Amanda

Amanda Wall is currently studying at Sarah Lawrence College (New York, USA), and came to Goldsmiths through Arcadia in fall 2019. She gave us an insight into British culture from an American perspective, and how studying abroad has influenced her plans for the future. She also highlights her experience of studying abroad with a disability.

What were some of your biggest highlights of Study Abroad experience?

My biggest highlights were these small moments with friends that I enjoyed. I went to a talk by a Queer History PhD student and was invited to the pub afterwards, so I ended up having dinner at the pub with half of the Queer History department and my friend. It was honestly one of my favourite nights here because it was just a really comfortable atmosphere. While I’m not studying queer history it is something I’m interested in, and it was so great to have a bunch of queer academia in one place talking together.

What is your favourite thing you’ve done in London?

I went to Lady Dinah’s cat café with Arcadia – that’s definitely a highlight! I also saw the Woman in Black with my older sister when she came here.

One of my favourite spots is Crystal Palace Park. While Crystal Palace itself has been gone for decades, it was really exciting for me to just go and see where it used to be and what remains. It's one of those little treasures of London, especially if you want to see some classical architecture. The sphinx statues leftover from when the Palace existed give it a magical realism feeling.

Tell us about the classes you are taking here

I was really excited about coming here because I was finally able to take arts management courses as they are not offered at Sarah Lawrence College. One of the classes I’m taking is called ‘How do you Create? From Creative Thought to Action and Impact’. This is my favourite class because the lecturer is very visibly passionate about what he teaches and genuinely enjoys talking to us about it. It doesn’t feel like the traditional lecturer to student environment – he makes the atmosphere very comfortable to talk and discuss.

What difficulties did you have adjusting?

I’m Jewish and it was really hard to find Jewish connections here. The Jewish society at Goldsmiths only met a handful of times this semester, but when they did I always had a great time – we actually just had an early Hanukkah party.

There’s also this group called Friday Night Dinner, where Jewish students from all the University of London schools get together at a certain location. They don’t disclose the location until 24-hours before the event, which was uncomfortable that they didn’t feel safe announcing it further in advance. It was in an Orthodox synagogue and I practice Reform Judaism so it was a strange experience for me that men and women had to sit of different sides of the synagogue, and the Rabbi wouldn’t shake my hand because I’m a woman. I’m an openly bisexual Jew, so being in an Orthodox space made me feel more out of touch with my religion that I would have liked to be. The people I met were really nice, but I would have liked to have been part of a Reform synagogue because I feel like my sexuality as a queer person is very closely tied to my identity as a Jewish person. So there was a disconnect there which was quite uncomfortable.

What did you wish you knew before you left? Did you experience any culture shock?

I wish I was a little more informed about the drinking culture in the UK. At Sarah Lawrence, I was in substance-free housing, so there wasn’t any alcohol allowed which meant there weren’t really any parties. The drinking age is lower in the UK, so every student can legally drink when they come to uni, whereas in America only the juniors and seniors can. There were a few times at the beginning of the semester where I hung out in Loring Hall Management Centre because my flatmates were drinking and it was a little overwhelming. If I had known more about the drinking culture before I arrived I think I just would have been a little more mentally prepared. I knew the drinking age was lower but I didn’t know how much of an impact it would have on the day-to-day.

Conversely, I experienced positive culture shock too as I was pleasantly surprised by all the gluten-free food options. It’s so hard to find good gluten-free pizza in America, and here you have Pizza Express, [a chain pizza restaurant] which is cheap and so good! Even the ‘Free From’ gluten-free pasta from [the local] Sainsburys [supermarket] was really good.

It also took a bit of adjustment to get used to the structure of teaching. My European Cinema lecture is one hour with a one-hour seminar immediately afterwards, which was a little unusual for me because it felt like there wasn’t a lot of class time. I was probably in the classroom around the same amount of time I would be at Sarah Lawrence, but it was more chunked together and not as spread out.

How have you found the queer community at Goldsmiths? Have you participated in that at all?

I found a lot of other queer students here to connect with and talk to. The queer community was very vibrant and supportive, and it was very easy to find other queer people. I didn’t go to a ton of events put on by the LGBTQ+ student group because they’re really popular events, which would mean a lot of people in a small space like the Students’ Union bar. As someone who has sensory issues and is really sensitive to places where there is a lot of different noise, I generally didn’t go to these kinds of events because of accessibility reasons.

Do you wish there had been more accessible events?

