Callan Brakeman is a Linguistics major at the UC Santa Barbara. She is originally from Pasadena, CA, and is attending the University of Oslo in Norway. Callan began learning Norwegian on a whim when she was 14 years old and has dreamed of living in Norway ever since. This love for the Norwegian language inspired her to study Linguistics at UCSB, where she eventually added a Slavic emphasis and a minor in Russian. Callan writes, “I’m very interested in Norwegian culture and the linguistics of Scandinavian languages, so I’m beyond excited to take part in this study abroad program. I hope to further my studies in Linguistics, and hopefully achieve fluency in Norwegian after living in Norway for an entire year.” Callan lives in a student village and has made great friends with several other international students, with whom she has traveled to Bergen and Budapest. “My favorite experience here so far has been seeing the seasons change,” Callan writes. “Growing up in Los Angeles, that’s not something I am very used to. The fall colors are beautiful and today it properly snowed for the first time!”
Recipient Biographies