Ever think about studying abroad in England, Scotland, France or Italy for the summer? Well, UC Irvine’s Travel Study program can help you arrange a trip that will truly change your life forever.

Travel Study offers six programs altogether for American students: Year Abroad, Semester Abroad and four summer programs (Cambridge 1, Cambridge 2, Scotland and Italy). Cambridge 1, which is open to 135 students and takes place during the first five weeks in the summer, offers arts and humanities courses; Cambridge 2, which is open to 60 students and takes place during four weeks in August, offers courses purely in the arts; Scotland, which accommodates 25, offers History courses; and Italy offers art history courses for up to 25 participants.

The program basically provides the UC with course descriptions and goes through the UC Regents as legitimate UC courses. All courses are taught by British faculty. If you’re wondering what the difference is between EAP and Travel Study, it’s this: EAP is a UC-wide organization that has an office on every campus, whereas Travel Study is strictly a UCI organization, so it’s completely independent of the other universities. This being said, you’ll avoid the hassles of transferring your units through the UC system because Travel Study offers UCI credit, meaning it’ll be like studying at UCI on a foreign campus.

Shannon Clark, a fourth-year international studies major who studied business and history in Paris in summer 2004 and in Cambridge in summer 2005, found out about the program in a flier she received over Christmas break.

“Travel Study has a focus on travel plus study,” Clark explained. “You get the best of both worlds. Also, there are not as many summer program options through EAP, so it provides more opportunities to students, not just UC. Any university student can attend so you meet more people. The length is great because it is long enough to explore the country and become immersed in the culture, but if you need to come back to work or take more summer classes, you can.”

During the Travel Study meet-and-greet last Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the University Extension Building C, students interested in Travel Study gathered and listened to several students share their experiences in the Cambridge and France summer session programs. Also, guest speaker and ninth-year administrator at Cambridge University, Gideon Malone, gave a pleasant overview of what to expect when traveling abroad in Europe.

“This is always the best time of your life,” Malone said. “Never again will there be a time when you have less responsibility and less to do in your life. Everyone says [Travel Study] was a life-changing experience. Wherever you go – to South America or Europe – there’s a new culture and an opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes and have an education unlike the one you’re receiving and have an education that has as much to do with culture and life as it has for academics.”

Also, courses aren’t hard. In fact, Malone commented, “[The classes] are specifically designed for UC students. They’re intellectually stimulating rather than challenging.”

Perhaps one of the greatest aspects about Travel Study is that the students have a lot of fun while studying in the country.

Emily Reiter, a fourth-year sociology major who found out about the program via e-mails sent by the summer session program, studied in Paris during summer 2005.

“I participated in Travel Study because it was short-term, it was taught entirely in English and it was offered in a location I was interested in,” Reiter said. “It’s good for students who don’t want to have as much schoolwork to focus on, since there is an equal emphasis on traveling and studying, whereas EAP tends to be a bit more academically focused. I actually think students should try doing both Travel Study and EAP during their time at UCI, because they’re both so different and there are incredible benefits to both. If I had more time at UCI – I’m a graduating senior – I would have added an EAP program to my experience.”

Kyle Lothringer, manager of the Travel Study Programs and who was also an undergraduate at UCI when he went abroad to Taiwan for his last quarter in fall 2000, agreed with Reiter that studying abroad is “an opportunity to learn about another culture, even though Southern California is multicultural. Students can learn a lot about themselves and there’s a lot of self-reflection that goes on outside of the country. [Travel Study] is helpful to people who never traveled before. People will get their feet wet in this and then do a year long EAP program.”

So how much does Travel Study cost? It’s between $4,000 to $5,000 and the expenses cover, lodging in dorms, tuition, some food and excursions. Airfare and land transfers are not included. Of course, you’ll want to buy souvenirs, extra food and clothes, so expect to spend an additional $1,500 to $2,000. Past participants agreed that the experience was worth the cost. Talk to the Financial Aid Office and the Study Abroad Offices to see if you are eligible for financial aid.

Kristin Noone, a fourth-year comparative literature major, studied Shakespeare at Cambridge and art history in Italy. Noone found out about Travel Study while researching for a study abroad program online.

“I’d say that the things I like the most were the chance to take courses with incredibly distinguished professors at Cambridge, and also the field trips and excursions. The Travel Study people really made sure we got a great cultural experience. Really, the only thing I disliked was the accommodations in the city of Bath, in England. … The rooms and beds weren’t very clean. And the London bombings happened while we were [in Cambridge], and that was a little disturbing, but that didn’t really affect the program. We just postponed our London trip.”

Applying for Travel Study is easy. Just go to their Web site, http://www.summer.uci.edu/travelstudy, and click “Apply,” or e-mail them if you have any questions at travel-study@uci.edu.

The standard application and deposit fee is $500, although it is $700 for Cambridge. To qualify for the program, all you need is to be at least 18 years of age, go to a university and turn in a copy of your transcript.

If you’ve been thinking about studying abroad, this summer is definitely the time to go because Cambridge 1 is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. There will be a major party for the 135 students who go and there will be drinks, a reception, a formal dinner, a party, dancing afterward and the students will be given photos. Hurry and apply because there are only eight spaces left for Cambridge 1. Cambridge 2 is new and there are still a good number of spaces left. Italy has two spaces left and Scotland has five.

Don’t miss out on a great opportunity. As Noone put it, “This is the coolest thing you will ever do in your life. Go now.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 2:48 am and is filed under Study Abroad. Tags: Education, Financial Aid, Student, Study, Study Abroad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.