Yes, although admittedly sound is very hard to control, especially if you’ve never experienced hypersensitivity to sound. If more events were in open spaces where the sound isn’t nearly as confined that would have been better. I probably left 50% of the events I attended early as the sound was too overwhelming. I probably didn’t attend six out of 10 events because of the noise level.

The best event I attended was during Welcome Week, where there was a queer student picnic outside. There were a lot of people there but I was fine because we were in an open space.

How have you found the additional support and adjustments that you’ve had? How was the process?

There was a period at the beginning where I felt like I didn’t know what resources I could go to. This was particularly an issue during the day as the drop-ins for the Wellbeing team are an hour-and-a-half every day, and you have to be there on time. My anxiety doesn’t give push notifications, so if I needed help immediately and it wasn’t a drop-in hour then I felt like I was out of luck. I wish I had known in advance that I would have to plan ahead and try and anticipate as much as I could when I would need support so I could access it as soon as possible.

I knew where to get support out of hours – I went straight to the Campus Support Officers at Loring Management Centre. I spoke to them a lot, especially during Welcome Week when I wanted to get away from my flatmates’ drinking. The Campus Support Officers were all amazing and so helpful because I knew that if there was an uncalled panic attack then I could get immediate support.

Do you have any specific advice for students thinking of studying abroad who need additional support?

I used on Google Street View so I could walk around the campus before I arrived. It was helpful to have an idea of what the campus looked like before I came here, so I would definitely recommend to others to familiarise themselves with where they’re going before they leave. I also looked at the Students’ Union website a lot to get a feel for what to expect, and what kind of events to look forward to.

I also had weekly appointments with my therapist back home, so if a student regularly sees a therapist I would highly suggest setting up regular appointments via Skype.

I was really nervous about my flight coming here so I did a lot of research beforehand. London Heathrow has great guides for each terminal. The airport has a sunflower lanyard system, which is a way of disclosing that you have an invisible disability. Staff can see the lanyard and know that you may need additional support. All you need to do is email the assistance team at London Heathrow, ask for a lanyard, and give them your address – they’ll post it to you for free.

What do you want to do after you graduate?

I’ve realised during my time here that I definitely want to do a Masters. I knew I wanted to go into arts management, but coming here and having access to all these national trust sites and museums made me realise how much I want to do it. I also realised that there were almost no programmes that focused on cultural policy or cultural heritage in the United States. It’s also cheaper - an entire Masters programme at Goldsmiths costs roughly $24,000. That would pay for one semester at Columbia University. The cost of one year at Columbia would not only cover tuition at Goldsmiths, but it would also cover rent, living expenses and multiple flights between London and New York City – probably in first class! There is also a tuition fee discount for Goldsmiths Study Abroad alumni. You get 30% off, so it brings it down from $24,000 to around $18,000. Between this and the lack of arts management programmes in the US, it makes doing a Masters at Goldsmiths a natural choice.

Why did you choose Goldsmiths?

Sarah Lawrence’s only Study Abroad programme in London is the British American Drama Academy, but I’m not studying Theatre so I was looking at other places to go. I decided on London because I know there is a rich arts culture here, and there wouldn’t be as much of a language barrier. I found Arcadia because Sarah Lawrence has a list of external programmes the college is associated with. I was looking at Goldsmiths through Arcadia and it reminded me a lot of Sarah Lawrence. I liked that it was in London, but not in central London. I looked at the Students’ Union website a lot and it just seemed like a really vibrant student community. I also knew it was the smallest of all the schools I was considering in London, which made me feel more comfortable.

How do you think studying abroad has made a difference for you?

I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do after graduation, and I had gone back and forth about going to graduate school for a while. I was only looking at schools in the US because going to a foreign country seemed daunting to me, especially for a Masters. I came here and experienced London and all the other cultural heritage sites outside of London, and it really cemented what I want to do after graduation. I feel like there’s a place for me here. I’ve found that people at Goldsmiths really wanted to hear what I have to say. During one of the student meetings, a student representative went out of her way to make sure I could speak because I wanted to. It made me feel included and welcome. It’s not like I don’t feel welcome at Sarah Lawrence, but I’ve never felt like my voice was so valued before.

I guess if I hadn’t gone abroad I wouldn’t have realised that there were so many opportunities for me out there. I think it also would have taken me longer to realise that I wanted to go the route of cultural policy. Coming here and experiencing a new country made me realise what I want to do, and has also made me realise that there are more opportunities out there than I could have ever thought of.