Julia’s first year at the University is tumultuous. She enjoys her classes and is excited to hopefully pledge the Epsilon Iota sorority. As always, she attracts the attention of several devoted young men whose hearts she will surely break. But music is Julia’s first love, and alongside her family, her truest. She aspires to be an opera singer like her idol Geraldine Farrar, and knows that while she can pursue it after college, she really should be starting younger than that. And a university is no substitute for study abroad.

When Julia suffers the indignity of being blackballed by the sorority, Mr. and Mrs. Ray plot an alternate path for her musical exploration. They offer to send her abroad to London, Rome, Paris, and Berlin, a year of study with well-renowned singing, acting, and language teachers. She would have to forego a year at the University.

While the relative wealth of the Deep Valley families is not explicitly discussed in the Betsy-Tacy series, the Rays’ offer is a clear indication of a certain financial status. The Kellys would certainly not be able to send their children on such a trip; the Mullers would seem to have the means. But owning his own shoe store, Mr. Ray is able to provide such an arrangement for Julia (and presumably his other daughters as well; we will see Betsy go overseas later in the series). Then, as now, a trip of this magnitude would be a substantial investment. Anything transatlantic would have to be traveled by ocean liner.

For Julia, there is no question but that she will accept her family’s generous offer. Immediately, University life pales into significance. Julia no longer cares about sorority life, will not return to the U, and, in fact, will go on to sing professionally, an uncommon career path at the time, especially for a woman. She will take the family “with her” overseas via a steady stream of letters, gifts, and stories, and will inspire Betsy’s own international travel in Betsy and the Great World.

— For more on Geraldine Farrar, see: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Geraldine-Farrar

— For a brief look at travel throughout the ages, see: https://www.travelandleisure.com/what-travel-looked-like-decades-5439741