This is going to be a very different kind of article compared to what I normally write for this column. As the year winds down and we approach finals, so too approaches the date of my plane home and the end of my time at URochester.
Normally, I’d write a political article, critiquing the right wing and commenting on wider current events in the U.S. or across the Atlantic. But this time, I want to take a look at my time here and talk about why I think everyone should grab the opportunity of a year abroad wholeheartedly.
My year abroad has made me more resilient to change and challenges. If I can move half a world away from home with a suitcase and a carry-on and be successful, then I can do anything. If I can navigate the U.S. embassy in London and complete all of the paperwork necessary to get my visa, even in the face of Trump’s suspension of student visa applications last summer, then I can deal with any amount of admin and obtuse paperwork. If I can sit on a 13-hour Flixbus from Washington D.C. all the way back to Rochester because we didn’t know that you had to be 21 to rent a car in D.C. and the company didn’t tell us when we booked the damned thing, then I can sit in a car for six hours whilst my parents drive us to Liverpool to see my Grandad.
Similarly, the challenges of attending university here are very different from my experiences at my home institution, the University of Southampton (UoS). There, I had two essays to hand in per class, per semester, so eight essays per semester. That’s it. Attendance and participation have no effect on your grade. The shift to having many assignments to hand in posed a challenge at first, and has kept me on my toes for the duration of my exchange year. This is a good thing though; the classes that I’ve taken here have widened my knowledge on my subject and on world history and culture. I feel like I can hold my own in conversations with real adults in an academic setting instead of playing catch-up. It feels like the professors actually care about your work, especially as work isn’t anonymous like at home, and I don’t have to wait 20 business days to receive feedback. The opportunity to study creative writing with competent professors has opened up my world and my future.
Studying abroad has meant that my horizons have widened. Before, I wouldn’t have ever considered going anywhere except universities in the U.K. for grad school, and I would have ended up doing something in literature or journalism.Now, I’m going to be applying for a Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing at schools across the U.S. and Europe. Everything feels possible because of this step. Working abroad, living and studying abroad, has helped me chase the best opportunities available to me, even if it takes me out of my home country. The borders of home are now something I can navigate around, rather than walls I will remain content inside of.
This in turn has made me a more relaxed person. Everything is less of a big deal. Problems aren’t disasters. Making friends came easy and in doing so, I learned new ways to deal with things. I learned about hiking and cold weather preparation when I went to the Adirondacks with (mostly) experienced, outdoorsy people with a pair of trainers, and no snow boots. I learnt to pack light when I realised that I only had a 45 minute layover in Detroit airport and would not be able to take a checked suitcase. I learnt that you can shout back at scary TSA agents if they’re rude to you in JFK airport and shit won’t hit the fan. And whilst this absolutely wouldn’t fly at UoS, if you don’t know how to make a podcast for a final assignment, a meeting and a conversation will allow you to turn that into a lovely 3,000-word essay to hand in instead. Some things are not set in stone; you can change the board if you don’t like the game, whether that’s needing an extended deadline (as long as you’re not a STEM student with evil professors), or changing the country you live in.
And lastly, I want to say a big thank you to all my friends that have made me feel at home here, and everyone at the Campus Times for bringing me into the fold so quickly and giving me the opportunity to explore a kind of writing that I had yet to try. I’ve really enjoyed my time at URochester and am going to miss it a lot.
