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Those who can, travel abroad. Those who can’t, should travel up the 101 to Santa Cruz. It is close enough for a weekend trip, yet far enough away to feel like a mini vacation from the academic stresses of San Luis Obispo. And that is just what I needed this weekend.
My friend’s little brother, Kyle, is a freshman at the University of California at Santa Cruz and we decided to drive up this weekend and pay him a visit. Our first night we had dinner at Betty’s Burgers and walked around down town. It had a similar look to State Street in Santa Barbara. Shops, sushi, and Starbucks lined the main street downtown and provided for some good people watching opportunities. Independent coffee shops were a plenty each with a different ambiance to lure in a variety of visitors. Back through the dark, windy roads to campus we went and played cards in the lounge at Cowell College to rest up for our next morning’s hike through the red woods.
Red Woods in Santa Cruz
I thought San Luis Obispo hikes were beautiful when I came there, but the hike we went on the next day was something my Orange County eyes had never seen before. The red wood forest was so beautiful with the leaves changing colors and the never ending trees surrounding us I felt like we were in a prehistoric world where a pterodactyl could have swooped down from the ceiling of trees any moment to feast on a bright yellow banana slug. Banana slugs are the mascot for UCSC and the tradition is to share a slimy kiss with the slug, our friend Skyler Munday, a junior at UCSC, told us. Over her three years at Santa Cruz Skyler had yet to kiss a banana slug and that did not change on our hike. However, Kyle jumped at the opportunity to keep up the tradition when we stumbled upon the first of twelve banana slugs we found.
First Kiss
After resting up from our hike we were looking forward to a night of square and line dancing at Pie Ranch near Pescadero (basically about a 30 minute drive up the 1 from down town Santa Cruz). The third Saturday of every month they host a barn dance from 6-9 pm. It was really different from the line dancing in SLO, because it was in an actual barn. Hosted with a live band and caller who taught the dances and kept everyone up to speed. The barn dance “made my entire weekend. It was so different than just a typical college Saturday night,” Kyle said, “I’m definitely going to start going to those more often.”
Taking a break from dancing
It felt so country swinging each other around in the barn with the honky tonk band while it was pouring rain outside. The environment was really fun for all of us, well, most of us I should say. Our friend, Dani, had a friend from San Francisco, Molly, who met us at the barn dance. She was not as enchanted with the country aspect. “I feel like such a city girl,” she said “like, the girl in the overalls, is she serious?” Even though she didn’t really enjoy the dancing she got some amusement out of some of the stranger people at the dance. The weather could have been nicer that weekend, because we wanted to go down to the wharf but that can be saved for our next trip up there which can’t come soon enough.
During my 5 weeks of traveling around Europe with my best friend Kerri, we had some of the best times of our lives, but there also seemed to be at least one bad day in each city we visited. Our categorization of a “bad day” would include either getting lost/stranded, having no where to stay, almost missing our flight, trying to find internet or some WiFi source, and most of all in every country the language barrier proved to be a major obstacle.
Leaving for LAX, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into...
We were often caught off guard during these moments of distress because we did not know what to expect, nor what kinds of situations we would encounter while we were abroad. In the moment we were sometimes scared or felt like we hit rock bottom with no idea what to do, but you just have to suck it up and figure it out. When your on your own on a different continent you can’t just call your mom to come pick you up from some train station in Lisbon at 11:30 at night when the trains aren’t going due to strikes in Madrid. Yes, that did happen to us on our second night in Europe. Oh ya, and there’s no way around it, but overpacking made it so difficult to carry our huge suitcases all over the place!
The beginnings of overpacking
These stories are not meant to discourage you from going abroad, it’s just some advice about things that we were not prepared for but now you will hopefully.
When catching a train from one city to the next you should call to make sure the trains are going according to schedule and even reserve a seat. We did not do this and it definitely left us stranded and scared. We intended to take the only train from Lisbon to Madrid which was at 10:30 pm, but when we arrived at the train station we and other passengers were informed that the train was not coming tonight because there were strikes going on in Madrid. So there we were; two girls, alone at night in an unfamiliar part of the city, no internet or anyone to call, and no idea what to do. It was not hard to imagine everything about Taken that people had been warning us about, actually happening now. We ended up following another passenger to a hostel a few streets away. It was sketchy to just go with someone we didn’t know, but we had no other choice at the time. We just trusted our instincts and each other to know when things were too unsafe.
Waiting all day at the Lisbon train station for the next night train
Once we finally made it to Barcelona we stayed there for a week, but when it came time to catch our flight to Rome we almost missed it. It was an early flight so we set an alarm, but neither of us got up until 25 minutes before the gate was supposed to close and we were still in our pj’s, 30 minutes away from the airport. We scrambled and rushed through security and sprinted to the gate, luckily we made it, but I would definitely recommend setting more than one alarm if you need to catch an important flight.
One last dilemma we often faced when we arrived at a new city was how to stay connected to our families at home. My friend Zach, a third year Civil Engineer at Cal Poly, told me his recommendations for staying connected abroad. “I got a cheap phone when I was over there,” he explained, “and every country we went to I would just buy a new sim card.” This seemed like a lot of work for me, so I just used email whenever we had WiFi. The phone was a good idea to be able to call people with in the country if you got separated.
