While most students were arriving home for summer break, Sarah Huang was just beginning to stroll the streets of La Paz in Bolivia.

“In Bolivia, everyone is very warm, very loving,” she said. “They want to be helping. And they help other people, including foreign exchange students like myself. So it was a very nice, welcoming week for me.”

Huang, a recent human biology and society alumnus, said she practiced Spanish with the locals while working at a hospital in La Paz. She is one of many students who spent this summer studying abroad.

Huang said the nurses and nursing students she worked with were very understanding and accommodating when she told them she was not fluent in Spanish. She added that their flexibility helped her to improve her fluency in the language.

“This trip definitely influenced my decision to do medicine,” Huang said.

For many undergraduates, studying abroad can be an opportunity to immerse themselves in a new culture, pick up a new language or intern in another country. UCLA offers different study abroad programs, such as Travel Study, Global Internships and UC Education Abroad Program to fit students’ needs.

Devone Gorum, a fourth-year political science student, said he felt right at home in Paris, where he studied the medieval history of the French capital as part of UCEAP.

“They know the historical value of their country, so they take a lot more pride in everything – their food, their artwork, the streets, their painters, their historians,” Gorum said.

Brittany Yevoli, a fourth-year anthropology student, said she studied English literature in Florence as part of the Travel Study program.

“At UCLA, you feel like your experience is UCLA – the school itself and the campus – whereas this felt like the experience itself was the city of Florence,” she said.

Gorum added that he had no physical classroom while studying abroad, either. Instead, he and his classmates studied in Paris’ streets while meandering around the city, he said.

Yevoli said she was pleasantly surprised by the cultural differences between Los Angeles and the rest of the world. She said that in Florence, people lead lives that are more relaxed and slower paced, such as by having longer and larger lunches than she was used to in the United States.

“It definitely helps you be more in the present moment, experience your relationships with people around you, settle into the moment and really approach life in a different way,” she said.

Although Yevoli said she saw the value in a fast-paced, productive environment, she also acknowledged the mental and physical benefits of leading a slower, more mindful lifestyle. She added that she believes people in Florence are happier and have better connections to friends and family.

Che Xu, a fourth-year comparative literature student, said she was reminded of her hometown, Beijing, while interning for NGO Nest Berlin, a small organization specializing in EU-funded educational projects.

“There were small things that I started to realize that I’ve been missing out during my time in LA,” she said. “In Beijing, I used to walk a lot – the streets were very walkable. … I realized, ‘Oh, I missed this feeling of being able to just go out and walk whenever I want.’”

Other students said they appreciated the physical beauty of the countries where they studied. Huang said one of her favorite moments in Bolivia was eating an orange while watching the sunset on Isla del Sol, a mountain overlooking Peru.

Yevoli said studying abroad opened her up to the rest of the world.

“There will be moments where you feel uncomfortable and pushed out of your comfort zone and that will be challenging, but you learn a lot about yourself and you will grow a lot,” Yevoli said. “Discomfort brings growth and it’s healthy.”