Reflections of an Undergrad - Yui

Yui is a graduating senior of the dual degree program from LA, Chile, and Japan. She attended the Reims campus where she majored in Politics and Government, and at Berkeley she majored in Legal Studies. As she reflects on her time during the program, she gives 5 lessons for incoming and current students.

I sit here and write this blog during my last week of undergrad, very bittersweet. My time in this program was inarguably the best three and a half years of my life. I found not only a sense of home in Berkeley but also the foundation of my selfhood through this program.

Throughout these past three and a half years, I carried one value close to my heart and mind in everything I could do, especially as I navigated uncertainty during COVID-19–and that was the value of open-mindedness. Open-mindedness, to me, is not just being receptive to new ideas or taking chances. Ironically, this definition always felt constrained in my mind. Open-mindedness is also actively looking for things outside my comfort zone. 

And it is difficult. Unfamiliarity always is. If not for this value and a history of exercising it, I would never have applied to this program. I had no connections to Europe, much less France, no connections to the United States other than having lived here, and no idea what living abroad as a student for two years would be like. Nevertheless, I applied.

I found this program–or more specifically, this program found me. During the spring break of my sophomore year of high school, I went to a sustainability program in the Dominican Republic. There I met a student attending the University of British Columbia SciencesPo Dual Degree Program starting in the fall. It was a brief interaction, and I did not put much thought into it. Then, during Cal Day 2019, my family drove all the way up to Berkeley for the weekend. As I walked among the booths, the Dual Degree Program caught my eye. I recognized the name “SciencesPo” almost immediately. While I knew little about the program, my involvement in Model United Nations during high school and my dream to become a lawyer drew me to its academics, and my background growing up in three countries drew me to the abroad aspect of the program. I spent a few more minutes talking to a student and the program director, knowing that as soon as I got home, I would read the SciencesPo UC Berkeley Dual Degree website from corner to corner.

In February 2020, I received my acceptance email right after a Model United Nations conference in Chicago. Overwhelmed with emotion, I called my parents to tell them the news. On May 1st, I committed to the program. It wasn’t until a week before my flight to France that I came to the realization that I was moving to France–during COVID-19.

Navigating a new country and time away from home transformed my college journey. Open-mindedness became key as curfew, quarantine, countless tests, face masks, and social distancing became part of the routine. My first semester was remote, and yet, this created an unexpected bond among my classmates as we collectively faced the challenges of moving to a new country during a global pandemic. 

My first year was a blur. Balancing lessons in social sciences and developing a daily routine in a new country was a challenge that helped develop adaptability and allowed me to dedicate my time to extracurricular activities. I applied to clubs that didn’t exist back at home–those that I never would have thought I would apply to. In doing so, I crafted my passions beyond academics in ways I had never envisioned.

This general theme of open-mindedness came back to my life again during the summer before my second year when I had to decide my major. Those within my close circle did not pursue the same major as me, and I worried about my capacity to participate in class. Older students cautioned that the Politics and Government major was especially challenging for international students as the major lecture consisted of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, a topic which French students were more familiar with, and also a topic with which it was easier to comprehend in French. Despite these warnings, I made a decision: to pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer, I needed to expose myself to law-related courses no matter how challenging they may be. Surprisingly, the first semester of my second year proved to be rewarding, and the Constitution of the Fifth Republic class became one of my favorites. 

But my absolute favorite class during my time at SciencesPo was International Dispute & Resolution. In this class, we were given hypothetical scenarios and assigned a party, where in the following week we had to present our side and the party’s compliance with international law. This was the class in which I had an epiphany: this is what I wanted to do in life. 

Transitioning to Berkeley was relatively easy because of the friends I had made when I first added myself to the UC Berkeley Class of 2024 Facebook Group back in 2020, and my sorority. Now knowing what I wanted to do after graduation, I allowed myself to pick classes that interested me while also fulfilling my major requirements. I joined clubs, applied to Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Programs, and applied for leadership positions within these clubs. Not being a student at Berkeley for the first two years did not limit me from the possibility of pursuing leadership positions. 

I had two research positions during my time here, one as a researcher for Dr.Monica Castillejos-Arragón, and one as a student researcher at the Human Rights Center here at UC Berkeley. For my research with Dr.Castillejos-Arragón, I was tasked with reading and analyzing communications published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the independence of the judiciary in multiple countries. And at the Human Rights Center, we worked on uncovering human rights violations through open-source intelligence. These two experiences were rewarding, as I was able to conduct research for amazing professors at the UC Berkeley Law School, and it also solidified my passions. 

My favorite class here was The Supreme Court & Public Policy taught by Dean Chemerinsky of the Berkeley Law School. I learned so much information in this class, and the Dean was so eloquent and made the information easy to digest. Having learned French Constitutional Law just two semesters before this class made this class all the more interesting as I was able to find similarities and differences between these two countries. 

I learned how to come home to Berkeley as if it were truly home. The experiences I had, the friends I met, and the lessons I learned through this program are integral to who I am and how I navigate the world. It transformed me into not only an educated student but an educated human being.

I can’t summarize my experience in one word but I do know that I would not trade this experience for anything else in the world. 

A couple of lessons as I transition into an Alumni of this program for incoming and current students are as follows:

One last thing: I want to thank Amber and my parents for being the most supportive people throughout these years. I could not have done it without you. 

Signing off, 

Yui Ogihara, Class of 2023