4. NZ Sea Lions 2026

“Attention passengers, we will be arriving at our destination in 496 words. Fasten your seatbelts and keep your tray tables upright.” Throughout my life, I have had the privilege of traveling because of my dad’s business trips, and my aunt’s innate ability to find cheap travel deals through Costco. Traveling was always so fun for me, but gained even more value as I grew older.  Whether it was visiting stalls at markets and eating local street foods, or seeing landmarks I’ve only ever seen in books or pictures with my own eyes, there is something about traveling that simply sticks with you when you reminisce over the souvenirs and memories you’ve made.  However, as the children and adults of my family grew older, we didn’t have the time to board a 17-hour flight. But, while I haven’t exactly taken international flights recently, my family has tried traveling within America more, and it’s honestly been pretty eye-opening.  Before, the only states I’ve visited were Oregon, C...

(Credit: UCSC, Our Mascot: Sammy the Banana Slug) Imagine attending a football game where your school’s mascot is a fierce tiger, while the opposing team’s mascot is a banana slug. One is known for strength and speed; the other slowly moves across a rainy field. Yet, somehow, both of these have become symbols of school pride at American universities. I’ve always found college mascots to be really interesting, especially considering how unusual they all can be. While many schools choose animals with strong character traits for their sports teams, others take a completely different route on what makes a good mascot. Take the University of California, Santa Cruz, for example. Their mascot is the Banana Slug, a creature not particularly known for its swiftness and strength. The University of California, Irvine, has the Anteaters , while Stanford University has an unofficial mascot known as the Tree. Even Dartmouth has an unofficial mascot called Keggy the Keg. Considering how many univers...