This past year at the School of Global Policy and Strategy (formerly School of International Relations and Pacific Studies) at the University of California, San Diego has been one of the greatest and most enriching experiences of my life. It was the first half of a highly demanding two-year program in International Affairs, in which I am focusing on International Environmental Policy and China. Enabled by the Fulbright program, I have already been granted a number of invaluable chances and rich experiences here: from learning Mandarin Chinese, over being trained by a set of incredible professors who are absolute experts and authorities in their fields, to a school-sponsored summer internship with the United Nations in New York City, I consider myself so very lucky for the doors that have been opened for me through Fulbright already.

Even more importantly however, the personal relationships, intercultural exchanges, and lasting friendships I have made, for example through an amazing Fulbright enrichment seminar in LA in the spring, but also because of the incredibly rich international student in my program, will surely stay with me for the rest of my life.

Mathias Einberger was an Austrian Fulbright Student in 2014–15 and is currently finishing his Master's in Pacific and international affairs University of California, San Diego, CA. Photo courtesy of Mathias Einberger.