Santa Barbara sits on a stretch of Californian coast where the mountains come down almost to the water, and the town occupies the narrow strip in between. The setting does most of the work: the Pacific on one side, the Santa Ynez range on the other, and a climate that is mild and sunny for most of the year.
The architecture is the other thing people notice. After an earthquake in the 1920s the town rebuilt in a single Spanish Colonial style — white walls, red tile roofs — and kept the rule, so the centre is unusually coherent for an American town. State Street runs through it to the sea and is where most of the shops, cafés and evening life are. Stearns Wharf is at the end of it.
For a language student the town's size is the point. Santa Barbara is small enough that a term here means the same faces, the same café and being recognised, which is the condition in which classroom English turns into conversation. It is also small enough that you will exhaust the centre quickly — the students who do best here are the ones who use the setting rather than the streets: the beach, the hiking trails behind the town, the wine country inland.
Los Angeles is close enough for a day or a weekend, which is how most students get their dose of a large city without living in one. The Amtrak line runs along the coast to get there, and the stretch between Santa Barbara and Ventura is one of the few American train journeys people take for the view rather than the destination.
The town is also a university town, which changes who you meet. UC Santa Barbara sits just along the coast in Goleta, and its students fill the beaches, the cafés and the bus routes through term time. For a language learner that is the difference between a resort where everyone is a visitor and a place where people your age actually live.
Two things to weigh. This is a small coastal town, not a city, and students who want nightlife and scale will feel that quickly — LA is the usual answer. And Santa Barbara is expensive; it is a desirable place to live in one of the most expensive states, and accommodation reflects that.
Studying here. Topstudy works with Positively Languages Santa Barbara, which offers General English, Semi-Intensive English and Intensive English. That covers a standard week, a middle option that leaves the afternoons for the beach, and a full intensive load. One school in town means the decision here is about timetable and dates rather than comparing campuses.
Accommodation. Alongside host families, Positively Languages Santa Barbara places students in the La Breeza residence. In a town this small the distance between accommodation and school is rarely the deciding factor, so the choice comes down to what you want from your evenings: a residence gives you other students and your own room, a host family gives you several more hours of English a day.
Who it suits. Students who want California weather and coast as part of the term; anyone who learns faster in a small place where they are recognised; and students who would rather visit a big city than live in one.
Get a Quote Now
