker in the Public Response unit. Summer at UCLA is filled with an interesting mix of people – including many prospective students and their families touring the campus, people taking summer session courses, and visitors from various camps and programs roaming the school. But many UCLA students, including myself, take the break to travel the world and go abroad. Studying abroad is a very popular option at UCLA and we have three different programs: the Education Abroad Program (EAP), Travel Study, and Quarter Abroad.
I participated in Travel Study, enrolling in the Spanish Language and Culture program. I spent 6 weeks in Spain and during the course of my adventure abroad I saw Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Seville, and Barcelona. If you are ever in Andalucía (the autonomous Southern region of Spain), you must visit The Alhambra—it’s amazing. Also known as “The Red Fortress,” it is a palace/fortress complex built by Moorish rulers in the 14th Century; today it is one of Granada’s major attractions.
The temperatures reached up to 40 degrees Celsius (or 104 degrees Fahrenheit), but we were exposed to so many beautiful historical sights and places and met and interacted with tons of interesting and new people. I even found out that some people from my program were also student workers in Admissions’ systems unit!
What is cool about Travel Study is that you get to take classes too. I enrolled in an intensive Spanish language program that covered Spanish 2 and 3 in just four weeks, thus fulfilling my foreign language requirement. I'm the "busy-bee" type, so it was neat to be able to sort of take a vacation, but still be productive. Also, where better to sharpen my Spanish skills then in Spain?
A lot of my friends also had their own travel experiences away from Westwood. While I was in Spain, other people I know studied Italian in Florence, did research with a professor in Greenland, worked for the U.S. consulate in Thailand, and interned at the Associated Press in New York City. UCLA offers its students a variety of different options so you can spend part of your summer abroad, or spend the quarter (or even a whole school year) studying in a different country. Often times, the cost of the program is comparable to the normal cost of attending UCLA and the classes are guaranteed to transfer as credit. Students are also eligible for financial aid. Most college students agree: going abroad is one of the most unique and memorable parts of their four years in school. For more information on the different study abroad options, visit the UCLA International Education Office at www.ieo.ucla.edu.
