Three California women's lacrosse student-athletes got a firsthand experience last summer that life is very different outside of their comfortable and familiar bubble at Cal.
 
Kirsten Swanson, Kendall Swenson and Jenny Wilkens studied abroad in Europe last summer, specifically studying in London, though they also traveled to Barcelona and Paris. There were some obvious adjustments like language barriers, weather, food and culture ideals, but they also experienced some potentially serious events that were in the news worldwide.
 
They were present in London when terrorist attacks at the Finsbury Park mosque and London Bridge took place last June. 
 
While the three Bears were in no actual danger and returned to Berkeley safe and sound with a valuable experience added to their resumes, the events still made a lasting impact on their trip.
 
"I was a little uneasy about going there with everything going on, but my mom told me you can't live your life in fear and you could be missing an opportunity of a lifetime," Swenson said. "You have to be on guard and be smart, but you can't live in fear."
 
For Wilkens, the acts actually enhanced her international journalism class because they implemented the live events into their class plan.
 
"We'd talk about what had happened the day before and what was currently going on," Wilkens said. "It was interesting to take real-time events and go about it as if we were actually reporting it. It was interesting to be at the epicenter of everything going on that had a global impact."
 
Culture shocks and getting outside of their comfort zone in a different country were a couple reasons why they wanted to study abroad in addition to the education.
 
As Wilkens said, they're surrounded by like-minded people with similar interests every day in Berkeley. This journey opened them up to new ways of thinking that will make them more well-rounded people.
 
"On our lacrosse team, we all have similar interests and come from similar backgrounds, so it's easy to know how we all work together," Wilkens said. "To go in this kind of environment and see how other people do things, not knowing where they come from or who they are, that will set us up for professional success in the future and how to deal with different people and team settings."
 
Learning different perspectives on subjects they were interested in towards career paths is what made the trip so memorable for Swanson who took a marketing class with Swenson.
 
"I really wanted to utilize one summer with going abroad to get that culture change," Swanson said. "We wanted an individual adventure of roaming the streets. It's great to have that experience with adjusting to new environments, being lost and finding your place. We're going to have to do that when we're out of college. I'm happy it was an initial struggle, getting used to how things weren't just like how it is in the United States. It was fun in that sense we got to experience a new culture."
 
As fun and memorable as the trip was, there was serious work to be done with a semester's worth of academics crammed into three weeks. The lectures were three hours long and then discussions were an hour and a half.
 
"The London School of Economics (LSE) was very different," Swanson said. "Our marketing course was very hands on. Our professor was very experienced in the whole London marketing system and a lot of brands. I haven't been in a class like that before. Learning about how markets and business work in Europe made the trip for me."
 
The Bears went through the University Of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) to plan and prepare for their trip. Not only helping them prepare for the trip, but the UCEAP also had offices available in London in case the Bears needed assistance or help with anything.
 
Director of Berkeley Study Abroad Darin Menlove said his staff is committed to creating more options for student-athletes to study abroad since they have a busier schedule compared to the general student body due to competition and training.
 
"We have serious students at Cal, and it's true that most students go abroad to expand their knowledge in a given subject and acquire numerous skills such as intercultural awareness, adaptability, respect for others and independence," Menlove said. "All of these really help set students up for success when they return to college and after graduation. One thing we do particularly well here at Berkeley Study Abroad is individual student advising, coupled with hundreds of program options. We are well prepared to assist student-athletes and other unique populations."
 
Studying abroad is a popular way to earn course credit, so the Bears ran into some friendly faces in London who helped make the trip feel a little more like home.
 
 "A lot of the students were Division I athletes, and a lot of them were lacrosse players too, so it was cool to have that in common with a lot of people there," Swenson said.  
 
The experience gained and life lessons learned while earning course credit will equip these three juniors with the leadership skills necessary for being senior leaders on the Cal lacrosse team next season, and for their professional careers after they graduate.