The UCLA campus is located near the Santa Monica mountains, only 5 miles 
from the Pacific Ocean. The campus itself is a diverse community of about 35,000 students from over 100 countries. This international atmosphere ensures that there are always interesting cultural events taking place on campus, including first-run and classic film series, exhibits at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, and professional and student concerts and plays. The athletic facilities are superb and easily accessible to students at minimal or no cost. Classes and recreational opportunities are offered in virtually any sport. Students exploit the year-round good weather to engage in a wide variety of sports for recreation or fitness, whether it be basketball, swimming, racquetball, sea kayaking, or windsurfing. The Greater Los Angeles Area is surrounded by mountains and the ocean and contains extensive areas of park land that offer opportunities for swimming, sailing, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing and skiing at every level. The city contains superlative museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum complex near UCLA, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, and the Museum of Tolerance. Every style of music can be found in Los Angeles at concert halls or small clubs. Slightly further a field, one can escape the busy pace of Los Angeles with a relatively short trip west to the Channel Islands, north to the Ventana Wilderness or Central Coast wine district, south to Baja California, Mexico, or east to the lush deserts of Death Valley National Park or the rugged snow covered peaks and lush meadows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The highest and lowest points in the lower 48 states can be found in Southern California, as well as the largest, tallest and oldest trees in the world.