Sarah Grace Smith

Sarah Grace Smith, English major with a creative writing concentration, studied abroad at Scottish Universities International Summer School with Arcadia Abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Seeing people from all over the world uniting for a common love of reading and writing reignited my own passion for writing. The environment was so supportive and uncompetitive; I felt free to explore my creative writing without fear of judgement. The city itself also impacted me. Edinburgh felt relaxed, curious and historical. It changed my own view on how to approach life. Rather than hurrying to get to the next phase of life, I want to curiously explore all this moment has to offer.

Scottish Universities International Summer School invited students from all over the globe to come together and choose to study creative writing, theater or literature. Although it was taught at the University of Edinburgh, the staff consisted of faculty from multiple Scottish universities. I chose this program because I wanted to enhance my creative writing skills and nail down some writing habits. I also was drawn to Scotland because I have a lot of Scottish heritage. At the end of my study abroad, my mom joined me, and we were able to see a house in Glasgow that my great-great grandfather lived in! That was quite a cool moment.

I would encourage anyone to go abroad! It made me realize that we are conditioned in this bubble to believe that America is all there is, that it’s the greatest country out there. But when I left, I could easily see that we are just another country on this giant globe, just trying to figure out how to manage ourselves.