Selena Carty, a BA History with Military History student attending the University of Gothenburg’s Summer School of Sustainability – the third and final part of her blog.

Week three has been a challenging one. Homesickness is a real feeling as being consumed with nothing but your thoughts and feelings with fresh air, foods, and space reminds me that I am in a foreign place. I love history and find myself immersed deeply into it here. Forging a new relationship with the planet and my sense of belonging.  Making so many connections to times past and present, understanding the length of the cosmopolitan cultural connectivity’s we all have, and maybe unaware of. Looking deeper into the relationships between humans, animals, plants, and all the elements and trying to make the connections between how reliant we are on all things found within the planet Earth. 

Marstrand Island was a beautiful day out

Move night: ‘Push’ Directed by Fredrik Gertten presented the experiences globally of communities being pushed out of their homes and areas due to the imbalance of investors capitalising on equity of the future, with no regards to the present. England, Canada, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden were all featured within the film. Notting Hill and Grenfell Tower were also strongly featured. The voices of the communities and the collaboration of voices coming together being a powerful method for change. As it goes beyond race, gender, and age.

Fresh popcorn made on film night

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Rose Bartels, BA Design student, received funding to volunteer at a school in Kathmandu, Nepal.

For my placement I travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal, to stay at the Nawa Asha Griha (NAG) School. I found the placement because this school is twinned with a school in Switzerland where a family friend works. This friend had visited Nepal on several occasions and recommended my sister and myself to the headmistress as potential volunteers for the school.

The view from our accommodation

Both my sister and I studied art subjects at university; therefore, it was suggested we would volunteer in the art department while at NAG. The school has 400 pupils, half of which live onsite full time and range in age from around 4 up to 18 years old. Previously I had a little bit of experience working with children, such as helping to run art workshops, but I had not worked with children in this capacity or on this scale before. Working with the kids was the biggest highlight for me and has helped me realise this is something I would like to pursue as a career.

It sounds cliché to say a trip abroad has changed your life, but the experience I gained in Nepal has helped me to get more work, in tutoring and nannying. And this helped me decide I would like to gain a TEFL qualification in order to teach English as a second language abroad for the foreseeable future.

My favourite moment was painting a mural to go in the children’s playhouse. Everyone, staff and students, wanted to get involved and it was lovely to see the kids’ reactions to what they had helped create and how it sparked their imaginations for play.

Painting the mural

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Capres, a joint honours Sociology and Anthropology student talks about her experience of studying abroad for a term in Vienna as part of the Erasmus programme and teaching English in Palestine funded by Santander Universities. Find out about her time abroad, what she gained and her tips for how you can get involved.