Undergraduates and graduate students alike spent two months this past summer fully immersed in different languages and cultures around the world. 

Four College of Letters and Science students received the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), which seeks to grow the number of Americans who can speak certain targeted foreign languages. It covers travel, accommodations and language instruction. 

“I think CLS is one of the best things you could do with your summer — at any level of language learning, even if you’re a total beginner,” said Angel Trazo, a Ph.D. student in the Cultural Studies Graduate Group at UC Davis. “I went from completely knowing nothing to becoming an intermediate level speaker, so it was really cool.”

A Graduate Student Finds Unexpected Fun in Indonesia

Trazo traveled to Malang, Indonesia this last summer to study Indonesian. Though not directly tied to her graduate research focused on Asian American youth subcultures, she said the experience helped her to see Asian and Asian American studies through a new lens and to bring new elements into her teaching.

“Indonesia seemed like a really interesting place to study because in Asian American studies — my field — we really don’t focus on Indonesia at all,” Trazo said. “The history and culture were completely new to me. I had no idea what the language was like, and so it ended up being a very eye-opening experience.”

It was also the first time she had been in a predominately Muslim country. She enjoyed hearing the call to prayer in the morning and seeing residents practicing their religion openly. 

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the city, there will be a mosque nearby you,” Trazo said. 

CLS students commit to speaking only their language of study during their time in-country, which means not speaking English for two months, and taking immersive classes most days. Those running the program were very supportive, she said, and it was a caring environment.