Kaitlynn Steele

It was a dream that I had since I was in grade 10. I had always talked about traveling and going to see places and I thought doing that during my schooling was a prime opportunity. 

I originally wanted to go to Scotland, however, the University of Dundee closed its study abroad program with Trent University, so I was unable to attend there. I tried two other universities in Scotland, and they fell through. England seemed like the next best place to go since it had so many partnerships with Trent. I chose Birmingham because it was a central destination, it was close to Dublin, London, Cardiff, and most important Edinburgh, Scotland. All those places were either a couple-hour train ride or a direct flight. Plus, the Peaky Blinders was set in Birmingham.

For the English Literature program at the University of Birmingham, it was the complete opposite of Trent’s approach. One similarity between the two schools is that they both expect you to read one novel/reading per week, which is completely doable and what I was used to. However, the percentage to make up a grade is drastically different. I only had three classes, where I normally had five. But I only had a midterm and final each worth 50% for all my classes. I had lots of free time during the week, but when midterms and finals came around, I was super stressed. 

For me, the most difficult thing was my roommates’ language barriers. I had roommates where none of them spoke fluent English. Two spoke Spanish, one Arabic, one Mandarin, and one Korean. I became close with the two Spanish girls and still speak with them today. That was one thing that I wasn’t expecting when I booked my flight to…England. But in the end, I was able to learn a bunch of Spanish, and have made friends from Spain, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras. I only made one English friend and she was originally from Manchester. 

There are two major benefits of studying abroad in my opinion.

1. The friends and people you will meet and 2. The ability to not care and completed be yourself because even if you mess up or do something embarrassing, there is a good chance you will never see the people who witnessed it again. This created a type of freedom that I had never really experienced before. The people I met will have and have had a drastic impact on my life. I will remember everyone for the rest of my life. And I am sure in my friend’s mind, I am that one Canadian girl that they won't forget and there is something really awesome about that. 

I taught my Spanish, Peruvian, and Mexican friends how to ice skate in Bath, England for my birthday. Some of them had been skating before but it is not as common or non-existent in some of those countries so being able to introduce ice skating to them was a very unique experience. 

I actually convinced one of my friends from Trent to study abroad because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would tell them that there is something that ignited in me when I was able to create my own memories, ones that only me and people across the world have. It makes the world feel big, but really small at the same time.