On another note, he mentioned “bring a towel that dries really fast, because at hostels they don’t give you towels like at hotels.” This was a huge help because I definitely would not have brought one if he hadn’t advised it and it came in handy so often! I got mine from REI.
A quick drying towel like this one makes the trip so much more comfortable
This timeline will take you through planning points to studying abroad; from the first general meeting all the way to arriving in your at foreign destination. These are the major events that should take place in the 6-9 months of planning before leaving for studying abroad. Throughout the months you should be speaking with your counselor periodically to make sure all the specific details are going according to plan. Obviously, this just hits on the main points of planning so it serves more as a guideline to follow. Also, depending on which program you choose after the general meeting, the financial due dates will be different. These dates and timeline are an example for a faculty led summer 2012 program.
AAA is the first travel agency that comes to mind for me, but we mustn’t have a closed mind to other options. The Student Travel Agency is an experienced travel agency that helps “students, young adults and the young at heart travel abroad,” according to the STA website. Whenever I go to AAA I feel talked down to and that the agents appear annoyed helping me, maybe it’s because I’m young and they don’t take me seriously, but I did not get that vibe when I spoke with STA agent, Peter.
“We specialize in student and teacher travel, but we help all kinds of people too. It’s not just for students,” he explained.
They aid in booking flights, hotels, tours, transportation, and so much more. STA agents, from my experience, are much more personable and helpful than those at AAA because they understand where young adults are coming from and what they want from their travel experiences. STA provides student travel experts are available for online chat for planning advice and any questions you may have.
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France studying abroad 2008.
STA caters to the younger generation through
- blog which actually distracted me from writing this post for a while.
- You can also get the app on your phone and sign up for eDeals emails. They have so many helpful outlets to get information. Agents can be reached on the phone or at one of the stores, many are located on college campuses.
My friends exploring the Port of Barcelona
There are other companies, like Contiki, that focus on young adult’s ideas of traveling abroad which have set up tours and very planned out vacations. STA does not have tours of its own, but they help you find the cheapest and most ideal tours from other companies. Or, if you don’t want to have every second of your day planned out while vacationing, they will help you book your own flights and hotels to basically anywhere in the world. They also can help you plan study , work, or volunteer abroad programs.
“We can do everything…anything you want. We’re really flexible,” Peter said.
If you don’t have the urge to study abroad right now, watch this video and you will not be able to stop daydreaming about the travel adventures you could be having.
We saved up, booked a flight, and landed in Lisbon dragging our suitcases (yes, we overpacked) across miles of cobblestone streets to our first hostel of our 5 week adventure across Europe! From Lisbon we took a night train to Barcelona where we had some of the best Sangria we’ve ever tasted, and got to experience Gaudi’s creations all throughout the city. Then came Italy, the land of pizza and gelato (not that we were complaining). We visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. Florence was definitely a highlight where we went on a bike ride through Tuscany and met the cast of Jersey Shore at a club called, Twice. Switzerland was our next stop and nestled in the mountains was some of the most gorgeous scenery I’ve ever seen. And last but not least, we ended up in Germany to meet my family for my cousin’s wedding in Heidelberg. We then traveled around Germany for two weeks seeing all the main cities and different environments of the country. This trip made my summer and I honestly cannot wait to go back. I look through my pictures from the trip to take a little mental vacation and now you can too!
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It is mandatory for students to attend and General Study Abroad Meeting to get the low down on the how the Study Abroad System works at Cal Poly. Many of you may not know this, considering there was meager attendance at the meeting, but I’ll be the eyes and ears for those of you who did not attend.
Students looking through the study abroad brochures
Katie Ellis the Graduate intern for Study Abroad Programs lead the meeting with a slide show and a friendly face. Her slideshow explained in detail the different programs at Cal Poly including:
- Faculty Led Programs: Destinations in Australia, Peru, Spain, Thailand, and London. “These are better for students trying to meet GE requirements,” Ellis recommended. They are simpler programs where everything is planned for you and you pretty much just sign up and go!
- CSU International Programs: These are year long programs. “They are very in depth and provide a chance to really become fluent in the language,” Ellis said. The cost is basically the same as if you were going to Cal Poly for a year.
- Affiliated Programs: There is more choice with these programs which is a plus, but education wise you have to get course credit transferred back to Cal Poly with substitution forms. Australearn and Asialearn ”provide good orientation for the the first week of your arrival in the country,” Ellis said.
- Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA): “Offers anything you could possibly want,” from a study abroad experience. Destinations include the more touristy places such as Paris, Barcelona, Florence etc…which can make this one of the more expensive options.
- Danish Institue for Study Abroad: This is great for architecture and child development majors. It allows you to travel all around europe, not be stuck in one location for either the semester or the year
- University Students Abroad Consortium (USAC): With this program it is more about cultural immersion and community service work. It appeals to students who want to meet and experience a more local people and culture.
- Cal Poly International Exchanges: These are offered through the college offices and good for students with stricter curriculum requirements.
- National Student Exchange: For students who are not yet ready to step onto foreign soil, this program offers 200 universities within the US, Canada, Guam, and Puerto Rico. A plus is that while attending, you pay in state fees.
Collyn McCary, anthropology/geography, fills out a Study Abroad Preference Form after the meeting.
