A Northeastern University Semester in San Francisco
The Comfort of Studying Abroad
Since this semester is coming to an end… let me be honest.
I only applied to this study abroad program because I couldn't get my desired classes back in Boston…but thank goodness I applied because I had THE BEST EXPERIENCE!
I’ve studied abroad with Northeastern before so I knew that they would coddle the abroad students. This entailed getting all of my desired classed, having the opportunity to explore the city with school enforced excursions, and dodging the time ticket chaos to find housing.
For the Semester in San Francisco (SSF) Study Abroad Program most courses, if not all, were entrepreneurial based. I had no intentions to pursue an entrepreneurial degree. However, I am grateful that I was able to expand my knowledge in this realm while still pursuing a degree in Finance and Marketing.
Reminisce on the Last Four Months with Me
Rewinding to the first week I was in SF, I was greeted by the blood orange sky caused by the smoke of the California fires.
I came here knowing no one to leaving with the most down to earth friends. The people I have met in this program were all open to trying knew things and had the “say yes” mentality.
During the second week of the program, I was eating a Mission burrito when I was invited to go skydiving in the middle-of-nowhere California. Bold. I ended up not going, however, I heard some had the time of their lives while some threw up their lunch. Yum.
In October, a couple of us attempted to surf. We drove down to Daly City after our finance class, but the surf shop stopped renting surf boards out at 4pm. We got there at 4:10pm. Tragic. Instead we just relaxed on the beach and swam in the ice cold water until the sun set. Later we somehow found ourselves at an In-n-Out eating our souls away in their outdoor seating enjoying the warm night air with good company. We ended the evening by grabbing a donut from the Krispy Kreme right next door on our way back to the car. We all felt pretty sick afterward…worth it though.
With Halloween around the corner, I realized that I had never been to a corn maze nor picked pumpkins at an actual farm! With this, I decided to rally the whole program to go on a midnight corn maze excursion. The closest one that was open was in Petaluma and weirdly EVERYONE was willing to go! We rented a couple of Zipcars and made our way up to the “country-side.” We split up into two groups and placed bets on which team could get out the maze the quickest without any help. With it being a chilly night, I took this opportunity to warm up by running around trying to scare everyone. I honestly was a terrible team player as I gave them no leads in how to get out, but I was truly successful in freighting everyone. They really enjoyed it (insert sarcasm).
Probably some of the most frustrating student-made excursions were our THREE attempts to visit Point Reyes. Point Reyes seemed to be on everyone’s must see list, but even after three tries we still haven’t seen it . The first time we went, it was NOT Point Reyes. Somehow the destination point inputed to Google Maps was incorrect and brought us to a reservation point, but none of us really thought twice about it. We saw a trail and decided to follow it, soon after we were greeted by a herd of wild black cows. Clearly, we were not supposed to be here and we knew it, but of course we all decided to ignore the angry cows and walked past them. This almost cost us our lives as the cows felt terrorized and began to hoof and charge towards us. I am not making this story up and now I can never look at a cow the same. Good thing I drink oat milk. The second time we tried to visit the REAL Point Reyes, it was closed off due to road construction. The third time we finally got to enter the beach part of the Point Reyes but weren’t able to visit any of the touristy photo destinations because we were on the other side of the beach. The sun was already setting and we didn’t want to get lost in the dark.
As the semester was coming to an end, in November, a couple of friends and I made an overnight decision to go to the Yosemite for two days. Some of the people in the program were already there in a massive Airbnb, as they planned it a week in advance, and asked the Snapchat SSF group chat if the rest of us wanted to come. It was a Monday night and I was tucked in bed ready to go to bed but as part of my night routine, I go on my phone before sleeping (it is terrible and I need to stop) and saw the message about the Yosemite. Jokingly, I said “On my way!” and then scrolled through Instagram. About five minutes later, two girls from the program Facetimed me about going to the Yosemite tomorrow morning. With nothing planned for Tuesday I said yes and just like that I got out of bed and started packing. Next thing you know we’re at the Yosemite “hiking” through the snow talking and laughing enjoying the crisp air.
Since the beginning of the semester, I had planned to leave SSF during Thanksgiving break and to stay home until the end of the semester. However, I was not expecting to be sad when it was time to leave. Now came the last full day in SF and I still had one more thing to do on my must do list. That thing is to watch the sunrise on Battery Spencer Lookout. I used my “last day card” to drag four people out of bed at 4am, rent a Zipcar, and watch the sunrise with me. When we got in the car, there was so much fog that I started to worry that we wouldn’t be able to watch the sunrise. However, as we drove to the lookout the fog start to lift and we were just able to see the sunrise that morning. It was stunning.
— I also can’t forget the silly moments in the WeWork, our “campus,” of trying to get work done but just ending up taking naps in one of the office rooms. —
You Didn’t Think I Forget About Classes Did You?
Besides all the fun student-enforced excursions, we still had classes to take.
I kid you not, to be taught by the professors in this program was a privilege. I had never experienced such honest, care, and sense of security from any professors until now.
I took Entrepreneurial Finance, Impact Invest and Social Finance, Special Topics in Marketing, and a Boston-based online course. My Finance Professor was quite a character, but I cherished his honest feedback as it helped me improve my technical skills immensely. My Impact Investing Professor has given me a new perspective in a field I didn’t know existed until taking her course. My Marketing Professor has given me the freedom to feel comfortable in class by making sure that we actually learn and remember what’s being taught instead of focusing on our grades. My Marketing Professor was also the one to implement blog writing into my life which I am surprisingly content with (haha) — thanks Paul!
All of these professors are still pursuing their goals and are active entrepreneurs weaving their experiences into their lessons. All the classes we plan to take are meant to prepare us on what to expect in the real-world. Learning from lectures derived from personal experience creates a greater impression in our minds.
It was unfortunate that all of these classes were held online, expect for the two attempts of having in-person classes outdoors in the cold. They were successful in the moment, but were never tried again…
The professors didn’t take virtual teaching as an excuse to do the bare minimum, they came to class excited and managed to engage all of us. It is incredible of the amount of impact they have done on our academia.
If COVID-19 were to not exist, the SSF program would’ve hosted classes at a WeWork where the classrooms had an immaculate view of the bay. However, students were still able to book office rooms to work and study in. I took advantage of this opportunity and enjoyed the silly times of refilling complimentary coffee on tap to scramble to finish work with my friends.
Thank You SSF!
With all these trips and memories, it was inevitable for everyone (including the professors) to get so close.
Although we all have our opinions on our higher education institutions, Northeastern University, however, does an exceptional job in curating fantastic study abroad programs.
