The first time my new roommates and I walked down Del Playa, UCSB’s oceanfront street, it quickly became obvious why the college had a reputation as a haven of hedonism, where students go to study a little and party a lot.
To a soundtrack of Drake, students lined up to get into frat houses as paramedics loaded a girl who looked like she’d had too much to drink into an ambulance.
It was barely 7 p.m. and the September sun was still out.
It looked like a scene from a teen movie, far removed from my experience at university in Scotland, where weeks before, I’d been in black tie at a ceilidh.
Almost a decade on from my year abroad at UCSB, Niche recently naming it the US’s top party school came as no surprise. “Deltopia,” the notorious post-spring-break block party, still draws thousands of students each year, and police citations are handed out as readily as red Solo cups.
At the time, I worried partying might be all that the campus town of Isla Vista had to offer, but UCSB broadened my definition of success beyond career prospects and GPAs.
I loved studying in Scotland, but I needed a change
I enjoyed my first couple of years at the University of Edinburgh, where academics came first and social life consisted of pints in a cozy pub, wine-fueled dinner parties, and the occasional club night.
Each building looked like it had been plucked from Hogwarts, and every street felt steeped in charm and history.
However, the weather was bleak and unrelenting. In December, the average temperature was 40°F, and there were barely two hours of sunlight. Even if you invested in heaters, you’d often see your breath indoors.
I was ready for something different, and UCSB was just that.
Isla Vista, where the temperature usually hovered around 70°F, had five times the sunlight of Edinburgh in December. The unofficial, year-round uniform was shorts, flip-flops, and a Hydro Flask that clinked from the sound of ice. I loved it.
The campus was on the beach, where the rickety balconies of some houses on Del Playa hung over the Pacific Ocean. My friends and I would often head there after class to listen to music or hike to lookout points to watch the sunset.
That was one of the many ways it was easier to be active at UCSB than in Scotland. In Edinburgh, it was tough finding motivation to walk 20 minutes to the gym. At UCSB, I ran along the coast before class, the sun on my face reviving my tan, before zooming to class by longboard.
Getting credits for doing things I loved, which had no direct link to my political science degree, was a revelation. I earned them for tennis, aerobics, and theater — unthinkable at most UK universities.
At Edinburgh, I wrote long essays on Aristotle. At UCSB, it was mostly pop quizzes. I didn’t feel as academically stimulated, but I was learning more than just political theory; I was finding out what made me happy.
I also earned credit for an internship with the radio station KCRW. It was my first real step into journalism, during the 2016 US Presidential Election, no less. The night Donald Trump won, there was chaos on campus — students set fire to couches and held a march in protest.
These protests continued throughout the rest of my year, some of which I got the chance to cover for my internship. They taught me more about US politics than any textbook, and, crucially, they gave me the journalism bug.
I made life-long friends at co-operatives that felt like hippy communes
Unlike in the UK, where sororities and fraternities don’t really exist, Greek life was central to the UCSB experience. When I briefly rushed a fraternity, they put me on the door at several of their parties. As a Brit abroad, my accent made me a novelty, and they half-joked that an Englishman handing out wristbands lent class to parties consisting of keg stands and Costco vodka.
After deciding frat life wasn’t for me, I found community through UCSB’s resident-run cooperative houses, which felt more like hippy communes than student accommodation. Most evenings, we hung out on a roof terrace, laughing late into the night and becoming friends for life.
We shared some unforgettable experiences: watching a SpaceX rocket launch, spring break in Mexico, Coachella, and California day-trips. Those moments, not the parties, are what I cherish most. They broadened my horizons.
This summer, we had a reunion in London, and several came to my wedding last year.
When I returned to Edinburgh for my final year, with its scant sunlight and biting cold, my life shrank back mostly to exams and a dissertation. I missed the beach, but more than that, I missed the version of myself I’d found in California.
UCSB gave me more than an education and far more than just a year of partying. It gave me an insight into American culture, space to explore my interests, lifelong friends, and showed me that a student’s worth shouldn’t be measured by grades alone.
I took that lesson with me into my career: reducing success to only grades and promotions makes for a life half-lived. Fulfillment, and being more than just a résumé, comes from the experiences outside the 9-to-5. Now I treat my hobbies as essentials, not luxuries. They enrich my sense of self.
My friends roll their eyes whenever I bring up UCSB. Maybe I mention it too often. But that one year — just 1/30th of my life — shaped me.
UCSB may be America’s top party school, but for me, it was where I grew to be a whole person and learned why that matters.
Read the full article here
