By: Tay Ririnui

I will be referring any complaints regarding the cringey title above to my literary advisor. The creative wordplay (still unsure whether inserting my name into a random adjective qualifies) of the said advisor, combined with my mundane alternative ideas, led to this questionable outcome. I would encourage readers to simply ignore and move on from it.

Onto the more important stuff.

One of the main reasons I chose to study abroad at UCLA was the diverse environmental engineering course offerings. This was appealing because, to be frank, I have no idea where I would like to go with my career, which is a little scary. I would love to proudly declare I now have it figured out, but that would be a lie.

Anyone who knows me even a little bit is aware that I’m a big nerd about anything environmental, or just in general, and love delving into new areas of knowledge. For this reason, studying at UCLA has opened my eyes to even more applications of environmental engineering, only making my future decision harder.

Over the last few months, I have been taught by professors who are world-leading experts in their respective fields, including bioremediation, groundwater contamination, airborne antibiotic resistance, rainfall modelling, and hydrologic remote sensing. This has been inspiring and a valuable learning experience I’m truly grateful for.

I have learnt about chemical fate and transport in aquatic environments, hydrologic analysis, sustainable waste management, and environmental microbiology. If that wasn’t exciting enough, I get to learn about environmental nanotechnology (don’t ask me to explain it yet), green infrastructure, wastewater treatment plant design, and climate change modelling in the next few months.

It has been especially rewarding to see the real-world impacts that these fields of study and work can have. I have observed lots of cool crossovers between each of my courses, with one example relating to the Los Angeles wildfires a year ago.

Since then, my professors and fellow UCLA students have been researching various aspects of wildfires. This includes using weather data to model and predict wildfire risk to for more proactive management, to testing different bioremediation techniques on soil samples with elevated toxic hexavalent chromium collected from the affected neighbourhoods, to inform best approaches to restoring these areas.

I’m honestly thrilled to learn so much in many different important fields and excited to maintain strong connections with my professors and classmates in the future! Each one may also be a step closer to 500+ LinkedIn connections, the true goal of networking.

Outside of studying hard, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to across the US during my first few months here. I’m very grateful to the kind and welcoming people I’ve met who have shown me their special, tucked away local spots and helped me create some great memories I’ll continue to cherish. I’m challenging myself to be more spontaneous and soak up as much as I can in my last few months, so check back in a few months to see where else I’ve visited.

A cool, and once again, nerdy, part of traveling that I enjoy and has been on my mind is seeing how different communities operate and the intersections of human and natural environments. Decisions about development, land use, green spaces, rivers, coastlines, and infrastructure play a significant role in society, which impacts the environment’s ability to provide benefits now and in the future.

In some places, the environment, from an outsider’s perspective, appears to often be considered an obstacle to development. Rivers are robbed of their life and meandering nature by transformation into straight, concrete-lined channels. Parks and open spaces are rare commodities, with birdsong rarely heard above the engines and beeping horns. Even the water quality at beaches must be checked to ensure it is safe for swimming.

There are similarities and differences to home and noticing these will be beneficial if I have input on related decisions in the future.

Having new experiences in different cities and environments has also been beneficial for me as a young person (hopefully readers are old enough that they won’t challenge me on this) finding their place in the world. Travelling with others has been lots of fun, but being alone has helped to build a certain aspect of independence. The ability to be alone with one’s thoughts and emotions is an art that is being lost amongst the constant noise and dopamine-targeted short-form entertainment we face every day.

I’m writing this at the end of a week alone in New York City.

I’ve visited all the main attractions while simultaneously being annoyed by walking behind slow tourists with their heads down, navigating using Google Maps.

I’ve been surrounded by people in trains, gondolas, narrow pavements, queues, elevators, and free museum exhibits (I’m Scottish after all), while simultaneously feeling lonely at times, missing friends, family, and a regular routine.

I’ve put off writing this for days, in favour of exploring the city, while simultaneously overthinking about what I should write at the inevitable end of my self-invoked procrastination period.

People say that New York is a place that tests you. In my short time here, I can say that it is true. It’s certainly provided an opportunity for introspection that I needed during this study break, serving as an excellent place to reflect on the last three months and think about how I want to maximise my next three.

I want to seek out happy, relaxing, and idyllic beach vibes, like those in Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach, to ease stress and remind me of home.

I want to shorten my list of unvisited National Parks, rediscovering the warmth in the wilderness I felt at the fiery red peaks of Pinnacles National Park.

I want to turn my nose up at the ambiguous fragrances (generous description) of densely packed cities like Boston and New York, as I walk faster than the locals and struggle to justify the cost of anything I come across.

Where I’ll go, and who I’ll have these experiences with, I do not know.

I do know I’ll make it happen, even if it means cramming assignments on a Tuesday, and arriving back with weary eyes and a full camera roll late on a Sunday.