Anna Webber

Every summer, Anna Webber and her family travel to different places across the United States, from Arizona to Indiana to North Carolina. Her family has also moved several times to California and back, and then across Kansas City, so Anna is used to making new friends and starting over.

“In the beginning it’s difficult to make new friends but I got used to it over the years,” Webber said. “Now I’m good at involving myself in different situations that I’ve never been a part of because of these experiences. “I have lived in the US for 18 years and wanted to go someplace new.”

The combination of her love of travel with her experience of meeting new people, made the decision to attend Edinburgh University in Scotland a clear college choice for Webber.

Because of it’s location, the University of Edinburgh stood out among Webber’s other college choices in San Diego and Arizona. Sprawled out across the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, Edinburgh University lacks the typical American college feel. Classes, departments and living areas for students are dispersed throughout the city of half a million people.

“It’s not going to be the same college experience that my friends will get,” Webber said. “But hopefully I will get a broader, more diverse cultural experience than I would have by staying in the US.”

Once she decided she wanted to study somewhere abroad, Webber narrowed her choices to universities in the UK because of the shared language and because her sister was living in London at the time. Webber’s sister helped her locate good schools in the UK and after researching several colleges, Webber decided on Edinburgh for its academics and location. At Edinburgh, Webber plans on majoring in astrophysics, which will combine her love for science and interest in space.

Ultimately, this major could lead her anywhere from working for NASA to doing research on astrophysics to being a college professor. Ideally, Webber would love to work at a university as a professor and research dark matter, such as black holes and galaxies.

To Webber, Edinburgh is the beginning of a new adventure.

“It makes me a little nervous,” Webber said. “But I’m excited. It will be a whole new start.”