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UCU student and Alumni Office Ambassador Hanna Steinkamp '26 writes from Peru, where she’s spending a semester abroad studying geography, improving her Spanish, and exploring the rainforest.

¡Hola! I can’t believe I’ve already been here for two months! It’s been so interesting to step outside the UCU environment and experience life at another university — of course, it’s quite different. Suddenly studying at a university with 30,000 students is quite a change from UCU’s 750, but I’ve already met many friendly people from different programmes and made friends with both exchange students and Peruvians.

Here, I’m mainly taking courses within the geography department, which I really enjoy. For my Conservation in the Peruvian Amazon class, we even went on a one-week field trip to the rainforest, living at a research station. It was fascinating to see conservation work up close, and we spotted some amazing animals, like caimans and parrots!

I’m living with a lovely host family, and my Spanish is improving every day. Since all my classes are in Spanish and I’m not a native speaker, I’m still a bit nervous about the upcoming midterms, but I’m definitely learning a lot.

One of my highlights so far has been visiting Machu Picchu. Together with other exchange students I met through a WhatsApp group, we did a four-day trek ending at the site. After four days of hiking, finally seeing Machu Picchu was even more impressive!

Peru is an incredible country. The people are friendly, the nature is beautiful, and there’s so much to explore. I love getting to know the culture, trying new foods and fruits, and simply experiencing daily life here. I’m excited to see what the rest of the semester brings, but I’m also looking forward to returning to UCU and seeing my friends again.

- Hanna Steinkamp '26