Aoife Kearney - Summer in Minnesota, USA

Summer in Minnesota, 2023

“The best thing I have ever done for myself, I feel I have grown so much as a person and I know this experience will have such a positive impact on the rest of my university career.”

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Our accommodation was not great, just kind of basic and old but it did the job. The campus itself was amazing, so huge and amazing facilities. We always joked how all of the Ulster University campuses could probably fit on the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) campus.

Moments to remember

The whole experience was amazing and it hard to pick out highlights because we were constantly doing things. We went on so many trips and excursions but one of my favourite parts of the programme was our morning classes.

We did a lot of self-reflection and journaling and it was just really refreshing to take time for ourselves but then also share and explore our thoughts and feelings with the group. My fellow classmates came from so many different backgrounds and it was very inspiring and eye-opening to hear everyone’s perspectives and it was just really lovely to see people come out of their shell as time progressed.

Experiencing a new culture

One of my biggest worries before going on the trip was not knowing if Duluth was as friendly a place as my hometown but thankfully all the locals we interacted with were so welcoming.

Of course not all areas of Duluth were friendly but our programme supervisors made sure to tell us what areas to avoid and thankfully we had no problems. The culture was not as different as I thought it was going to be, I think that is because Duluth is quite a slow paced place so people have a lot of time for each other which is great when you are new to the area.

Challenges

The food was probably my biggest challenge, we were lucky to be able to get meals from the dining hall for free but not everything was to our tastes and we noticed that everything tasted sweeter.

To overcome this we tried local restaurants on days we did not fancy the dining hall food or went to the campus store and got things that we could easily make ourselves to save money.

Making friends

8 Ulster University students went on this programme - myself included - and we had only met each other once in person before jetting off. That was quite worrying but we became close very quickly.

All of us are pretty extroverted and that had a positive impact on our South Korean classmates who found it difficult to be so forthcoming. After spending time with us they became more relaxed and it was so amazing getting to know them.

We also made friends with locals who are around our age; if we were on a night out we just started talking to people and making friends! It was also handy having local friends who could guide us on where to go and what to do.

Travelling while abroad

We went to SO many places! We travelled along Lake Superior into Wisconsin where we went to a dairy farm and then visited a little lakeside city called Bayfield.

We went along the north shore of the lake towards Canada and spent some time in Grand Marais which was a really pretty town.

We also spent a night on the University’s campus in Minneapolis and went to the Mall of America which was insane and very bad for my bank account!

Advice

Just go for it, you will not regret it! It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you will not really get the chance to do things like this after graduating.

Yes, it is not all sunshine and roses, I sometimes felt homesick but I reminded myself that I was not going to be in Duluth forever and I should make the most of the experience.

You should also really research your programme and all it entails before going, for our course we had to create short films and I really enjoyed this but it was very daunting for others, so just make sure you know if there is any academic expectations etc.

It has 100% been one of the best things I have done for myself. I cannot wait to tell everyone about my time in Duluth, and I could not recommend the programme at UMD enough!