June Schellscheidt

I had always heard amazing things about studying abroad from my friends who had done it previously. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to study abroad because I am a student athlete and my sport requires us to be in Berkeley all school year. Also, as a pre-med student I did not think that there would be many classes offered abroad that would help me fulfill my pre-medical requirements. So when I heard about this summer abroad physics program, I was sold. I chose the program in England because I knew that there was no language barrier which would hopefully lessen the potential culture shock. England is also very accessible to other countries which allowed for additional travel opportunities.

It was really fun getting to know the GSIs, who go to the University of Sussex during the school year. They had so many conceptions and ideas of America which I found very funny. It was very interesting how their culture had subtle difference from ours, as well as so many similarities. I discussed with my friends how incredible it was to be over an ocean away from where we usually were, yet the culture didn't seem all that different. In addition, I found experiencing multiple of the diverse cultures within the EU so interesting. The differences in Portuguese, English, and French communities were vast considering the countries were just a couple hours apart. I used to the 5 and ½ flight from New Jersey to California, where I find the culture to be relatively similar despite the distance.

I was very concerned about the pace that the classes would be taught at. Because I am a DSP student with dyslexia and ADHD, it typically takes me more time to understand material fully and gain the ability to apply it in problems than it does for other students. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the classes; I knew that taking a year of physics in 8 weeks was going to pose a huge challenge, so I started off strong. I worked really hard every single day in order to maximize my time with the material. I stayed up late some night and spent a few weekend days ensuring that I was always always on-top if not ahead of the information.

Typically I would get up around 8:10am for my lecture at 9am. I’d be in class for about an hour and a half where the professor usually covered about 2 to 3 chapters of material. After lecture I usually went to the library with some friends where we would all either prep for our lab class at 12 or work on our problem set/study for our quiz in discussion at 12 (MWF I had discussion (12-2pm) and TTh I had lab(12-3pm)). Our discussion classes were small, about 10 students and a GSI. The class always began with a quiz on the previous discussion material and then moved to the GSI going over that day’s 6 question problem set question by question so everyone really understood the answers. In lab classes we went to our lab stations and were given a oral pre-lab quiz by the lab instructor to ensure that we knew what that day’s lab entailed. From there we ran whatever lab experiment that we had been assigned that day. After class I typically stopped by the dining hall for a quick bite to eat, before returning to my room to go over the lecture slides from that day. I also briefly glanced over the lecture slides for the next day’s lecture to prepare myself for what we’d be learning.

I took two physics classes abroad, equivalent to Physics 8A and 8B at UC Berkeley. Though the courses were taught at much faster pace, I found the material to be quite comparable to that of UC Berkeley. In preparation for my exams I was able to take some of UC Berkeley’s midterms and finals from years past.

In addition to the challenging coursework that I completed, I found the opportunity to travel and gain insights into other culture to be the most memorable experience.

Studying abroad allowed me to gain confidence in traveling independently, arranging for extracurricular travel, and managing my coursework to further my educational goals. It empowered me through personal experience.

I would highly recommend staying very focused on the material and studying during the school week. There is a lot of information that will be thrown at you, but if you are able to stay organized and determined there is a greater opportunity for success. This allowed me to balance the academics with the extracurricular travel that was so accessible.