Home / Get Started / Identities Abroad and Away / WHOA - Who am I Abroad?

Who Am I Abroad (WHOA) is a student series of videos and articles exploring the shifts in perception of the self while abroad or away. The purpose of these stories is to highlight the international and domestic experiences of students and staff in relation to their salient identities.

If you are an interested student and would like to be connected with global learning alumni who have participated in your program or country of interest and shares your identity, please submit the Connect with Alumni Request Form, and we'll follow up with you by email.

If you are a global learning alumnus and are interested in participating in the WHOA series, please fill out an interest form.

    Emelie Lenoir

  • No alternative textEmilie Lenoir, an environmental sciences major, talks about studying abroad in France during the summer and fall of 2022 as a Renaissance scholar and EOP student.

    • Sammy Moore

  • No alternative textSammy Moore, a double politics and philosophy major, talks about traveling to Scotland with UCEAP and to Washington, DC with UCDC as a bisexual woman.

    • Anya Hynell

  • No alternative textAnya Hynell, a psychology major, talks about studying abroad in Madrid, Spain as a queer, low-income student who took part in UCEAP’s Complutense University of Madrid program.

    • Lucius Mitchell

  • No alternative textLucius Mitchell, a global economics major and recipient of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, talks about studying abroad in Berlin, Germany through UCEAP’s Berlin Summer program.

    • Janan Ali

  • No alternative textJanan Ali, a nontraditional, 2022 UC Santa Cruz, Film and Digital Media graduate, studied Film History and Restoration in Bologna, Italy during the summer of 2022.

    • Eliza Beam

  • No alternative textEliza Beam, a second-year Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) major with a minor in Education, studied abroad in Ireland as a Black and Queer person.

    • Alcides Fuentes

  • No alternative textAlcides, a recently graduated transfer student, originally from El Salvador, double majoring in Global Environmental Justice and Latin American Latino Studies studied abroad on the Agroecology Practicum global seminar in Guatemala.

    • Esteban Rosales

  • No alternative textEsteban, a Human Biology major, studied abroad in Florence, Italy as a first-generation, LatinX, low-income, EOP student.

    • Colby Grey

  • No alternative textColby, a Philosophy major, studied abroad on an Independent Program through CIEE in Copenhagen, Denmark and on Semester at Sea.

    • Maya Amin

  • No alternative textMaya, a politics and legal studies double major, discusses studying abroad in Ireland as a POC and first-generation university student.

    • Lauren Feder

  • Student studying abroad in ItalyLauren, a recently graduated psychology major who spent a summer quarter in Sorrento, Italy on a UCSC Global Seminar discusses studying abroad as a first-generation college student.

    • Jaydah Branch

  • No alternative textJaydah, a Linguistics major, discusses studying abroad in Seoul, South Korea as a low-income, African-American student.

    • Fiona Lee

  • Fiona LeeFiona, a double major in Politics and Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, discusses studying abroad in France as a 1.5 generation Korean-American immigrant.

    • Shannon King

  • Shannon KingShannon, an Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism major with a minor in Linguistics and a teaching certificate in TESOL, discusses studying abroad in Bordeaux, France as a Queer Swedish-American student.

    • Griselda Carolina Torres

  • Griselda Carolina TorresGriselda, a psychology major, discusses studying in South Korea as a Latinx first-generation student from a low-income household.

    • Celia Debonnet

  • Celia DebonnetCelia, a Business Management Economics major, discusses studying in France as an American with Korean features raised in a French family.

    • Chailen August

  • No alternative textChailen, a CRES major with a Black Studies minor, discusses studying abroad in Ghana as an ABC (African-American/Black/Caribbean) student from a low-income background.

    • Edwina Malmberg

  • Edwina MalmbergEdwina, a Sociology major, discusses participating in the AFS Intercultural Exchange Program in Indonesia as a Panamanian female from a low-income background.

    • Sereena Yeghiazarian

  • Sereena YeghiazarianSereena, a Film and Digital Media Studies major, discusses participating in a Virtual Global Internship as a transfer student from an immigrant household.

    • Samantha Keefer

  • Samantha KeeferSamantha, a fourth-year Psychology and Education double major, discusses participation in the UCEAP Made in Italy program in Florence, Italy as an EOP student.

    • Meghan Lamba

  • Meghan LambaMeghan, a Biomolecular Engineering major, discusses participating in a UCSC Exchange Program at the Technical University of Denmark as a South Asian female.

    • Anahi Mendoza

  • Anahi MendozaAnahi, a psychology major with an education minor, discusses studying abroad in London as a Latinx, first-generation student.

    • Christina Yu

  • Christina Yu

    Christina Yu, a Cognitive Science major, discusses her experiences as an Asian-American while studying abroad in Rome, Italy.

    • Elisabet Garcia

  • Elisabet Garcia

    Elisabet Garcia, an Anthropology major, discusses studying abroad as a first-generation college student from a low-income background and as a queer Latina.

    • Chelsey Boykin

  • Chelsey BoykinChelsey Boykin, a Psychology major, shares her experience understanding culture in new ways while studying abroad as a first-generation, ABC (African-American/Black/Caribbean) student in Barbados.

    • Alexander Palines

  • Alexander PalinesAlexander, a double major in sociology and politics, discusses studying abroad in Paris and London as a first-generation Filipino-American.

    • Lucia Ortiz

  • Lucia OrtizLucia Ortiz, a Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies double major, shares her experience pushing aside doubt and fear in order to realize her dreams of studying abroad as a first-generation, low-income, LatinX student.

    • Ashley Bayman

  • Ashley Bayman

    Ashley Bayman, a study abroad advisor, discusses studying abroad as a low-income, first-generation, transfer student of color in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

    • Sakoya Hart

  • Sakoya Hart

    Sakoya Hart, a Film & Digital Media Studies and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology double major, discusses studying abroad as an EOP student in Costa Rica.

    • Marie DeShelter

  • Marie DeShelter

    Marie DeShelter, a Sociology and Feminist Studies Major, discusses studying abroad in Denmark at the University of Copenhagen.

    • Ayodele Abdul-Hadi

  • Ayodele Abdul-HadiAyodele Abdul-Hadi, an Environmental Studies major with a concentration in global environmental justice, discusses her experiences as an African-American Muslim woman studying abroad in Córdoba Spain.

    • Camille Cheng

  • Camille ChengCamille Cheng, a Feminist Studies and Legal Studies double major, discusses her experiences as a Chinese-American student studying abroad for three consecutive summers in Paris, Hong Kong, and London.

    • Megan Spitzer

  • Megan SpitzerMegan Spitzer, a fourth-year majoring in Politics, discusses her experience studying abroad as a female, mixed race, queer American at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia

    • Tolulope Familoni

  • Tolulope FamiloniTolulope Familoni, a Robotics Engineering major, discusses studying abroad as an ABC STEM student in Paris, France.

    • Katy Levine

  • Katy LevineKaty, an Intensive Psychology Major, discusses studying abroad in a multi-city experience called “London and Paris, Global Cities Urban Realities.”