Hello! My name is Erin Bughman and I spent the 2023 spring semester studying abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. The program ran from January through May and gave me the opportunity to challenge my independence by living and traveling to places completely new to me.
As someone who has spent almost her entire life living in Iowa, I was very nervous to live in a new place where I wasn’t familiar with the culture and communities in which I would be living. I am an identifying member of the LGBTQ community and was anxious about how this community would be treated in Canterbury. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how accepting this area was and how much effort they put into uplifting pride. My university had weekly LGBTQ nights at the on-campus pub, and at one event, flags representing the various sexualities were passed out so we could proudly represent our identity. It felt super relieving to have the ability to fully be myself in a place thousands of miles away from my home. Canterbury and the University of Kent were a lot more diverse than I had expected, which made it comforting knowing that minority groups were very accepted and welcomed.
"It felt super relieving to have the ability to fully be myself in a place thousands of miles away from my home."
Through being involved on campus and attending the welcome events offered to me, I was able to easily make friends, both natives to the area and other American study abroad students, which helped make my experience so much more exciting. I loved that through my program I was able to attend a school that wasn’t just for abroad students; it was a British university that had a large, diverse student body. Through this I was able to make British friends, who were extremely willing to take us on road trips to nearby gorgeous coastal towns and gave us direct insight into British culture and slang. This helped me learn first hand about the culture of England and has given me strong connections to friends abroad that I can hopefully visit in the future!
As a first- generation college student, I’ve had my fair share of trying to navigate the college education system on my own. I was hesitant to study abroad at first, as I figured it would be difficult to try and figure out the application process, and I was scared to be completely independent while in a new country. However, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to persevere and challenge myself to try something this daunting. Through forcing myself to step outside of my comfort zone, I have learned that I am actually a very independent person and am capable of doing hard things on my own.
Through study abroad, I learned how to plan and organize my own trips to nearby countries including Italy, Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. I had realized through this that I had never booked my own flight before or tried to figure out transportation systems on my own. This experience gave me amazing practice on how to research and plan visiting other countries, and through trial and error (like getting ticketed by Italian police because I didn’t know how to buy a bus ticket), I became well acquainted with different forms of travel, and now feel a lot more confident in my abilities to visit places around the world on my own.
Overall, I had the best time studying abroad. This opportunity allowed me to learn how to flourish on my own and gave me amazing experiences visiting places I have always dreamed of going. I loved living in the quaint town of Canterbury and still keep in contact with the wonderful people I was able to meet through this experience!
Erin Bughman (psychology major and social work and human relations minor), a Diversity Ambassador Scholarship recipient (now the Global Access Ambassador Scholarship), went to England with the University of Kent Exchange Program in spring 2023.
LEARN HOW YOU CAN APPLY FOR A Global Access Ambassador SCHOLARSHIP
The Global Access Ambassador Scholarship (formerly Diversity Ambassador) program provides awards to study abroad for a summer, semester, or academic year. The scholarships are intended to support students who study abroad with the intent to serve as Global Access Ambassadors upon return to the UI campus. Upon completion of the study abroad program and return to UI, award recipients are asked to submit a photo and an open letter to prospective students or suggest an alternate means of sharing with prospective students.
Please note that the opinions and views expressed by ambassadors are solely those of the students and do not reflect or represent the views of International Programs or the University of Iowa.
International Programs (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement. IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.