Study Abroad and Domestic Study Away

My name is Hannah Mitchinson, and for almost an entire semester I’ve been studying abroad at the University of Roehampton in London. I only have a little over two weeks left before I return home to the United States, and it's time I reflect and express my gratitude for this amazing opportunity.

It’s impossible to write about studying abroad without sounding cliché. It would be a lie to say that living in the United Kingdom for four and a half months has been anything other life-changing, perspective-altering time for me. I knew I would experience some growth because I had never traveled outside of the states before, though I could not have anticipated the newfound sense of both independence and community I developed here.

When I first arrived in London, I was essentially starting college all over again. I had to learn to navigate a new campus and public transport system in a different country, as well as make an entirely new set of friends. Though these were terrifying challenges at first, they led me to become much more self-sufficient, and little tasks like walking to a kebab shop and ordering my first fish and chips, or asking a girl I met during orientation if she wanted to go thrifting together, felt like huge victories.

Since the beginning of the semester, I’ve been able to immerse myself in a diverse, global city far different from anywhere I’d been to before, as well as travel to other places like Scotland and Italy, and soon Wales! This has changed my community with other people, because I have gotten to know other study abroad students from different parts of the United States, as well as people from England and many other countries. I’ve made some close friends who I will be in contact with long after I return to Illinois.

Overall, I am unbelievably grateful to have had the chance to study abroad. It requires so much perseverance and trust in yourself, but it is ultimately one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I am a more well-rounded person because of it.

Hannah attending the Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty's Theatre: