A third year student majoring in human biology, Yoshie Yamamoto is studying at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. During her year there, Yoshie will be participating in biological research in addition to “taking advantage of the opportunity to take Japanese language classes in order to attain fluency in reading and writing.” Although Yoshie has visited Japan in the past with her family, she writes that during her year abroad she “wishes to experience Japan with the intention of learning about the deep-engraved history of Japan while reconnecting with her ancestral past.” After a six week intensive language program in Tokyo during the summer she was able to visit a grandmother and aunt in Yamaguchi Prefecture and another aunt in Fukuoko Prefecture. She believes that, “One year is enough for me to completely engross myself in the sights and sounds of Japan, as a resident of Japan rather than as a tourist.” Yoshie is doing research in a laboratory focused on the developmental biology of limbs. She writes that she is conducting a variety of experiments through which she is “trying to see how a limb bud develops into mature fingers/toes/limbs.” After graduating from UCSD, Yoshie plans to attend veterinary school and hopes one day to have her own private veterinary practice.
Jonathan Nelson (Austria, 2010-11)
Jonathan Nelson is a Chemistry major studying at the University of Vienna in Austria. He decided on the Chemistry major during a research internship in the total synthesis lab at the Scripps Institute at UCSD. His advisor at Scripps, Dr. Phillip Baran, introduced him to Dr. Johann Mulzer at the University of Vienna with whom he is working on a research project during his time in Vienna. He writes that this “will give me the opportunity of having worked with well-known professors in the Chemistry field at two internationally renowned institutions, which in turn will be helpful when pursuing graduate studies.” Jonathan was raised in a bi-cultural home with an American father and a mother who grew up in Austria. His aunts and their families live in Vienna and he spent more than a month prior to starting his studies traveling and visiting with family. Jonathan is pictured above during one such trip, hiking near the town of Schladming in the Austrian Alps. These experiences will help Jonathan to accomplish his goal of “learning more about the culture of my heritage and getting to know the Austrian side of my family.”
Tamar Freeland (Spain, 2010-11)
Tamar Freeland, a Communications major with a minor in Spanish Literature, is studying at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. She describes herself as a student, a sister, a barrista, a hopeful realist, and a bad joke-teller. Based on her visit with Ray and Verena in Davis they would add that she is also a delightful conversationalist. Tamar wrote that she is “looking forward to this experience as an opportunity to become fluent in Spanish, travel throughout Europe, gain a more worldwide perspective, and completely immerse myself in a new culture.” One way Tamar prepared for her year abroad was by living in the International House at UCSD, because she “knew that meeting and befriending international students would not only be a great cultural opportunity here, but would come in handy when I travel to other countries.” Her first impression of Barcelona from the airplane was that “the Mediterranean Sea wasn’t as blue as I was expecting, and that all of the houses had red roofs.” After two weeks of searching, she found a comfortable and affordable apartment with 3 other girls—two from San Sebastian in the Basque Country and the other from Athens. She seems well on her way to achieving the goals she laid out in her Statement of Purpose: to “grow more mature and self-confident in my abilities to live autonomously as a young adult.”